Sundials are older than Christianity itself. Saint Winifred's has three, one of which is of a design unknown anywhere else in Britain. They served as reminders of the hours of prayer, and no doubt as a public time-piece, much as the familiar church clock has done in later centuries. The earliest known Saxon dials often had only the third, sixth and ninth hours (9 a.m., 12 noon & 3 p.m.) marked, usually by a cross. Periods of time were referred to as tides, a word which survives in the word Whitsuntide.
An article about scratch and sundials by Jeanie Crowley was published in the Transactions of the Devonshire Association in 1961. In it, she wrote:
`They were probably frequently made by the stone mason engaged in the building, for the convenience of himself and of his workmen. Often, there are several found on one building, but to catch the sun they are most usually on or around the south porch.'
There is no evidence of a sun-dial over Saint Winifred's south
porch, but an ancient sundial can be seen over the disused doorway
in the southern wall of the tower. Some have even suggested this
could be a Saxon tide dial. Another can been found high on the
corner of the south chancel wall, at the eastern end. Below this
is a third sun-clock, more correctly called a scratch dial,
which is unique. It is linear, not circular. The hours from six
to eleven are scratched in Roman numerals on the masonry. The
southern buttress of the chancel serves to throw the shadow. The
first three numerals are regarded as being of the same age as
the chancel (early fourteenth century), the others are later and
may indicate the wall was repaired. No other example of this type
of scratch dial is known or has ever been recorded.
Drawings © 1996 Angela Lambert
© 1996 Ronald Branscombe branscombe@globalnet.co.uk
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This page last updated: 15 August 1996 09:55:52