The Restoration of a 17C Lectern Sundial

David Brown

Entered into the 2025 Design Awards

This sundial, as illustrated in The Book of Sun-dials (Gatty) and Sundials of the British Isles (Cowham) had been in very in very poor condition for some years with physical damage, rust stains, cracks and weathering. It was referred to me from the owner in Northumberland through BSS member Joanna Migdal.

I collected it from an intermediary's home in Gloucestershire in 2023 and put it under cover while I did an assessment of what needed to be done. Over several weeks I photographed its condition, drew diagrams and made notes of what I would need to do. In outline, this would be to stabilise the structure, to clean the surfaces (rust stains, organic growth etc) , to replace missing stone, to replace the ferrous gnomons with brass ones, to refresh the lines and lettering inscriptions. The surface-cleaning process included taking the sundial for a few days in Bristol to undergo laser treatment.

The whole restoration took around a year.

A full description is given in the BSS Bulletin Vol 36(iv) December 2024, and the dial is available on Bridol here: https://sundialsoc.org.uk/wp_bridol/pages/S2/S2227.html