The Rothbury Sundials
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The Rothbury Sundials - Article in Clocks Magazine of November 1991.
By Keith Bates
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I have been interested in sundials for some years now and have spent many interesting holidays (much to the dismay of my family) searching out these ancient forms of timekeeping in various parts of the British Isles. I first caught the bug after reading an article in Antiquarian Horology December 1973, written by Mr Charles Aked about the Bewcastle Cross and sundial which is carved on the cross. Mr Aked also wrote an article about the Bewcastle Clock in Clocks for August 1986.
I had heard of the cross through my interest in Anglo-Saxon architecture and had realised that the study of sundials was closely connected with the study of early architecture, which mainly consists of old churches. Most if not all of the early sundials are connected with these churches. The study of pre-Norman crosses is part of the same project. After visiting a number of the early dials in various parts of the country I soon realised that there were a number of very interesting sundials very close to my home, spread throughout the ancient kingdom of Northumbria, stretching from the Humber in the south to the Firth of Forth in the north. One of the most interesting dials was almost on my own doorstep in Rothbury. All Saints Church, Rothbury (figure 1) is famous for its fine pre-Norman tall cross, very little of which remains today.
A cubic dial (figure 2) which is said to have been situated on top of the old church porch, was lost after the demolition work of 1850 but was later found among the old grave stones and is now sited near the new porch entrance. It measures 18in by 18in by 19in and has four dials carved on its surfaces, one each on the east and west faces and two on the south face. The south face has the date 1714 carved into it and some remains of old writing between the numerals and crossed line at 12 noon.
An entry in the vestry accounts for the church in 1728 states that “For white lead and Lamb black for ye Sun Dial – 0 0 9, For Whitning and new drawing the lines and figures – 0 1 0”. Joseph Harle made the first clock for the church which was installed in the old tower in 1740 which would have been used in conjunction with the sundial up to 1820 when the clock was in bad repair and was not replaced until 1897. If, as the historians tell us, the sundial was on top of the old porch the dials would have been difficult to read, especially the upper south dial sloping as it does at an angle of 45 degrees and has the remains of what was a ½ in thick cast iron gnomon. It would be essential for the lines and figures of the south main dial to be well marked in order to be able to read it. The remains of an angled style (gnomon) 1/8in thick made of cast iron and held in two places by lead filling are easily observed. The east and west styles were set into recesses, scooped out of the faces, and set at 90 degrees to the faces.
 Figure 5. A pre-Norman dial carved on a stone between the buttresses of the south wall of the chancel at All Saints Church, Rothbury
today’s system of timekeeping. What we must realise is that the sundial was a simplified system of recording the daylight hours; the day was divided into two equal parts – day and night – but as we know the number of daylight hours varies at different times of the year.
A sundial cannot be used as a reliable form of time keeping in this country because as we all know the sun does not shine every day. Therefore some other form of timekeeping was necessary to use in conjunction with the sundial, the sundial was used as a regulator for other forms of time keeper. The other forms of timekeepers which were most likely used were water clocks in summer and oil clocks in winter. A sand glass was used to measure the length of church services, as we find in Rothbury churchwarden’s accounts for 1667;-“for an houre glass, 00-01-00”. Although sandglasses were reasonably accurate, they required attention each hour to invert the glass. However it was possible to buy sand glasses which recorded longer intervals of time. Combination glasses with four glasses held together in a frame were available, each recording a different time interval. Glass oil lamps were made by the monks at Bede’s monastery at Jarrow (as he recorded). The remains of the early glass works at Jarrow were only discovered a few years ago by Professor Rosemary Cramp of Durham University. The monks were presumably also able to make glass oil clocks and sand glasses at Jarrow. Returning to scratch dials, the majority of which were only able to record the times at which the priests held mass, at which time a bell would be rung to summon worshippers. Before trying to date this scratch dial it may be more convenient to examine the third sundial at Rothbury and date them together. The third sundial, a pre- Norman dial (figure 5) is carved on a stone 26in by 18in midway between the first two buttresses in Figure 3, on the south wall of the chancel, close to the priest’s door. The dial consists of two concentric circles, the outer one has a diameter of 15in and the inner one has a diameter of 12in, this inner circle is divided in two by a horizontal line, at the centre of which is a style hole, now filled with cement. The lower half of the circle is divided into four sections by lines drawn from the style hole to the circumference of the inner circle. The style hole is 68in from the ground.
The lines on the dial probably originally recorded the times during the day when mass was held, or when prayers were said. This dial would have also been used in conjunction with other timekeepers mentioned above. It is difficult to imagine what this old dial looked like originally because so much weathering has taken place, particularly in the late 20th century since the poor repointing of the stonework. The original channels between the stones, where the rain would normally run away, have been filled with mortar, consequently frost has attacked the surface of the stone next to the mortar. A stringing course did originally exist above the dial to protect the dial from the rain, and which ran the whole length of the chancel but this has been chiselled away at some time in the past and now the only part of the chancel which is protected by this stringing is the priest’s door. I imagine the dial would have looked something like my drawing (figure 6).  Figure 6. Sketch of plaited rope on the pre-Norman dial at Rothbury All Saints Church
The plaited rope work would have continued right round the dial but I have drawn a section of it where there are still signs of the original plait on the original dial.
Another sundial (figure 7) which exhibits the same form of plaited rope work can be seen on the church wall at Escomb in County Durham, approximately 50 miles south of Rothbury but still in Northumbria. Again I include a drawing of my interpretation of the dial (figure 8) (the gargoyle is not correctly drawn), for comparison with the Rothbury dial. The scaled serpent which winds itself around the Escomb dial is found drawn in the Book of Kells, an 8th century Celtic manuscript. The church is thought to have been built, in the Celtic style, by monks from the sister monasteries of Monkwearmouth and Jarrow late in the 7th century.
An interesting example of early Anglian plait work is to be found on Bishop Wilfred’s Frith Stool in Hexham Abbey (figure 9). The church at Hexham was built by Wilfred in 678 so the Frith stool might well date from that period. In any case it must date from before 821, after which date there were no more bishops of Hexham.
Figure 9. Bishop Wilfred’s Frith Stool in Hexham Abbey
The churches at Corbridge, Rothbury and Whittingham have also been associated with Wifred, when he was bishop of Lindisfarne but the earliest written evidence we have of the church at Rothbury is when Henry I, about 1100, confirmed all that had been given to the Monastery of Tynemouth by the Earl of Mowbray in 1090, viz: the tithes of Corbridge, Rothbury and Wooler.
The earliest part of the building at Rothbury, the south chancel, is said to date from the early 13th century (1210-1220) but I believe that the lower four courses of stonework are much earlier than even that date. If we look at the quoin stones, above the plinth, the first stone is a huge one measuring 68 ½ in long by 17in high and 6 ½ in deep. The second stone running along the chancel wall is 41 ½ in long by 14 ½ in high and 12 in deep. And the third stone along the back wall measures 69in long by 17in high and 10in deep. The four stone which runs along the chancel measures 31 ½ in long by 11in high and 14 ½ in deep and coincides with the height of the sundial stone which is in the fourth course of stones. These large stones are a sign of very early work as in the Escomb church. Above the fourth course of stones which are only half the depth of the lower stones runs a course which is very narrow and was the original stringing course mentioned earlier, which has been chiselled flush with the lower courses. Above this course the wall slopes in and the next course of stones coincides with the sills of the two lancet windows between the first two buttresses. These two lancet windows are quite narrow and I believe they date from the early 13th century and that the chancel wall was lowered to accommodate the lancet windows in place of the old wall of the chancel. There are further phases of building above these two lancet windows but they need not concern us now. The two lancet windows between the second and third buttresses are of a much later date, because they replaced an earlier double lancet window. Returning to the Anglian sundial I estimate that this dial must date from the 8th century like the Escomb dial. If we look at the later Yorkshire dials at Kirkdale and Weaverthorpe etc, they are quite different in appearance from both Rothbury and Escomb. The chancel buttresses at Rothbury were placed in position at a later date than the chancel wall, and are 15th century additions and consequently the scratch dial must date from the 15th century or later. I would think that it cannot be much later than the 15th century because the free-standing dials in churchyards appeared as early as the 16th century, while the 17th century burial records mention the ‘old dial stobs’. The reader of this article will have gathered by now that it is not easy to date early sundials with any accuracy. I believe in order to date these dials with more accuracy it is necessary to study all the early forms of artwork in the form of early gravestones, stone crosses, metalwork, jewellery and the drawings found in manuscripts like the Book of Kells and the Lindisfarne Gospels. |
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