03-Sep-2024
In the last few weeks there have been a couple of enquiries about the history of Mass dials. One enquiry was from a writer who wanted to incorporate a dial into her children's story. The other was from a PhD student interested in the repurposing of pre Reformation artifacts in post Reformation England.
The PhD student is particularly interested in the 'transitional' dial at White Waltham. The dial might be dated 1585 which would make it a post or mid Reformation dial. The transept where the dial is engraved, is also reported as being covered with graffiti. There are two other dials recorded for White Waltham, both are disfigured by 'secondary working'. Secondary working is a term that covers everything from re-engraving or re-purposing to alterations both careful and careless.
There was also a report from a church warden at St Andrew's, Redbourne, North Lincolnshire. She sent a nice photograph of a dial that appears to have a full circle of 25 'hour' lines! The dial shows signs of some 'secondary working' which may explain this.
Ben Jones