BRIDOL is the British Sundial Society's Register of Fixed and Mass Dials, which gives detail and photographs of about 8000 fixed sundials and 3000 mass dials in the UK.
Some of these are in private gardens, but the majority are publicly available.
On the south side of the bridge over the River Wye is a cube sundial with a ball finial. It was commissioned by Jonathan Barrow in 1718. It has dials on all faces and the hours covered are: South, VI - VI divided into halves, East, IV - XI undivided, West, I - VIII (hour lines only), North, IIII - VIII am and p.m. Divided into halves. Each face is 380mm square. The motto, formerly under the South but now under the North face, is ’Esteem thy precious time / Which pass[es?] so swift away / Prepare thee for Eternity / And do not make delay’. Square section bulbous baluster pedestal, the whole structure being 3800mm high.
The dial was moved to the down-river (south) side during the Second World War due to widening of the bridge to allow tanks to cross. Postcards up to April 1942 show it on the north side.
