Newsletter No 51 - March 2009 |
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FROM THE SECRETARY A new Secretary? The vacancy is still open and I welcome enquires. By all means contact me or the Chairman if you are interested. This is the second year of the ‘experiment’ of holding conferences in hotel accommodation. In the case of the Cumbria Grand, the rooms are large and comfortable in this traditional hotel, built in 1880. The hotel overlooks Morecambe Bay, is only 6 miles from Lake Windermere, and superb sundials are within reach. More details about the hotel are given on the hotel website via www.strathmorehotels.com The Andrew Somerville lecture is to be given by Dom Maidlow Davis (Father Leo), Head Master, Down-side Abbey and School, and our Patron, Sir Mark Lennox-Boyd is also to give a talk. John Davis and Chris-topher Daniel are to give a joint paper investigating the work of John Seller, a 17th century London map maker and instrument maker. Furthermore, in a return to the conferences and to give a lecture, we welcome the ingenious Allan Mills. Coach Tours. On the Saturday afternoon the tours are relatively straightforward. We will proceed directly to Holker Hall, where, with the permission of Lord and Lady Cavendish, we will walk to the superb ‘bowl’ sundial in slate designed by Sir Mark. The coaches then take slightly different routes around Lake Winder-mere to see dials in Graythwaite Hall, and then on to the Hawkshead to see a dial that has been the subject of some debate, and of course, stop for tea. Accommodation. This time we are to have high standard rooms. Nearly all are double-bedded plus a number of twin bedded rooms, whilst a few single bedded. If you wish to have twin beds please mention this on the booking form. For extra luxury they have several four-poster bedrooms and several have views of More-cambe Bay. Let me know if you wish to indulge! There is plenty of parking. Travel. The hotel is about 12 miles from the M6, junction 36, following the A590 and then signs to Grange-over-Sands. The railway station is about half a mile from the hotel, however, train services to Manchester are about 2 hourly intervals. The nearest airports are Leeds/Bradford or Manchester (which takes international flights). Booking form. Please return the yellow booking form with your full payment by 9th April 2009. Any bookings after this date run the risk of having to stay elsewhere if the Cumbria Grand becomes full.
Previous issues of the Bulletin carried articles on an early meridian line and other dials. The house was known for many years as the Police Staff College, and now with a different name to reflect the changing breadth of police training. The marvelous Jacobean Mansion (Address: Hook, Hampshire RG27 0JW), was partly closed to the general public although researchers with an interest in the house and gardens were always welcome. The authorities will be happy to host a party from the Society and the Curator of the building and library will give an escorted tour. Refreshments will be provided. This is a very rare opportunity, and the date for the visit will be the 6th of June. The Tour to commence at 11am taking approximately 1 hour followed by coffee, tea and biscuits at a cost of £5 per head. Please contact me if you wish your name to be added to the list. Doug Bateman FROM THE BULLETIN EDITOR My apologies for the slightly late delivery of the December Bulletin – it always takes a couple of issues to get used to the working practices of different printers. The new colour format seems to have gone down well so the pain of the changeover was worthwhile. I am pleased to say I am still getting suggestions for topics for new articles so please keep them coming. Those of you who watched the excellent BBC4 TV series on Science and Islam (shown in January) will have spotted the sundial of the astronomer ibn al-Shatir being ‘discovered’ in the Umayyad mosque in Damascus. Actually, the dial shown was a 19th century reproduction: the damaged original is in the Damascus Museum. It dates to 1371/2 and is widely thought to be the earliest sundial in existence with a polar-pointing gnomon and hence it is the forerunner of all our ‘scientific’ dials. The dial puts most modern sundials to shame for the mass of detailed furniture which it has on its large stone surface. It is well illustrated and described in Mark Lennox-Boyd’s book Sundials. Whilst chasing up this story, I came across an organisation called the BSS – The British Syrian Society! One of the council members of this organisation, Dr Rim Turkmani, was seen rushing up the stairs of the mosque with the presenter (Dr Jim al-Khalili) looking for the dial. John Davis REGISTER NOTES One of the great strengths of the Register, and of the Archive which supports it, lies in the library of pictures that we hold. In fact we have a photograph (and sometimes several views) for an amazing 4,000 of our 6,000 recorded dials, a tribute to our ever growing band of active recorders. But it is clear when you survey the counties that some are better represented than others. The prize winning counties in this respect, with photographs for over ninety percent of the recorded dials, are Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Essex, Dyfed, Hertfordshire, Oxfordshire and Suffolk. This may not be too surprising, they being on the whole areas where a fair proportion of our members live. More unexpected perhaps is the list of counties with the greatest number (not percentage) of unphotographed dials, headed by Cornwall, Cumbria, Gloucestershire and Devon, each with over 100 recorded dials that still await a picture. And they are some glorious counties for a Credit Crunch UK holiday this year. Just check the Register before you go! (Note, these statistics are from the current files, not from the 2005 Registers. If you want an updated list for any particular area, please let me know.) John Foad MASS DIAL MEANDERINGS Mass Dial Group The winter is a close season for mass dial hunting but some new ones have been unearthed in Wiltshire by local historian Margaret McKenzie who has sent in a good batch of reports and photographs from the Wilton area. Work ‘in the office’ goes on on two fronts; firstly, entering data into the Mass Dial register and then arranging the first deposit of files at the University of York’s Borthwick Archive. Greater London is the latest county to be completed and Oxfordshire is next in line. There are lots of mass dials in Oxfordshire and the county is a big one these days as well, having occupied a large part of Berkshire in the local government re-organisations last century. Secondly, the Noel T’a Bois archive of 35mm colour slides is being prepared for transfer to CD. A trial batch is in hand; there are over 2000, taken mainly in the 1980s all around the country and all on lovely sunny days! Noel must have spent all his holidays chasing dials. Late News: I have just received from the Commission des Cadrans Solaires a complete listing of French Mass Dials. If anybody wishes to have a copy, let me know. Members on holiday have provided me with lots of pictures, duly filed but not organised or otherwise recorded in any way. As it seems likely that the Norman Conquest brought them over here. There is a big research job for some interested party – one day. The final stage, publication of the results, is in hand. Ian Butson has knocked into shape the collection of replies and associated information from around the British Isles. Progress is such that it is hoped we can publish around mid-year. The publication is in response to a request from the Council; much useful information has been obtained and passed on, in particular to Jill Wilson for the ‘Biographical Index’. Jill will helping Ian in the final preparation of the book. I will still be taking responsibility for any further Museums correspondence and hope that members can pass on any information about holdings not yet covered. . . .A.O.Wood MEMBERSHIP NOTES Maybe it’s the prospect of spring that makes people think of sundials and want to join the Society – we have had six new members recently. Roger Legg from the U.S.A. heard about us through N.A.S.S. and adds to our growing number of overseas members, as does Roland Gutjahr in Germany. Stuart Williams has an interest in the history of sundials and is the research librarian of the Society for the History of Astronomy. Tim Chalk is a sculptor from Edinburgh, Thomas Pares joins us from Norfolk and Bernard Quinn from Stroud in Gloucestershire. We would like to welcome them to the society and hope to see them at our events. Jackie Jones BSS SUNDIAL DESIGN COMPETITION 2010 The Council of the BSS, in encouraging the making of new dials and the restoration of existing dials, is sponsoring another design competition. Dials made not earlier than January 2005 are eligible in one of the following classes: Professional, Amateur, Restoration and Junior. The last category is for individuals or groups under 21. Submissions will close on 1st December 2009. Copies of the rules and application forms are now available from: J A Belk, 16 Colton Road, Shrivenham, Swindon, SN6 8AZ CHIPPING CAMPDEN SUNDIAL TRAIL The local historical society in cooperation with a local school has researched and produced an illustrated trail of eight sundials in this north Gloucestershire market town. No one knows why the townsfolk were so obsessed with knowing the time from the seventeenth to early nineteenth centuries, but seven of the dials are in the lovely High Street only a few doors apart from each other. Copies of this trail are available from CADHAS, The Old Police Station, High Street, Chipping Campden, GL55 6HB for 90p including postage and packing: (cheques and postal orders payable to CADHAS please). For more than a single copy please obtain a price from enquiries@chippingcampdenhistory.org.uk Jill Wilson Sundial On Display in Oxford The first hand-engraved brass double horizontal sundial for nearly three centuries is on display until 10 March 2009 at the Oxford Museum of the History of Science (Broad Street, Oxford, www.mhs.ox.ac.uk). Designed and made by Joanna Migdal, the dial was shown being engraved on page 191 of the December Bulletin. It will be in the Entrance Gallery of the museum together with 17th century examples of similar instruments for a few more days before being permanently installed elsewhere in Oxford. Don’t miss it!
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