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 found in the lower walled garden, to the far north-east of the house. It is in the form of an octagonal cylinder with a dial on each of its eight faces, and stands on four levels of octagonal steps. In 1912, Country Life described it as having a group of Atlases in lead, above, carrying the world on their shoulders, but no sign of this remains today. The faces use upright Arabic numerals, and have hour lines. At the top of each face is N, NE, E, etc. The four intermediate dials have a half-star at the root of the gnomon. Only a few gnomon portions remain, with the NW having the largest surviving piece. Most of an engraving around the capstone above the dials is still legible and it probably read ’Set me / right and use / me well / and I / the time / to you / will tell’, (W, SW, S, SE, E, NE, N). The NW part of the capstone is broken away. It is a motto more usually found on pocket dials, and hardly appropriate to this massive piece!
