67 



building would be commenced only in spring or early summer, we 

 have in the first column of sun-rise dates the time when each 

 church was set out. 



Occasionally a slight difference of orientation may be observed 

 between the nave and the chancel of an old church, to account for 

 which some fanciful theories have been advanced. In "Brandon's 

 Parish Churches," plans of over sixty notable old churches in the 

 southern counties are given, most minutely mea^red and drawn, 

 and with every little peculiarity carefully noted ; but in none of 

 them does this change of orientation appear ; and from my own 

 observations also I am inclined to think that such cases are so 

 exceptional, that they do not justify the advancement of any 

 theories of general application : they were probably only the result 

 of careless setting out when a chancel has been re -built at a period 

 subsequent to the building of the original church. 



To determine the true east without having recourse to celestial 

 observations by theodolite or other instrument is a very simple 

 operation. Like the well-known preliminary to jugging hare — first 

 catch your hare ; we must catch the sun and trust to his shining 

 for a few hours near noon, then upon a level piece of ground set 

 up a pole perpendicularly, or, as a neater operation, upon a sheet 

 of paper upon a level board fix a straight wire — say a knitting- 

 needle — at right angles, i.e., perpendicular to the board; from the 

 point where the pole or needle is placed describe at random a few 

 concentric semicircles on the north side of the needle, now observe 

 when the end of the needle's shadow crosses the circles before 

 noon, and mark each point of intersection ; repeat the operation 

 after noon, and draw a line from the point so marked on any one 

 of the circles before noon to the point of shadow intersection on 

 the same circle after noon, and the line so drawn will be true east 

 and west. As a check or an alternative, by careful observation 

 about noon mark where the end of the shadow just touches the 

 circumference of a circle without crossing it, then the shadow is 

 shortest and gives the true north and south ; it is also twelve 

 o'clock by the sun, and a line drawn at right angles to the line of 

 the shadow is true east and west. 



