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Inverkeithing Mercat Cross – sundial restoration complete

Inverkeithing Mercat Cross, the capital stone, cube sundial, and unicorn fully restored.

The Inverkeithing Mercat Cross is a tall stone column in the centre of the town. The capital stone, cube sundial, and unicorn sculpture are at the top of the column. There has been no ‘Cross’ as a Christian symbol on the column since the Reformation. Photo: Graciela Ainsworth.

The Inverkeithing Mercat Cross is a tall and handsome piece of historic town architecture. The Mercat Cross in Scottish towns was a symbol of licensed authority to trade in goods, and the trading place was at the Cross. The sundial would be a 17th century addition, now fully restored, together with the heraldic capital stone and the symbolic unicorn of Scotland.

The sundial is a cube stone which is ideal for a prominent place in a town. It is visible from all sides and it shows the time at all hours of the day. Continue reading

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Haddo House cube stone sundial restored and reading solar time

Haddo House stone cube sundial

This sundial cube stone has fine carving detail. Each of five faces can read the time. The horizontal dial carved in the stone on top indicates an ornamental piece for a garden. A cube set on a tall pillar or on a wall will have the side dials only. Photo: Graciela Ainsworth.

This cube stone sundial stands in the garden of Haddo House, the National Trust for Scotland property in Aberdeenshire. When we examined it at the workshop, it had broken and missing gnomons and moss obscured the dials. After restoration the dials can now read solar time properly again.

A cube dial has the mathematical attraction of reading time by the sun on south, east, west, and north faces. As a result, as the sun moves round, the cube sundial is an excellent device for showing time Continue reading

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Restoration of Inverkeithing Mercat Cross, finding true North

The azimuth sundial instrument

The azimuth sundial used as a measuring instrument for finding north. The cursor is set for the date, the cursor arm is turned to set the time. The gnomon shadow and cursor are in line.

The Mercat Cross at Inverkeithing in Scotland is a tall stone column that dates from the 14th century. The top of the column has a sundial stone in the form of a cube and a unicorn. Restoration of the whole column is now complete. To re-install the sundial stone correctly we had to find a true north line.

The north line is the direction that shadows will fall at noon, and Noon is the exact time of day when the sun is in the south. Continue reading

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Sundial stones found in a Scottish garden — the cruciform stone

Cruciform sundial stone

The cruciform stone has four concave sides leaving four curving arms between them, thus creating the cross shape. This particular stone has a small concave end on each curving arm [not visible in the photo]. So the single stone has eight dials, on four large concave sides and four small ones. [Note: the shadow in this photo is from indoor lighting not from the sun.]

The cruciform type of sundial stone is a clever idea. During the day, as the sun moves round, each of the dials in turn will show a shadow and indicate the time. The straight dial edges cast the shadows. A cruciform stone can be on a lectern sundial but this one appears unique. Continue reading

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North alignment on a Victorian pedestal

Sun direction measured with an angle finder

The direction of the sun measured against one edge of the octagonal stone pedestal using the angle finder and light slit

A Victorian sundial pedestal stands in the gardens of Riccarton estate outside Edinburgh. It once held a beautiful octagonal dial which is now in safe storage. A replacement dial is to go on show and it must be in a correct orientation. The gnomon on a sundial must point north. A wrong alignment will make the sundial inaccurate, and nothing on the 19th century pedestal actually marks the north. Continue reading

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Looking for a place for our armillary sundial

Looking for a place for our armillary sundial

The armillary sundial captures the dynamics of the earth spinning on its axis and orbiting the sun. The equatorial band is pierced with markers for the hours. A meridian band shows the seasons.

Now that we have moved, we have been looking for a place for our armillary sundial. Before, it was nestling gently in its surroundings with plants in the garden growing up through the rings and wrapping themselves around. For the moment it is out in the open where  we can see it better. It has an air of almost floating on its stand with the lightness of the rings and the delicate shadows on the ground. Continue reading

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A sundial commission unwrapped for an 80th birthday celebration

A sundial commission for an 80th birthday celebration

The design is a polar sundial, which tilts up at the latitude angle. The happy owner has unwrapped his 80th birthday present from the family.

“My father turns 80 this year and we are looking to commission a sundial in celebration. Is this possible? What’s the process? How long does it take?” When this email appeared in our inbox one day in March of course we wanted to follow it up. It sounded such a lovely suggestion from the family. Later when we learned a little more it looked like a perfect plan. Continue reading

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Armillary sundial reads summer solstice by the shadow of a ball at noon

At the summer solstice the armillary sundial casts a shadow of the ball at noon

At summer solstice the ball on the upper tropic ring casts its shadow exactly onto the opposite ring below. The upper tropical ring is the tropic of Cancer and lower ring is Capricorn.

The armillary sphere dates back to ancient times when astronomers created their own vision of the earth and the heavens. The idea still works today and our own design creates a sundial with a special feature of two balls that mark the passage of the seasons by their shadows. One of the balls reads summer solstice. This is the high point of the year when the sun is highest in the sky. Continue reading

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Armillary sundial shadow one month on from winter solstice

Armillary sundial shadow one month on from winter solstice

The shadow of the ball on the sundial follows the sun all year round. The sun is low in the sky in winter, and it reaches its lowest point at the Winter Solstice on 21st December. This photo is one month later on 20th January. The sun is already higher in the sky, and the ball’s shadow has moved down.

Sundials catch a shadow from the sun. It is such a simple idea. The shadow on the sundial shows the sun’s position in the sky and the sundial reads it out as time, usually the time of day and often the time of year as well. Our armillary sundial is a special one with two balls that give the time of the year measured by the height of their shadow at noon. One ball casts a shadow in the winter months and the other one in summer. Continue reading

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Accurate Solar Time Sundial Installed in a North London Garden

Accurate Solar Time sundial installed and set up at the exact time of local Noon

The sundial is in our client’s garden in North London. The sundial faces due south. We set it up at Noon on 28 November, using accurate corrections for the Equation of Time and local Longitude. The photo shows Solar Time at 12.30pm.

The world of solar time has fascinating ideas to explore. Our accurate sundial is almost a compendium of what a sundial can do. The client’s wish was something special for their newly created garden, and our design of a vertical sundial display appealed to them. Continue reading

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