, Bicester

Modern rectangular vertical dial declining east of south, high on an office wall. The elegant dial appears to be correctly delineated, with black lines and numerals on a white ground. The wall declines 28 degrees east of south, so the gnomon is aligned with the 9:30am line. The full length hourlines terminate on a large semicircle, perhaps representing the sun, round the gnomon root. There are also half and quarter hour ticks in the chapter rings. Outside these are the upright Arabic hour numbers from 6am to 4pm. The gnomon is formed from sheet metal, with two pairs of brackets. For most of its length it appears to be rod-like, so the centre of the shadow can be ’read’ to give the time. Consequently there is no need for a noon gap (or a 9:30 gap as it would be on a declining dial!). The letters ’GMT’ in the top left of the dial may refer to Greenwich Mean Time or be the initials of the maker. The 12 o’clock line appears to be vertical, so the dial doesn’t seem to be longitude-adjusted for Bicester. Still, the maker might have wanted to make clear that the hours are not BST. Note that the dial is at the west end of Market Square, on the north side.