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.
The dial is over the main entrance of the school, which was attended by William Wordsworth from 1778-87. It was restored in November 1997 by BSS members the Scobie Youngs of Dacre near Penrith (the Cumbria Clock Co), when the curator John West assisted in the retrieval of the near-effaced inscriptions. The dial slab is canted 10 degrees, thought to reflect the need to show the early hours of the school day. Inscriptions at the top read ’Lat 54 22 10 Decl 30 20 / PI Long 35 43 40’, with PI Long standing for Plane’s Longitude. The dimensions given are taken from the original dial, which is believed to have been installed in memory of the Archbishop of York who first set up the school in 1585. Incidentally this was Edwin Sandes (Sandys) who was jailed in the Tower for a while for supporting Lady Jane Grey. The building itself was constructed in 1675. The date of the dial is uncertain.
2001
2010
2003
Old Grammar School, Main Street, Hawkshead, LA22 0NT, Cumbria
