302 General Discussion of the Crosses 



According to Gatty, few sundials in England antedate 1066.^ 

 CoUingwood, who lists several in Cumberland,^ will not assert that 

 any of them were sculptured before the Norman period. 



There is abundant evidence that our dials are of a ' Saxon ' type ; 

 but they occur in masonry which, at earliest, is Norman, at latest, as 

 late as the Newbiggin dial, given for its Kkeness to Bewcastle. . . . The 

 conclusion is that these dials, though of ' Saxon ' type, were cut on 

 Norman (and later) buildings by twelfth century (and later) people, 

 who still, however, kept up the pre-Norman manner of marking time.^ 



Some light is thrown upon the Bewcastle sundial by one at the 

 Cistercian abbey of Acquafredda, on Lake Como.'* It is of white 

 marble, .425 metre in diameter, and bears the date of 1093 above 

 its horizontal diameter. Like the Bewcastle dial, it has twelve 

 divisions, with short pieces of radii, ending in the circumference, 

 in the fifth, eighth, and tenth divisions, counting from the right, 

 marking respectively 10.30 A. M., and 1.30 and 3. 30 P. M. ; the 

 hours, according to the Coutumier Cistercien, denoting the end of 

 manual labor, the end of the siesta, and vespers. Above the date 

 is the Chi Rho monogram, and, on either side, the Alpha and the 

 Omega. 



It will be seen that there is absolutely no reason for dating the 

 Bewcastle sundial earlier than the late 11th century, and that the 

 12th century is more probable. 



^ Book of Sun-Dials, ed. Eden and Lloyd, p. 51. Gatty notes those at 

 Weaverthorpe, in the East Riding of Yorkshire, about 943 ; Old Byland, 

 before the coming of the Cistercian monks in the 12th century ; Skelton, 

 early 12th century; Bishopstone, 11th century; Warnford, 12th or 13th 

 century ; Bricet, about 1096 ; St. Sepulchre's church, Northampton, about 

 1400 ; besides the famous one at Kirby Moorside, among the moors 

 not far from Whitby. This was erected by Orm, Gamal's son, in the days 

 of Earl Tostig, and is dated by every one within the ten years immediately 

 preceding 1065 (see the inscription in Browne, Conv. of Heft., p. 195, and 

 Gatty, p. 55, for example). 



2 Victoria Hist. Cumb. 1. 256; Early Sculpt. Crosses, pp. 57, 92, 99, 

 132, 178, 208, 226, 237, 239, 263, 270. 



3 Early Sculpt. Crosses, pp. 288-9 ; cf. p. 54, and Victoria Hist. Cumb. 

 1. 256. 



* Reported in Cosmos, No. 1238, Oct. 17, 1908, by J. L. Benoit, a Bene- 

 dictine monk; cf. Revue de VArt Chretien 52 (1909). 200, 201. 



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