Woolfardisworthy Worries!
....or the story of the disappearing Church dial
Some time ago the then Registrar of the BSS (Patrick Powers) received notice that a dial first recorded in 1978 was no longer to be found. Clearly this was very sad since many church sundials are old and they are usually very well delineated. So, a loss by theft or damage is disturbing to say the least. The dial in question had been recorded at the Church of All Hallows in the village of Woolfardisworthy in Devon. (It should perhaps be stated for those readers who might (just possibly!) be unfamiliar with English pronounciations that the village name is pronounced 'Woolsery').
Anyway, the Register database was duly amended and there the matter rested for some months. Then another of the then small army of UK dial recorders alerted the Registrar to the fact that the dial was indeed present at the Church. Later another recorder wrote to confirm that the dial was indeed absent!
Faced with this unbelievable confusion and whilst bemoaning the lot of a Registrar during an exchange of emails with the late Andrew James - he being one of the most diligent dial recorders in the BSS - he said that he was going to be in Devon on business and would try to clear the matter up. His response was unexpected.
He duly reported that, almost unbelievably, there are TWO villages called Woolfardisworthy and BOTH are in Devon. Both have churches too - but only the one has a dial. So, the database was duly corrected again and the details recorded.
In fact a small mystery still remains since (as can be seen from the photograph above) the dial is located to the right of the building high up on the South Transept. Indeed it is not easy to read because of its position and the early photographs were not very clear. However, what was clear was that the dial had been designed as an East declining dial but it was also and additionally canted out from the wall. The excellent picture below dated May 2022 shows the situation very clearly.
This rather indicates that the dial might have been moved during its life, possibly from another part of the church or even from a quite different building. On top of this the dial is supported by modern galvanised fittings rather than the usual stone corbels and so that might have been somehow involved.
Recently SunInfo has been sent an excellent image of the dial. It is shown here as it was in May 2022 and this not only shows the dial, but also its condition, its mounting and its motto 'Sol tibi signa dabit', The sun will show you..
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