Jodrell Bank, Goostrey

The dial was understood to be held in store at Jodrell Bank in June 2011, but its location was unconfirmed in October 2021. It was originally located at Loudoun Castle, Ayrshire, which was burnt down in 1941. By 1990 it was restored and transferred to Anne Somerville’s house in Higher Poynton, from where after further restoration by George Higgs it was to be presented as a gift to the Jodrell Bank Arboretum in about 1999. The intention was that it should be returned to Loudoun Castle if and when it is ever rebuilt. All the accompanying photographs are from Higher Poynton, where the dial stood on a square chamfered sandstone column 750 high. It is a facetted block with north-facing equatorial star and a south-facing polar hemi-cylinder projecting down from the top cusps of the star. Other surfaces are flat or with various-shaped hollows including a large bowl (S), hearts (E & W), and small inclining bowls (N, S, E & W), with dials on all available surfaces including the south polar. There are declination lines marked on some dials, and pin gnomons in the bowl hollows. Ref: A R Somerville, The Ancient Sundials of Scotland,1990, page B12, 25; & Proc Soc Antiq Scot 117 1987.