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 on a chimney-breast on the northern side of Canons Cloister, at a height of about 2m. It was initiated and designed by Charlotte Manley, Chapter Clerk, delineated by John Davis amd manufactured by David Harber. It shows the times of the six principal daily services in the Chapel, using gold lines and small brown lettering for the names of the services. The three early morning times are Mattins (7:30 am), Holy Communion (8:00 am) and Sunday Holy Communion (8:30 am). Next come Sung Mattins (10:45 am) and Sung Eucharist (11:45 am), and the final service is Evensong (5:15 pm). The dial only sees the sun from March to October, so the times are all BST.
The Chapel is the spiritual home of the Garter Knights, and around the dial is their motto ’HONI SOIT QUI MAL Y PENSE’ in raised gold lettering on a blue buckled belt. The belt and motto form the badge of the chapel, and also feature on the Henry Wynne dial on the northern terrace (SRN 6338).
The gnomon represents a hemp press, a tool used in the manufacture of hemp and flax rope, an emblem of the Bray family, who have historical and continuing connections with the chapel.
Ref: BSS Bulletin 25(ii), June 2013, pp14-17.
