Newsletter No 48 - June 2008 |
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FROM THE SECRETARY A new Secretary?. In the last Newsletter I gave advance notice of my planned resignation from Council at the 2009 AGM. The vacancy is still open and I welcome enquires: by all means contact me or the Chairman if you are interested. The Cumbria conference. Those who attended the successful conference in Latimer will know that the next conference (our 20th) is to be held in the Cumbria Grand Hotel, Grange-over-Sands. This will be our second in hotel style accommodation, and partly for this reason we have shifted the date further from Easter to 15 - 17 May 2009. In addition to being just to the south of the Lake District, there are plenty of sundials to see in the area. I will be happy to receive advance notice of lectures or otherwise contact me if you have any queries. The booking form will be sent out as usual with the December Newsletter. Book sales. Yet another reminder that we must find a replacement to take over this task from Peter Lane. The sales provide an important service to members and non-members, and makes a valuable financial contribution to the Society. Offers please. Doug Bateman FROM THE CHAIRMAN
Some time ago, I requested 'profiles' of members of Council and others whose names are known to the membership; but about whom very little else is known. Under the editorship of the Bulletin by the late Charles Aked, one or two such 'profiles' were published; but nothing except certain obituaries have been published since. I would like to restore this practice; but, with one notable exception, there has been no response other than the suggestion that this is nothing more than an advanced obituary..! Admittedly, such a profile would make it easier for the person expected to produce an obituary for publication; but this is not the object of the exercise, which is to make those who run the Society better known to the membership. A positive response to this request would be much appreciated. Chris Daniel FROM THE BULLETIN EDITOR Bulletin on the Web As part of an effort to make the Society’s website more attractive, I have been working with our new webmaster, Richard Mallett, to put more information on the pages that deal with the Bulletin. As well as some pictures and the contents list of the most recent issues (a full list is also downloadable), a few articles are now available online. The articles are in PDF format and have the illustrations in colour wherever possible, though not at the full printed resolution. We will keep the number of available articles quite small as the intention is to attract people to join. Authors retain the copyright of the content of their articles so they will always be asked to give permission before they are posted. Comments on the scheme are welcome. The Horizontal Instrument It is very unusual for the Bulletin or the Newsletter to carry a review of a novel. However, when Googling for ‘the horizontal instrument’ as part of my research into the double horizontal dial, I came across a novella of exactly that title, published in 1999 and written by Christopher Wilkins. Intrigued by the fact that there is one of Elias Allen’s instruments on its cover, I purchased a second-hand copy for less than £1. The book has chapters relating the history of horology alternating with ones telling the story of the narrator’s wife’s illness. Whilst the factual information has all been gleaned from other books and articles and is possibly well known to some members, it does make interesting ‘bedtime reading’, even going briefly into the priority dispute between Elias Allen and Richard Delamain, as per Fred Sawyer’s mock trial at our Cambridge conference. How many more novels contain a significant amount of dialling material? John Davis REGISTER NOTES After an appalling Spring, early May has unexpectedly given us some blistering summer weather. I hope that many of you have taken to the road, and I look forward to your flood of new reports. Following my comments in the last Newsletter, we have had one exciting re-evaluation of a dial by a second visit. In the Register it shows as a good named and dated horizontal, but it has now been found to be actually a double horizontal, and by a maker not previously known to have made DH’s. Look out for a report in the September Bulletin! Such new findings cannot be expected every time, but often a second look by a fresh pair of eyes will spot something missed the first time round, and particularly for the older recordings, it will often now be possible to get better photographs. As well as good close-ups, a positioning shot is always useful, to show where the dial is located on the building or in the garden. The Registers of 2005 include a photo for the great majority of the dials. A few entries show that a picture was submitted, but none appears at the back of the volume. This is normally because some, particularly early, photos did not show enough detail to be worth printing, or perhaps because the technical quality was too low. Also of course, in the interests of space and cost, there is only one picture per dial. If you particularly want to see a photo that is indicated but not printed, or if you think there might be additional photos that you need, please do let me know. John Foad 01622 858583 MASS DIAL MEANDERINGS Mass Dials A steady trickle of reports as usual.
Eydon in Northamptonshire has an active Historical Society and both the church and village have some interesting dials. A visit is planned. Another correspondent, Alan Pennie, has sent pictures of dials in Kent, Suffolk and Essex and has records going back some years. Our contacts are usually via NADFAS or the Society website. Bob Adams has recorded the demise of the dial at Grainsby in Lincolnshire. It was in very poor condition and has now finally flaked away completely leaving only the gnomon hole. Finally, Irene Brightmer is investigating early horizontal dials, those which are carved directly onto stone and don’t use a dial plate. It seems possible that the mass dial tradition carried on from vertical to horizontal format and a full 360° worth of hour lines is present on the dial at St Asaph in Wales. It also has an altered date 1596 to 1696 – so there are lots of questions to ask, particularly – did direct carving precede the use of dial plates? I have a similar dial near me carved directly onto the top of a short column; if any similar ones are known, please let us know. Just about to photograph a dial at Meysey Hampton when the sun went in – and stayed in for the rest of the day! – go back in high summer. Keep snapping. A.O.Wood 01452 712953 MEMBERSHIP NOTES I have just taken over the membership task from John Foad and would like to thank him for all the help and support he has given me in making the hand-over go smoothly. He has been wonderfully patient with my limited computer skills and I hope I can keep up his efficient standard. Since the last newsletter, I would like to welcome three new members: Mr Hassaan Ghazali from Lahore, Pakistan; Dr Alison Morrison-Low, Principal Curator, History of Scientific Instruments and Photography, National Museums of Scotland, Edinburgh, who gave the Andrew Somerville Lecture at this year’s conference and Dr Christopher van Essen from Meldreth, Cambridge. Jackie Jones 01273 673511 NEWBURY BSS ONE DAY MEETING This will take place on Saturday 27th September 2008. Make a note now of this most enjoyable Annual Event. See the flyer enclosed with the June BSS Bulletin for full details. I would be most grateful to hear from any who would like to give a short talk or presentation. Look forward to seeing you all there, front and back benchers included. Best wishes to you all. David Pawley
FROM THE WEBMASTER
The website has been successfully transferred to the new hosting company (AFMU) and, in addition to the usual updates, John Davis has sent me extra material to make the Bulletin page more attractive, interesting and, hopefully, useful. Let me know what you think, as well as any ideas you may have to improve the appeal of the website to current and prospective members. I would like to revive the Dial of the Month feature on the website. If each member sent me one or more pictures, plus a verbal description, of their favourite sundial, this would keep the Dial of the Month going for a very long time, so please send me your contributions. The description can be aesthetic, technical, or whatever inspires you about that particular sundial. Richard Mallett THE CAMBRIDGE SUNDIAL WALK 2008 Recently, Dr. Frank King asked if Mike and I if we could help with a ‘Sundial Walk’ that he was leading around Cambridge. This event had been advertised in ‘What's On in Cambridge’ and we had no way of knowing the exact numbers attending. On the actual day, a true sundial day, overcast and no sun, 115 people turned up and we were both amazed and overwhelmed. We soon split into three groups and set off on the tour. We started the tour with an armillary sphere which was a good model for explaining the basic principals of gnomonics. We then proceeded to some of the other dials of Cambridge. The dials chosen were of different ages and styles to provide a varied glimpse into the subject. Most of the people in the group were locals and the walk round was an exchange on many aspects of the Cambridge scene and we all learnt from each other. We discussed the British Sundial Society and a large number took our new BSS leaflets giving an outline of the activities of the Society. Hopefully, we may get some new members from this. I believe that all of us that took part enjoyed the experience and I wondered if some of our members might consider doing this in their own area. Val Cowham
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