S0135

Too high above the south porch of the church of St Meriadocus for some of its features, particularly the Equation of Time table, to be distinguished is this handsome vertical south dial. It is intact apart from the lower left corner and its outer scale divides the hours VI to VI into five minute intervals. It has two cheerful mottoes: “Remember Death” and “Hora Pars Vitae” (An hour is part of life). The break-arched dial plate measures 740mm x 580mm. The EoT scale has letters S and F indicating whether the dial is slow or fast while four circles with a dot in the centre might be meant to indicate the four days in the year when dial and clock agree, but only the April one is anywhere near correct. Could there be some other explanation? The maker has signed himself ‘Philomath’, but without leaving sufficient room for the inscriber, who has had to add the last two letters in superscript. The date below is 1793 and in her drawing of 1957, Mrs Crowley has included the letters MES and ER near the broken corner. They can be seen in this photograph of 1966, but are no longer visible on the dial.

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