St John the Evangelist Parish Church, Whitchurch

Very large vertical dial on the south side of the church tower. The stone dial has all numerals and inscriptions carved in relief. It shows 6am to 5pm. Full length hour lines terminate on a semicircle round the gnomon root. Shorter half hour lines (some omitted) have fleurs de lys in the rectangular chapter ring. The vertical Roman numerals have XII at noon and IV at 4pm. There is no noon gap, but the gnomon is quite a thin strip of iron with a single thin supporter. The name J. Wilson and date 1828 are carved in the semicircle. We do not know if J Wilson was the maker or, perhaps, the commissioning churchwarden. On either side of the dial are pillars supported by corbels carved as human faces. Above it is a row of quatrefoils under castellations, the whole protected from the weather by a sheet of lead. Note that a photograph of the dial on Flickr dated 2009 shows damage to the V numeral. See http://www.flickr.com/photos/rpmarks/3235884827/