Susan Calman chats with Alastair Hunter about the grand sundial at Glamis Castle and finds out how to read the time.
Susan Calman loves her tours of Scotland uncovering secrets for her Channel 5 TV series, ‘Secret Scotland with Susan Calman’. This time she was in Aberdeenshire and Angus. She began with a visit to Glamis Castle, the much-loved family home of Her Majesty the Queen Mother. Susan could not miss the chance to see Scotland’s tallest sundial while she was there, Continue reading
The polyhedron is an upper part of the sundial with 80 dials, and an earl’s coronet on top. Four lion sculptures at a lower level carry dials in their claws.
In the extraordinary world of Scottish historic sundials, the supreme sundial monument stands at Glamis Castle. It is the tallest and grandest sundial and is in the grounds of one of the most beautiful castles in Scotland. In August 2020 a TV crew were filming there for a future series. They asked Alastair Hunter to Continue reading
Silver Dihelion dual sundial sculpture able to read solstice and equinox, summer, winter, spring and autumn seasons, and the daytime hours.
Summer Solstice 2020 in Edinburgh was a day of beautiful sunshine. What could be a better time to show off our Dihelion dual sundial, which can read the solstice and the equinox seasons and the daytime hours. Shifting patterns of sunlight and shadow and petals of the sunflower show through so clearly. There is a lovely Continue reading
The sundial consists of 61 multiple dials on raised panels and in sunken hollows. The date of the sundial is 1630. It has been made as an exhibition piece to show all of the sundial mathematics of its era.
The sundial obelisk at Drummond Castle in Perthshire has a long and distinguished history. It has its place in the architecture of the ancient castles and houses in Scotland. It is connected with the very earliest days of the British Sundial Society (BSS). And it is one of the most important free-standing sundials in the British Isles from the early 1600s still surviving.
In 2017 after almost four hundred years outdoors the sundial was showing serious signs of the stone deteriorating. The whole structure was feared to be unsound. Making it safe had become urgent. Continue reading
It is lovely when a new sundial and a new design of garden full of flowers go hand in hand. Very often a sundial finds itself a little out of place standing on its own, but look what happens when it fits into a whole design and planting scheme of a colourful garden. Continue reading
Multi-faceted stone sundial after restoration. There are 34 separate dials, two for local time and the others for different places round the world.
Restoration of ancient stone sundials in Scotland can be very successful. As a latest example, a multi-faceted sundial at Nunraw, East Lothian, was found in poor condition in the garden of a private estate where it stands. It has now been restored to full working order and looks spectacular. The restoration was completed in June 2019.
This sundial belongs to the great era of Scottish sundials in the 17th and 18th centuries. It consists of three multi-faceted stones with a total of 34 separate dials. Continue reading
The sundial dates from 1630. It has 61 individual dials and 131 separate ways of telling the time. An inscription in Latin carved into the stone explains the separate colours chosen for time. The lines remain but the colours have gone.
The sundial at Drummond Castle in Perthshire is the earliest of the distinctive style of sundials in Scotland. It dates from 1630. Three years ago it was removed from the garden for major repairs and conservation work. This restoration is now complete and the sundial stands tall in its glory again.
A sundial reinstatement ceremony was held on Sunday 23rd June 2019 at 11.00 am. Continue reading
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
Photo: City of Edinburgh Council
Sundial restoration is always interesting. Each case is different. Sometimes the sundial is historic and may need research. An eye for sculpture shapes and architecture is useful. There can be tricky calculations of geometry. The right use of materials and surface patination comes into it. And of course every restoration has to make the sundial work and read the time in sunshine.
The photo shows one of the dials on the monumental sundial in the walled garden at Saughton Park in Edinburgh. Continue reading
This vertical dial has hour lines radiating from the top, as well as the criss-cross pattern of Babylonian and Italian hour lines, plus the lines for solstice and equinox. Looking at the shadow of the gnomon, the time of day is 9:30 am and the time of year is the equinox. The Babylonian time is 3½ hours from sunrise, and the Italian time is 8½ hours before sunset. Adding these together the length of day for the equinox is 12 hours.—Note, the figure has no numbers. Once you learn how to read the lines, it is not hard to learn how to count them!
Babylonian and Italian hours are wonderful. They measure out the day from the time of sunrise to the time of sunset. Add them together and they will give you the number of hours of daylight. A simple ancient type of sundial like this one can measure times for you that you will hardly ever find on a modern watch. Continue reading