Dials on bridges seem not all that common and indeed I have a statement
before me that says that there are only three such dials in the British
Isles. This is a slight underestimate. I am aware of bridge dials at
Ross on Wye, Hereford, at Sinnington in North Yorkshire, at Corbridge
and at Berwick on Tweed, both Northumberland, and at Llanrwst, Gwynnedd,
North Wales. The Corbridge dial appears never to have been completed
while the dials at Sinnington, Berwick and Lllanrwst are all twentieth
century. The Ross dial, unlike the others, is a vertical and is in fact
a cube; I do not have a date for it.
A bridge seems an ideal place for a dial with lots of passers by and
unlikely to be overshadowed. Why, then, only recent bridge dials? Have
we knowledge of earlier bridge dials? In other countries?
By the way, the Berwick dial, which I am currently investigating, is a
1995 replacement for one lost in 1953 when a fisherman is said to have
moored his fishing net to it.
Frank 55N 1W.
-
- dials on bridges Frank Evans
-
