BRIDOL is the British Sundial Society's Register of Fixed and Mass Dials, which gives detail and photographs of about 8000 fixed sundials and 3000 mass dials in the UK.
Some of these are in private gardens, but the majority are publicly available.
The dial is in the east garden on an elegant fluted stone baluster pedestal. It was set up by the owner’s great grandfather so the installation date could be in the 1870s.
At the centre is a 32-point compass rose, labelled to NbE etc. Around this, read from the centre, is ’PORT ELIOT’ on the east side, and on the west side ’LAT 50 24 LON 4 16’. On the north, read from the north, is the maker’s name, of which only ’W . . Holborn London’ can now be read, but it is W S Jones. Other dials by Jones were made in the 1820s.
To the south of the compass rose, read from the east and occupying the gap in the chapter ring, is a table of the EOT in four pairs of rows, too eroded to be fully legible. In each pair, the upper row is labelled at the left ’Mins’ and the lower ’Days / Months’. The corrresponding numbers in the table on the right are now unreadable.
The chapter ring shows hours IIII - XII - IIII - VIII, read from the outside, with half hour arrow markers, and divided to single minutes in the outermost ring, numbered internally in Arabic at 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60.
The unpierced gnomon has short quarter-round cylinder supporters with tapered ends.
