Courtesy of Ian Butson, Author and Title indices for BSS Bulletins since 2002 have now been added to the Publications menu on the left. While the articles themselves are not available online, these documents should help members track down the relevant edition.
The British Sundial Society
Promoting the Art and Science of Gnomonics since 1989
Dial of the Month May 2015:
St John’s, Church End, Parson Drove, Cambridgeshire, SRN 0637
I would not normally present a dial without a better photograph, but this one is interesting and seems ripe for research and restoration. Thanks to Mariette Voke for the original report in 1990, and to Ian Butson for more recent detailed recording.
The stone dial plate, with hollow moulded edges, is mounted on the south wall of the nave of this ‘redundant church’. It has two concentric square chapter rings, with upright but aligned Roman numerals. The outer ring has VI – XII – IV – VI, divided to half and quarter hours, while the inner ring is offset by just over four hours, with II – IV – XII – I. The latter scale seems to indicate the time at another location, possibly Bermuda or the more southerly West Indies, but the connection with this church is unknown. Across the centre are seven declination curves, with zodiac symbols between the two chapter rings, and a horizon line labelled accordingly above. Vertical lines cross the declination curves, probably azimuth lines, but these are not labelled. The iron gnomon carries a bar or peg nodus. There would appear to be an inscription, possibly ‘NOBIS …’ across the declination lines above the equinoctial line. There has once been an inscription across the top of the whole dial plate, but it is now indecipherable. The furniture is not totally eroded, and gentle cleaning, or even a photograph in grazing sunlight, might be fruitful.
BSS Conference – 10th to 12th April – Joining Instructions
East Midlands Conference Centre, Nottingham, NG7 2RJ
Residential attendees should please aim to arrive on Friday afternoon in time for tea at 4 to 5pm. Day attendees are very welcome to take tea even if not dining. After dinner we have no formal sessions, but hope all will join in an informal social get-together in the Orchard Hotel’s bar/lounge area.
Note that you may wish to arrive much earlier and to visit the BSS Library on Friday. You may park your car there even if rooms are not yet ready.
Dial of the Month April 2015:
Bakewell, Derbyshire, SRN 2193
This is an excellent modern dial, made by John McCrindle of Bakewell in 1990, and dedicated to the memory of Roy Bubb, a prominent local councillor. It stands in the town centre and, apart from its shadow-shy finish, is everything that a good sundial should be. It is readable and accurate; it shows the Equation of Time and the Greenwich time offset of 7.5 minutes, to allow clock time to be determined, as well as the latitude and longitude of Bakewell and a compass rose. On the side of the thick gnomon is engraved the direction of Polaris, the Pole Star. The Latin mottoes “Hora Transit, Reditura Nunquam” and “Spectate Omnium Hora, Omnia Pulchra”, may be translated as “The hour passes, never to return” and “Look ever at all things of beauty” (or please correct me – I am no Latin scholar!). The dial stands on a fine plinth, and is signed by the maker, in minute letters along the foot of the gnomon.
BSS Bulletin Vol. 27(i) March 2015
Members should now have received the March edition of the Bulletin, back to full size and containing the Solar Data Card for 2015. It also contains the booking form for the 2015 Conference, to be held in April. People wanting to attend should return this as soon as possible.
Contents
1. Editorial
2. A Medieval Sundial from Lindos on the Island of Rhodes — Karlheinz Schaldach
5. New Dial – The Neuadd Dial 2014 — Mark Lennox-Boyd
6. A Mystery Sundial by Girard et Barrère of Paris — Martin Jenkins
10. Sundials in Madeira — Maureen Harmer
13. Michael Maltin: Spitfire Pilot and a Gentleman – Obituary — Doug Bateman
14. Dial Dealings 2014 — Mike Cowham
17. New Book — Savoie
18. The Moving Sundial of Ardrossan — Christine Northeast
25. A Theatrical Dial — Jackie Jones
26. BSS Accounts for the Period 1 January to 8 August 2014
28. Conarachne et Pelecinum: About Some Graeco-Roman Sundial Types — Jérôme Bonnin
32. Puzzle Corner
33. In the Footsteps of Thomas Ross – Part 10: A Mixed Bag of Sundials in Edinburgh — Dennis Cowan
38. Some New Sundials in St Petersburg — Valery Dmitriev
41. Some Old Sundials in South Africa — Henk van der Ham and Malcolm Barnfield
45. Semper Novus, Semper Idem – Two Slotted-Gnomon ‘Conservatory’ or ‘Parlour’ Pottery Dials — Malcolm Bishop
51. Canvey Island Dial — Patrick Arnold
52. Dumfries House Armillary Sphere — Brad Dillon
Dial of the Month March 2015:
Crediton, Devon, SRN 0103
On the south wall of the western tower of St Andrew’s church is a slate sundial in an architectural terracotta aedicule with flanking Ionic pilasters and a tented and scrolled pediment. Above the dial are carved a skull, scythe and hourglasses, and below there are the heads of cherubs. A motto across the upper and lower boundaries of the chapter ring reads: ‘Watch and Pray Time Flies Away’. The dial was designed, made and signed by the celebrated ecclesiastical sculptor Harry Hems of Exeter, and was the gift in 1889 of Mr Charles Turner of Sydenham, Somerset.
We have had no report since 1973, so I would encourage any member in the vicinity to visit and confirm the current state of the dial, and to let me have a report and photographs. While there, look for the mediaeval fireplace in the north wall which is said to be almost unique, and also for some quaint epitaphs on the monuments.