Greetings fellow dialists,
Another contender for this title is the dial at Escomb, Co. Durham. The
graveyard of this church is circular, which suggests a Celtic community. Both
the Bewcastle sundial (not "sundials", there is only one on the cross) and the
Escomb dial are from around 700 AD and possibly earlier. There seems to be no
way of deciding the true antiquity of either. Translations of the badly eroded
runes on the Bewcastle dial are entirely fanciful. The Escomb dial is graduated
in ("three hourly") tides and perhaps the Bewcastle one once was and has since
been interfered with.
A third contender may be the only typical Celtic dial in the UK that I am aware
of. It is at Clynnog Fawr in North Wales (see BSS Bulletin 13(iv)) and much
resembles early dials in Ireland.
Strangely, there appear to be no Roman dials surviving in England, although
there must have been some once.
Frank
55N 1W
Hi David,
the earliest UK sundial is maybe the "Bewcastle sundials" at Cumberland. The
date of this noble cross shaft is A.D. 670.
You can see a complete capther about the earliest english sundials in Gatty,
The Book of Sundials at:
http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/gatty/sundials/49.html
Greetings,
Nicola Severino
>Can anyone tell me which is thought to be the earliest UK sundial?
>> David Brown
>> Somerton, Somerset, UK
>>
>
>
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