Civic Centre, Ardrossan

Unusual facetted block with hemispherical hollows E & W, & convex hemispheres N & S (not marked as dials), set in complex geometric arrangement of flat surfaces all marked as dials. Many faces bear a single letter (for example the left hand cube is labelled ’A’) suggesting that there might have been an accompanying handbook describing the use of the dial. Gnomons missing. The east face bears the date 1795 and the inscription ’R W / KIRKHALL / ARCHITECT’, and on the west face is ’R W / KIRKHALL / OWNER’. Below the plinth is a lower block carved with various geometric hollows, marked as dials, with gnomons present. This lower block bears four inscriptions. The couplets are hard to decipher in places and include odd spelling, but appear to be more or less as follows: North: USE ALL FREEDOM WITH YOUR EYE / BUT LET NOT THE HAND COME NIGH; East: TENDER IS STONE AND BREAKS IF SET IN LINE / IF TWIST CRACK OR BREAK LOST IS ALL DESIGN; South: MY BEAUTY THE SUN ONLY CAN DISPLAY / IF BUT HURT ME AWAY GO THEY; West: CONNOISSEUR LAT CHARITY BE KEPT IN VIEW / BE INFORMED MY ARCHITECT ONLY BRED TO PLOW. The dial was originally at Kirkhall Farm, and then in the sunken garden on the Promenade at Ardrossan as shown in the earlier pictures here (May 1985), before being moved to its current location (June 2014). Ref: A R Somerville, Proc Soc Antiq Scot, 117, 1987, ’The Ancient Sundials of Scotland’ Ref: C Northeast, ’The Moving Sundial of Ardrossan’, BSS Bulletin 27(i) March 2015 pp 18-24