St Ida’s Church, St Issey

A badly sited electric lamp on the porch casts its own shadow on the dial plate. It is no excuse to say that the porch roof shades it as well. This dial was the last drawing to be made by Mrs Crowley in her Cornish sketchbooks and it is one of her best efforts. She was able to observe it in great detail since it was being stored in the vestry having been there since 1869 when the original porch and the church tower were demolished. It was not put back in place until 1992 on a new porch with a new gnomon. It is difficult now to see the carefully engraved floral decoration in the arch but the sun face below the gnomon root and the pillars at the side give an impression of how good the rest is. The date 1718 and the initials of the churchwardens, James and Gregory Gill, are to be found above the sunface. The motto ’Time for none doth stay and soon our lives decay’ has lost some of its letters.