“Orm, Gamal’s son, bought S. Gregory’s Monastery when it was all utterly broken and fallen, and he let it to be made anew from the ground, to Christ and S. Gregory, in Edward’s day, the King; and in Tosti’s day, the Earl. This is the day’s sun-marker, at every tide, and Hawarth me made and Brand Provost.”
Another early dial exists over the church door at Bishopstone in Sussex. It bears the inscription “Eadric,” and as a prince of the South Saxons of this name lived A.D. 685, it is thought that this is its likely date.
It was whilst gazing at an ancient dial which I had discovered that the following motto occurred to me:—
“The age of this dial, who can compute it;
So hazard no guess for man to refute it.”
Still, in spite of my couplet, I made notes in my book as to the discovery of another Saxon horologe. Such is the nature of the keen archæologist that he feels obliged to put dates to every find of importance, although oft-times a more learned brother will dispel by argument and proof very quickly his most sure convictions.
While attributing the early semicircular dial to the Saxons, evidence strongly points to the fact that the many-rayed circular dials are of the mediæval period. It will ever be very hard to determine the date of many of these dials, as the age of a stone, cut and faced by the mason, is an unknown quantity. And there is hardly a stone building in this country that does not contain stone quarried from the demolished buildings of the past. This being so, many a dial may now occupy a very different position from that in which it was originally set.
As years moved on ye horologe was improved and immediately became more popular. The time on the face of the dial was more divided, and from being quite plain in appearance it gradually took a more ornate shape.
Sundials continued to be erected long after clocks came into use, and in our land during the 17th century many very fine specimens were erected. Doubtless royal patronage and interest had much to do with their popularity, for we know that Charles I. took a keen interest in the art of dialling, and himself caused a sundial to be set up in the Privy Garden behind Whitehall, at Westminster. The beautiful dial at Holyrood Castle, Scotland, is said to have been a gift to his Queen, Henrietta Maria. When kings and princes set the fashion their subjects soon follow suit, and thus we find that some of the most beautiful dials are of this period.
Until watches began to be made in numbers the sundial ruled supreme; clocks did not in any way diminish their popularity, and if the truth were known doubtless only helped to cause a greater number to be erected, since not only could they be relied upon to keep accurate time, but also to serve for the setting of a clock when it had stopped. To-day we introduce the sundial into our gardens more for an ornament than from any wish to add to it a timekeeper, and it is the love of the antique that causes old dials to change ownership and to be set up on new sites, irrespective of the fact that they may have been constructed and set for a different locality.