Hi Steve, Many years ago a fellow worker told me of window dials something like what you describe. It is very long ago, and even his name and family origons are lost to me, but the details of his sundial construction remain. I do recall that his origons were in the far northern part of the world.
We had been conversing about chip carving and wandered into the area of sundials as well, since he knew it to be another area I was interested in. He said they carved out deep narrow notches which, when the sun fully filled the notch, it was that particular time. He said that sometimes the notches were laid out in a decorative pattern but that usually they each appeared to be randomly placed, depending on which if any notches already existed. Some windows for instance had only a narrow area where the sun could shine on the sill and it was hard to find room for many notches. Some of the notches were for specific days only, others were for times to start dinner before the men came home from the fields, etc. I hope this helps. Sorry my memories are so poor on this. Edley [43.126N 123.357W] > I'm doing some research relating to Acadian material culture, and came > across a brief mention of domestic sundials. The reference is originally > from "Chéticamp, histoire et traditions acadiennes" (CHIASSON, Fr. > Anselme, 1961, Moncton). There is a passage describing the construction, > layout and furnishing of Acadian homes in Chéticamp, Nova Scotia. The > houses being described were built rather hastily by Acadians returning > after the Deportations*. The period of construction would have been the > late 1700s. Fr. Chiasson mentions that a few of the original houses > remained standing until the end of C.19th. They were simple one room > structures built of wood, with a loft used for storage and as a bedroom > for children. Although he doesn't mention the roof materials, I think it > is likely to have been straw thatch since that was the norm in the period > before the deportations, and so the eaves would presumably have been too > uneven and fuzzy to act as the style of a sundial. > > The fragment of interest translates to "There were notches in the window > sash by which it was made possible to tell the time according to the sun's > rays". > > The document gives the impression that it was normal for Acadian homes to > have these devices. They were peasant homes, 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? Also, based on C.18th > practices in North America or in France, is the assertion that most > Acadian homes had such a dial likely to be true? > > Thanks, Steve > > * That's when the English expelled the Acadians (descendants of French > settlers) who refused to give allegiance to the King of England. Under the > Treaty of Utrecht, France had ceded Nova Scotia to the English and > assigned the population to be English ever more. Unfortunately the > Acadians didn't agree that the King of France had any business turning > them into English people. Years later some were able to return to the > region but not to their original homes, hence the establishment of a new > community at Chéticamp on Cape Breton Island, which still under French > control. Others migrated south and became the Cajuns. > >
