Nearly 7,000 dials are currently recorded. The split by type, by major location, and by age, is shown below.
Horizontal.
2,513
examples in the Register (as at July 2011). In its simplest form, this is the common
‘garden centre’ dial, often in brass or bronze. To tell the time
properly, as for any ‘scientific’ dial, the sloping edge of the gnomon must
point directly to the Pole Star. This means that not only is the
‘noon’ mark on the dial directed to the North, but also the slope of the
gnomon must equal the latitude for the place where it is installed. A
well designed and made horizontal dial can be a precision instrument,
showing sun time to an accuracy of a minute. It is sometimes engraved
with the means to convert to clock time depending on the date, using a table
known as the ‘Equation of Time’, and good examples are often engraved with
the maker’s name and date.
[SRN 0562, Westleigh, Devon]
Vertical.
2,957
in the Register. Normally seen on a church, above the South porch or
on the tower. They were often used as a means to correct the church
clock (the dial would set the time, the clock would then keep the time,
through the night and dull days). They are made in a variety of
materials, and sometimes show the names of the churchwardens under whose
auspices they were erected, and sometimes also the season, by means of
‘lines of declination’. The shadow of a marker on the gnomon, known as
a nodus, lies on one of a series of painted or engraved curves, typically
one for the summer solstice, one for the winter, and one for the equinoxes.
Most verticals face directly to the South, and you may occasionally see one that is canted slightly to one side, to correct for a non-South-facing wall. However they can be designed for a wall facing in any direction, even one facing North!
[SRN 0603, Lewes, E Sussex]
Equatorial.
406
in the Register. Also known as Equinoctial dials or Armillary spheres.
The only vital components are the gnomon (pointing as always to the Pole
Star) and the equatorial ring on which the hours are marked. However
several other rings may be introduced, and they can be the most attractive
of all dials. This dial has the simplest of mathematics, with the
hours marked at regular 15 degree intervals around the equatorial ring.
[SRN 0606, Merton College, Oxford]
Polar.
These
are not seen so often, and we have just 41 recorded. The dial plate,
unlike with a horizontal or vertical dial, lies parallel to the gnomon, and
the hour lines are parallel across its width. In a popular variant, the dial
is made in the form of a cross.
[SRN 6548, Bridlington, E Yorkshire]
Multiple.
554
examples, many in Scotland. Sometimes many dials are
incorporated in a single mount, often a stone block carved to a cube or to a
complex geometrical form. Sometimes found on the Market Cross in the
centre of a town, and many extremely complex examples can be found north of
the Border, where they were popular in the 17th to the 19th centuries.
[SRN 1489, Glamis Castle, Tayside]
Analemmatic.
116
examples, mostly modern. This form of dial breaks away from the
need for a sloping gnomon. Instead the gnomon is vertical, and is
commonly provided by the body of the viewer. To allow for the varying
height of the sun in summer and winter, the viewer stands on one of a set of
‘month’ positions, and his or her shadow indicates the time on a large
ellipse marked out on the ground. It is naturally not a precise
time-teller, but its interactive nature makes it increasingly popular.
[SRN 4580, Sherbourne, Dorset]
Other.
136
in the Register. These include ‘scaphe’ dials, where the hours
are marked in a scooped-out hollow, spherical dials where the ‘shadow-line’
tells the time or where a movable gnomon is used, and many other varieties.
[SRN 5682, Hartland, Devon]
| % | ||||
| Horizontal | 2513 | 37 | ||
| Vertical | 2957 | 44 | ||
| Equatorial | 406 | 6 | ||
| Polar | 41 | 1 | ||
| Multiple | 554 | 8 | ||
| Analemmatic | 116 | 2 | ||
| Other | 136 | 2 | ||
| Total | 6723 | 100 |
| % | ||||
| England (incl. the Channel Is, Isle of Man, Scilly Is) |
5910 | 88 | ||
| Scotland | 519 | 8 | ||
| Wales | 168 | 2 | ||
| Northern Ireland | 51 | 1 | ||
| Eire | 51 | 1 | ||
| Overseas | 24 | - | ||
| Total | 6723 | 100 |
We have a date for nearly 2/3 of our dials:
| % | ||||
| 21st. century | 510 | 8 | ||
| 20th. century | 1544 | 23 | ||
| 19th. century | 726 | 11 | ||
| 18th. century | 973 | 14 | ||
| 17th. century | 477 | 7 | ||
| 16th. century and earlier | 78 | 1 | ||
| Date not known | 2415 | 36 | ||
| Total | 6723 | 100 |