Time

Restoration of a multi-faceted Scottish stone sundial

Sundial restoration in Scotland

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

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When is the shortest day when days get longer?

Graph of solar parameters

Graph of three solar parameters that affect the time of sunrise and hence the shortest day in the northern hemisphere. Latitude is a fourth parameter.

Summer has come and days are warmer—holidays are round the corner—but longer days are here no longer… Well, it is past summer solstice already! It is true the days are shortening now in the northern hemisphere. But when will the days get longer again? This is a technical puzzle. Like everything solar and astronomical there is no easy answer to the question.

Each year in December the media speak about the shortest day and then go on to say the mornings will still get darker. They are correct but how can this be? I thought I ought to clarify the question for myself if I could. It probably will not relieve anyone’s confusion by starting with a graph, so I have put my own study of the shortest day into an article for The British Sundial Society.

It has turned out a longer read than I expected—A study of the shortest day, Alastair Hunter. BSS Bulletin Volume 31(ii) June 2019

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Drummond Castle Sundial Restoration

Drummond Castle Sundial Obelisk

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

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Babylonian and Italian hours measure the day

Babylonian and Italian hours on a sundial

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

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Oak leaf sundial art

Oak leaf sundial

This beautiful sculpture projects the shadow of oak leaves etched in glass onto the carved sundial panel behind. The shadow of a single oak bud falls in exactly the right place to tell the time.

There is so much pleasure in owning a work of art done by a friend. For a sundial person the pleasure is even greater when this is a sculpture that can show the time. Today we set the sculpture up at home and we were amazed how beautifully it comes to life in sunshine. All the fundamentals of a sundial underlie this marvellous creation. Continue reading

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Kinloch Anderson Sundial Restored at Inverleith Park

Inverleith Park sundial restored in 2018

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

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A sundial commission with a circular Enoch calendar

Sundial commission with a circular Enoch calendarOne 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.

Continue reading

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Dihelion sundial sculpture measures winter sunshine

Dihelion sundial sculpture in winter sunshine

This dual sundial captures the time of day and the season of the year with two separate gnomons, which cast two separate shadows. In this photo the season gnomon casts its shadow in winter sunshine. The shadow falls at a low angle and crosses a sundial marker for Winter Solstice.

It is always intriguing to see how many different measurements can be made with a sundial, and in how many different ways. The Dihelion sundial measures in two ways, and you wait for a whole year before the measurements repeat themselves, but it is always fascinating. The photo catches a moment of winter sunshine when Dihelion throws a shadow at a shallow angle across a winter solstice marker. Continue reading

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Friends of Inverleith Park Invite Speaker on Sundials

Kinloch Anderson sundial in Inverleith Park, Edinburgh.

This stone sundial, erected in 1890 in the new Inverleith Park in Edinburgh, was presented by Councillor Kinloch Anderson. [Photo: Dennis Cowan]

The Friends of Inverleith Park take great pride in their large popular park in the City of Edinburgh. There is a sundial garden and a historic sundial monument. For their AGM on 27 November, the Friends invited Alastair Hunter to speak on the subject of ‘A Look at Sundials’. He showed pictures of old and new sundials, and explained how this ancient method of finding time by the sun continues to be reborn today Continue reading

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Study of an old stone sundial on an estate in Fife

An old stone sundial in Fife

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

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