Balliol College, Oxford

The dial stands in the grounds and is visible from Broad Street. It is in the form of a complete sphere with a moveable gnomon rotating about the poles, to indicate the time when it throws the least shadow. It is engraved ’Celebrating the thirtieth anniversary of the first admission of women’ and ’For all women at Balliol: past present and future’. It is both a sun and a moon dial. It tells the time during the day and doubles as a moon dial on the night of the full moon, and on three nights before and after, as the moon waxes and wanes, using the three bands above and below the main hour ring. An inscription ‘About Time’ is engraved around the base and is reflected in the mirrored surface. A line on the dial lights up each year on the actual date of the first woman’s admission – 11th October, because of a notch on the gnomon. A time capsule within the dial contains the names of current Balliol women as well as the class of 1979.