Message text written by "Steve Lelievre" >...but it seems to me that the notches were more than a simple noon mark. After all, it says "there were notches", not "there was a notch". Can anybody tell me or hazard a guess as to what type of sundials these would have been?<
Although the word 'notch' rather suggests something different, it may be that these dials had some similarity to the Scratch (or Mass) Dials to be seen on mediaeval churches in England - and in some parts of France. They generally take the form of a central hole in which a horizontal gnomon would be placed and a series of scratches arranged radially (most frequently over a semicircle below the gnomon) which marked the times of Mass. An excellent site for a bibliography on such dials is www.argonet.co.uk/users/hamleg/dint Patrick
