The name of Nineveh is carved in stone on one hexagonal facet of this historic Scottish sundial.
Nineveh in Mesopotamia is one of the oldest trading cities in the world. Sitting next to the Tigris river it lay at the cross-roads of trade routes to north, south, east and west. The ancient site is now Mosul in modern day Iraq. In 2019, it was a surprise to find the name of Nineveh carved on a historic stone sundial in the south of Scotland, which was to be restored. Continue reading
This historic sundial probably dates from the 1630s. It was placed in its present position in 1893.
This year’s sundials tour visited parks and gardens in Edinburgh. It is the latest in a series of large and small events to help raise funds for the YACHT project at Greenbank Church, which supports ‘Youth at CHurch Today’. In recent years the tour has been to George Heriot’s School and the National Museum of Scotland (2017), and Lennoxlove near Haddington (2015).
This year we were a group of nine who heard about a fascinating background of art, science, history, and people. Continue reading
The Inverleith Park sundial originally gifted by Edinburgh firm Kinloch Anderson in 1890 was newly restored by the same company in June 2018.
It was a great day seeing the Kinloch Anderson sundial fully restored at Inverleith Park on Saturday 16th June 2018. It marks 150 years since 1868 when the company was founded. The company held a celebration party for their many guests. The Lord Provost of Edinburgh Continue reading
This very interesting sundial stone dates from 1777 and has beautiful carved lettering. The new gnomon is elevated at the correct angle of 60°, equal to the angle of latitude. It replaces the broken fragment of an earlier gnomon.
This very interesting sundial stone was found hidden under bushes in an overgrown garden in a small village near Inverness in the north of Scotland. It is known as the Craigdarroch stone after the place where it was found. The stone is carved with sundial lines and hours Continue reading
One or two years ago we had a general enquiry about making a sundial with a calendar marked on it. Some sundials are marked with a calendar in a graphical form like an elongated figure-of-eight. This is called the analemma, and it might have been the answer to the enquiry. In fact our own Solar Time sundial is a design that displays the analemma.
Read the complete story in the attached article, A SUNDIAL COMMISSION WITH A CIRCULAR ENOCH CALENDAR.
This stone sundial, erected in 1890 in the new Inverleith Park in Edinburgh, was presented by Councillor Kinloch Anderson. [Photo: Dennis Cowan]
An original stone sundial with two dial faces dated 1746 found on an estate in Fife.
The owner of an old stone sundial on an estate in Fife wanted to know where it belonged. The stone was lying on the ground behind farm buildings and no one could say where it had come from. Was it the correct latitude for the estate, could we study it for them and find out more?
The date 1746 carved on the stone certainly confirmed this sundial was old. Continue reading
This marvellous small sundial sculpture sits on a wall of one of the classrooms for the youngest children at George Heriot’s School in Edinburgh. We looked at it closely during our tour of sundials in the school this morning. The sculptor and probably the children as well have introduced a number of lovely features into this piece. There is the beautifully modelled hawk and globe, which is an ancient Egyptian symbol of the sun god, there is the mouse and some lines of poetry from Robert Burns, and there is the T-square remembering the late architect Bob Clunas who designed the building. Continue reading
Historic sundial at Palace of Holyrood commissioned by King Charles I for his Scottish coronation in 1633.
It is always interesting to see how people will react to a sundials talk. I usually say they are in the majority if they know nothing at all about this fascinating yet unfamiliar subject. In the 21st century sundials have largely been forgotten, but I try to explain how sundials were once an essential part of the science of timekeeping. Their designs spanned an extraordinary range from purely functional to wildly exuberant sculpture monuments. Today those old traditions of imaginative design are still alive, providing new generations with pleasure and enjoyment from timeless and beautiful sundials.
You can see the slides for my talk here, PROBUS EDINBURGH TALK ON SUNDIALS – Copyright Macmillan Hunter 2017.