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.
This dial plate was re-discovered in a cupboard in 2002, and is now stored in the Wren Library. Perhaps because of its period of safe keeping, it is in excellent condition, though the gnomon is missing. It is inscribed ’John England / Charing Crofs England / 1703’ and ’Colleg Trin Cantab’.
The engraved numerals are clear and the grooves still retain their wax infill. Small screws at the root of the style are conjectured to be pivots for an associated swinging telescope. The dial shows 4am to 8pm in intervals down to 1 min, with fleur de lys half hour markers. The Roman numerals are read from outside the dial and use XII and IIII. Inside the chapter ring, the hours are also written in Arabic (16-24 and 1-8) with 24 at noon.
Trinity College (3), Trinity Street, Cambridge, CB2 1TQ, Cambridgeshire
