March 2009 page 43
John Wall

Graveyard and other Memorial Sundials

This article explores sundials used as memorials, discussing their historical significance from Roman times. It details numerous examples, including tombstone dials, pillar-mounted dials in churchyards (e.g., St Mawnan's, Dryburgh Abbey), and war memorials. The article highlights epitaphs, theft incidents, and the symbolic connection between sundials and the passage of time.
Dials: Unusual, Historical Dials, Mottoes

December 2008 page 176
John Wall

Liverpool Road Station Sundial, Manchester—a second view

This article complements a previous one on the Liverpool Road Station sundial, Manchester. It discusses the dial's positioning at first-floor level, its installation in 1833, and its crucial role in regulating train timings by local apparent time before the introduction of uniform Railway Time in the 1840s, highlighting the sundial's importance in early railway operations.
Dials: Horizontal, Historical Dials

March 2007 page 10
John Wall

Earth’s rotation

John Wall explores the hypothetical consequences if the Earth's rotation on its axis were reversed. He details impacts on sunrise/sunset directions, calendar year length, solar day duration, star progression, International Date Line adjustments, and time zones. The article also touches upon how sundials would still function with reversed numerals.
How Sundials Work

September 2007 page 111
Robert Scott Simon
John Wall
Graham Aldred

Readers’ Letters

This section features three letters: Robert Scott Simon identifies a dial he made. John Wall comments on a bizarre sundial plot in a TV series, where a pivoted gnomon reveals gold. Graham Aldred discusses corrosion on sundial plates and P&G heliochronometers, suggesting material substitutions and their implications.
Dials: Heliochronometer, Restoration projects, The BSS and Members

September 2007 page 141
John Wall

The Dial of Ahaz

This article examines the biblical Dial of Ahaz where a shadow reversed ten degrees or steps. It explores the linguistic ambiguity and historical interpretations, including a 1578 replica claiming to demonstrate the miracle via water refraction, a claim experimentally disproven. The text discusses if it was a primitive dial or a scientific instrument.
Historical Dials

February 2006 page 16
John Wall

Church Orientation

This article investigates the east-west orientation of UK churches and its implications for vertical sundials. It discusses historical reasons, such as facing Jerusalem or equinox sunrise, alongside practical influences like site topography that cause deviations. The author advises checking a church's orientation carefully before installing new sundials.
Dials: Vertical, Sundial Design & Layout, Historical Dials

September 2006 page 107
John Wall

Time and Place

The author shares his experience in locating sundial-related place names across the UK using Ordnance Survey maps and street atlases. He recounts discoveries such as Sundial Farm, Dial House, and the famous Seven Dials in London, highlighting the unexpected insights cartography can offer into historical sundial presence and local nomenclature.
Historical Dials

December 2006 page 157
John Wall

The Dinmore Dial

John Wall re-examines the Dinmore sundial, attributing it to the Knights Hospitallers and dating it to the early 14th-century chapel. He identifies the unique symbol as the eight-pointed cross of St John and suggests the dial's purpose was to inform local parishioners of mass times, distinguishing it from simpler mass dials.
Historical Dials, Dials: Mass Dials

December 2005 page 155
John Wall

Reader’s Letter

A reader poses a hypothetical question about the consequences for gnomonics if the Earth rotated in the opposite direction. He notes that sundial hour-line numerals would need to be reversed and invites other readers to submit lists of possible effects, offering a reward for the most comprehensive list.
How Sundials Work

June 2004 page 59
John Wall

The Wayfarer’s Clock – Revisited

Historical research on the term 'Horologium Viatorum' in Anglo-Saxon and early medieval manuscripts, its links to portable sundial analogues, and its reinterpretation in fixed stone dials.
Historical Dials

December 2004 page 160
John Wall

Sundial for a golden wedding

Account of a commissioned engraved glass sundial created for a golden wedding anniversary. The gnomon is replaced with an aperture on the outer window, illuminating the dial on the engraved inner pane of glass. Covers design choices, layout and the inclusion of equation-of-time/longitude correction features, installation notes and the personal significance of the dedication.
Dials: Unusual, Sundial Design & Layout

December 2003 page 171
John Wall

The Wayfarer's Clock

Discussion of an Anglo Saxon vertical dial HOROLOGIUM
Dials: Mass Dials

June 2002 page 48
John Wall

Railway Time (3)

Explores the history and construction of the Stephenson sundial at Killingworth, discussing its educational significance and astronomical correctness.
Dials: Vertical, Historical Dials

December 2002 page 144
John Wall

On the Unreliability of Clocks

Humorous yet insightful reflection on the fallibility of domestic clocks versus the dependability of sundials, ending with a challenge to design a regulating system.
The BSS and Members

September 2001 page 92
John Wall

Old Father Time

This article explores three freestanding stone "Father Time" statues in Britain, each incorporating a horizontal sundial. All are attributed to sculptor John Nost from the early 18th century and feature sundial plates by Thomas Heath. The article discusses the origin of the Father Time iconography and notes the uniqueness of these statues in depicting him with a sundial rather than an hourglass.
Dials: Horizontal, Dials: Unusual, Historical Dials

December 2001 page 169
John Wall

Railway Time (2)

This article, the second part on railway-related sundials, describes two identical horizontal sundials commissioned in 1992. They commemorate the centenary of the Rochers de Naye mountain railway in Switzerland. These bronze dials feature a cogwheel design, an Equation of Time graph, and separate hour lines for summer and winter. The author notes that electric clocks are still preferred for official timekeeping, and clarifies the one-hour time zone difference between UK and Switzerland.
Dials: Horizontal, Equation of Time, Historical Dials

February 2000 page 11
John Wall

Railway Time

Discusses the transition from local time to Greenwich Mean Time prompted by the needs of railway timetables, and a sundial-themed punctuality trophy.
Historical Dials

June 2000 page 91
John Wall

The Search for Pre-Saxon Sundials

Speculative article on the possible existence of sundials before the Saxon period in Britain.
Historical Dials

October 1999 page 118
John Wall

The Sunrise Line

This article explores the 'Sunrise Line', defined as the boundary between day and night (the Terminator). The author dislikes the term 'Terminator' and proposes 'soloriensorbis' (sunrise semi-circle). It discusses how the line moves due to Earth's rotation and its appearance on a 2D map as a shallow 'S' shape. The article also touches on determining the first territory to greet the new millennium based on sunrise time, and queries how sundials perform at sunrise on mountaintops.
How Sundials Work

October 1994 page 24
John Wall

The Albert Park, Middlesbrough, Sundial

This article details the unusual vertical direct south sundial in Albert Park, Middlesbrough, a collaborative achievement designed by John Smith and commissioned by H.W.F. Bolckow in 1876. It highlights the dial's numerous literary quotations in four languages, reflecting Victorian spiritual sentiments, and its unique feature of showing time in New York, Melbourne, and Albert Park. The article discusses the dial's dilapidated state, the existence of an almost exact wooden copy (possibly a prototype), and delves into John Smith's eccentric life as a self-taught farmer-astronomer-diallist, tracing his earlier sundial creations and inventions that culminated in this masterpiece.
Dials: Vertical, Historical Dials