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JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
June  19,  1902. 
The  lines  of  this  dial  are  cut  inidely,  but  somewhat  deeply, 
on  the  stone.  At  Mersham  Church  again  will  be  found  traces 
of  other  very  ancient  dials,  also  cut  in  the  stone,  the  stones 
around  the  south  doorw^ay  of  the  Early  English  Church  there 
bearing  traces  of  seven  of  these  old  circular  sundials.  At 
Barpeston  Church  there  is  another  very  similar  dial,  and  at 
Patrixbourne  traces  of  four  others  can  be  seen,  and  at  Swing- 
field  and  Smeeth  dials  of  a  similar  character  are  to  be  found. 
At  the  Early  English  Church  of  the  village  of  Warehome 
there  is  to  be  found  built  into  the  south  wall  a  stone  upon 
which  is  carved  an  ancient  vertical  dial,  of  which  I  ha\e 
sketch,  which  will  convey  a  fair  impression  of  those  touched 
on  in  the  preceding  lines. 
Leaving  churches  for  a  moment  to  make  a  call  at  a  local 
museum,  there  will  be  found  in  that  at  Dover  a  very  curious 
example  of  dial,  which  was  found,  in  1862,  on  the  site  of  the 
ancient  Church  of  St.  Martin’s-le-Grand,  Dover,  which 
edifice  was  founded  by  Wictred,  King  of  Kent,  693-725  a.d. 
This  dial  is  composed  of  a  cube  of  oolite,  between  four  and 
five  inches  square,  with  one  heart-shaped,  two  triangular, 
and  two  semi-cylindrical  dials  hollowed  out  of  the  sides.  At 
the  Maidstone  Museum  is  a  very  pretty  and  ingenious  sun¬ 
dial,  which  is  constructed  in  the  shape  of  a  cannon,  with  a 
burning  glass  carefully  focussed  over  the  touch-hole,  so  that 
the  miniature  gun  being  primed,  the  sun  at  midday  fires  it 
off.  The  cannon  is  of  metal,  and  is  affixed  to  a  circular  slab 
of  marble,  on  which  are  cut  the  radiating  hour  lines,  with  the 
maker’s  inscription  as  follows  :  “  Victor  Chevalier  Jngr  Bi-eot 
de  I’Horloge  77  a  Paris.” 
Quitting  museums  for  mansions,  there  will  be  found  in 
the  ruins  of  Wingfield  Manor,  Derbyshire,  the  remains  of  a 
couple  of  dials,  placed  there  in  1678,  by  the  then  owner,  one 
Immanuel  Halton,  an  astronomer  and  mathematician.  One, 
that  over  the  bay  window  of  the  banquetting  hall,  is  one  of 
the  simplest  in  form  to  be  found  throughout  the  country. 
In  a  cottage  garden  at  Denton,  near  Canterbury,  is  a  red 
brick  and  plaster  dial,  some  sixty  years  old,  the  base  of  which 
is  spiral,  with  a  hali-circular  hour  marked  dial  on  top,  with  a 
gnomon  in  the  centre.  This  dial  was  built  by  Richard  Webb, 
a  master  mason.  At  Wimborne  Minster  is  a  dial  dated  1732. 
It  is  of  stone,  6ft  in  height,  4ft  in  width  on  its  south  face,  and 
3ft  on  its  east  and  west  faces  respectively,  each  of  which  bears 
a  gnomon.  At  Chilham  Castle,  in  the  grounds  is  a  handsome 
dial,  which  was  erected  in  the  second  half  of  the  eighteenth 
century.  The  stone  pedestal,  though  weather-worn  and 
marked  by  the  scores  of  time,  has  traces  of  very  fine  and 
handsome  carved  work,  and  the  plate,  which  is  also  very 
richly  ornamented,  bears  the  arms  of  the  Colebrook  family, 
and  the  name  “  Thomas  Wright,  Instrument  Maker  to  H.M. 
George  II.”  In  the  adjacent  Chilham  churchyard  is  a  dial 
which  is  credited  with  having  been  designed  by  Inigo  Jones, 
the  name  “  G.  Stedman,  London,”  being  engraved  on  the 
plate.  The  stone  shaft  is  gracefully  curved,  and  the  gnomon 
is  protected  by  a  copper  support,  which  was  placed  there 
after  an  attempt  had  been  made  to  wrench  the  gnomon  off. 
Leaving  these  old  world  dials  for  a  moment,  I  would  draw 
attention  to  a  very  good  specimen  of  the  modem  kind  in 
that  to  be  seen  on  the  terrace  in  front  of  Lauderdale  House, 
Waterlow  Park,  Highgate,  London.  This  house  w^as  formerly 
the  residence  of  Nell  Gwynne,  and  the  dial  was  put  up  when 
the  park  came  into  the  possession  of  the  London  County 
Council.  The  plate  itself,  in  which  the  figures  are  deeply 
cut,  is  a  handsome  slab  of  white  marble,  mounted  on  a  stone 
pediment,  and  on  the  top  is  a  small  brass  plate  which  states 
that  “  This  dial  plate  is  on  a  level  with  the  top  of  the  dome 
of  St.  Paul’s  Cathedral.’  ’ 
Returning  to  the  past,  at  Minster,  in  the  Isle  of  Thanet, 
will  be  found  a  couple  of  dials  which  are  deserving  of 
mention.  One,  near  the  west  gate  of  the  church,  has  in¬ 
scribed  on  it  the  three  dates  of  1841,  1873,  and  1890,  evidently 
the  dates  of  restorations,  while  on  the  oak  shaft  are  the 
initials  W.  H.  and  G.  R.,  with  the  date  1641.  The  dial  alto¬ 
gether  presents  a  somewhat  woe  begone  appearance.  At 
Aldington,  whereat  Erasmus  laboured  as  rector  in  1511,  in 
the  graveyard  is  a  dial  mounted  on  a  wooden  shaft  bearing 
the  date  1799,  and  the  initials  T.M.  and  W.M.,  with  the 
mottoes  in  Latin  and  English  of  “  Pereunt  et  imputantur,” 
and  The  hours  pass  and  are  reckoned,”  the  initials  before 
referred  to  being  those  of  former  churchwardens.  The  shaft 
is  square  in  design,  and  terribly  wormeaten.  In  the  church¬ 
yard  of  St.  Stephen’s,  Lympne,  there  is  a  decidedly  novel 
dial.  The  plate  is  circular  and  old,  but  it  is  mounted  on  a 
cast-iron  setting,  the  edge  of  which  bears  the  same  motto 
as  that  at  Aldington,  but  the  corkscrew  or  twisted  shaft, 
with  a  centre  boss,  is  of  cast-iron,  ending  in  a  circular  foot, 
which  is  embedded  in  a  circular  base  of  brickwork,  and  the 
effect  is  mean  and  paltry  in  the  extreme — an  instance  of  bad 
and  ignorant  restoration. 
At  Smeeth,  which  we  will  revisit  for  a  moment,  there  is  a 
very  pretty  old  dial,  with  a  pedestal  of  black  oak,  mounted 
on  a  small  platform  of  tiles  and  clamped  oaken  timbers. 
The  dial  plate  is  8in  square,  and  the  gnomon  has  a  similar 
support  to  that  found  at  Chilham.  The  pillar  has  a  square 
capital,  tapering  beneath  to  a  bulging  centre  or  boss,  and 
tapering  again  towards  the  foot,  which  ends  in  a  square  base 
matching  the  top,  the  whole  effect  being  that  of  a  substantial 
old-fashioned  baluster,  having  carved  thereon  the  initials 
E.  H.  and  C.  W.,  with  the  date  1826. 
In  the  High  Street,  Rye,  over  a  boot-shop,  is  a  well  pre¬ 
served  and  admirably  carved  oval  dial,  some  2ft  deep,  haying 
a  panel  in  the  centre,  in  which  is  represented  Father  Time, 
painted  black,  and  carved  in  high  relief,  the  figure  bearing 
the  customary  scythe  and  hour-glass.  This  dial,  altogether, 
is  a  very  fine  example.  On  the  Town  Hall  of  the  same  place 
is  a  comparatively  modern  specimen,  it  having  been  nre- 
sented  to  the  burgesses  in  1831  bv  Sir  De  Lacy  Evans.  It  is 
of  stone,  and  formerly  adorned  the  wall  of  the  Gramrnar 
School,  being  afterwards  removed  to  its  present  site.  Like 
the  one  before  referred  to,  this  has  also  a  central  panel,  the 
figure  in  this  case  also  being  Time,  albeit  he  has  lost  an  arm, 
head,  feet,  and  hands.  On  the  figure-plate  is  carved  the 
motto  :  “  Tempus  edax  rerum  ”  (“  Time  the  devourer  of  all 
things  ”),  and  below  is  the  inscription,  “  The  solar  shadow  as 
it  measm-es  life  it  life  resembles  too.”  At  this  same  place, 
round  the  church  clock,  which  is  reputed  to  have  been 
presented  by  Queen  Elizabeth,  there  is  this  motto :  “  Our 
Time  is  a  very  shadow  that  passetn,”  which  is  decidedly  more 
applicable  to  a  sun-dial  than  a  clock. 
On  the  Church  of  St.  Mary  the  Virgin  at  Dover  is  to  be 
seen  an  ancient  dial  of  the  vertical  order,  which  besides 
being  old,  is  eminently  artistic,  this  being  intensified  by  its. 
position  on  the  Norman  tower.  This  dial,  of  wood,  about 
2^ft  square,  is  white  in  the  centre,  with  a  black  border,  on 
which  are  painted,  on  the  two  sides  and  bottom,  in  white, 
the  numerals.  Two  strips  of  lead,  nailed  to  the  top  and 
eastern  sides,  serve  to  protect  this  old-time  dial.  In  the 
High  Road,  Chiswick,  lying  back  a  little  from  the  roadway, 
is  an  old-fashioned,  low-ceilinged,  red-tiled  roadside  inn, 
called  the  Old  Windmill,  which,  as  the  swinging  signboard 
on  the  pavement  tells,  was  established  in  1717.  Between 
the  windows  on  the  first  floor,  immediately  over  the  fascia, 
is  an  old-time  sun-dial  bearing  this  motto :  “  So  flys  Life 
away.” 
Leaving  dials,  the  preceding  collection  of  which  could  be 
very  considerably  increased  did  space  permit,  I  come  now  to 
deal  with  some  of  the  mottoes  to  be  found  on  them.  Thus, 
some  originality  of  idea  may  be  claimed  for  the  quaint  motto 
of  a  Nottinghamshire  dial :  “  To-day  is  yesterday’s  to¬ 
morrow  ” ;  also  in  the  inscription,  “Now,  or  when,”  found 
upon  a  dial  at  Beverley  Minster.  The  motto,  “  Begone  about 
your  business,”  is  inscribed  upon  the  dial  of  an  old  Cheshire 
abode,  and  is  said  to  have  been  placed  upon  the  dial  of  a 
house  in  Pump  Court  in  the  Inner  Temple,  which  was 
removed  in  1820.  It  is  related  that  this  motto  owed  its  origin 
to  the  testy  reply  of  one  of  the  Benchers  of  the  Temple, 
who  had  promised  to  furnish  a  motto  for  this  sundial,  but, 
having  forgotten  his  engagement,  saluted  wdth  this  testy 
exclamation  the  messenger  who  interrunted  his  studies  with 
a  request  for  the  promised  device.  By  design  or  mistake  the 
words,  “  Begone  about  your  business,”  were  accepted  as  the 
sundial’s  motto,  and  duly  painted  beneath  it. 
“  Allez  vous  ”  w’as  the  motto  of  a  foreign  sundial  once  to  be 
seen  in  a  Devonshire  garden,  and  an  Italian  sundial  motto, 
claims  that  “  The  maker  may  err,  the  iron  may  err,  I  never 
err.” 
Other  mottoes  are : — “  I  am  a  shade,  a  shadow,  too,  art 
thou  ”  ;  “I  mark  the  time,  say.  Gossip,  dost  thou  see  ?  ”  ; 
“  Detego  tegendo  ”  ;  “  Amidst  the  flowers  I  tell  the  hours  ”  ; 
“You  may  waste,  but  cannot  stop  me”  ;  “Remove  not  the 
ancient  landmark  which  thy  fathers  have  set  ”  ;  and  “  Life’s 
but  a  walking  shadow,”  with  which  except  from  Macbeth  my 
selection  must  close,  my  concluding  remark  being  the  quota¬ 
tion  :  “  There  is  no  human  discovery  more  ancient,  or  more 
interesting  than  that  of  a  sundial.” — Wm.  Norman  Brown. 
