Of course you have to adjust for BST … Big Ben was chiming eleven when I took this this morning.
And if anyone's dumb enough to ask why it only goes from 3 to 10, it's because this dial is on the east face of the tower (in the summer the sun comes up at half-three here) - there are more dials on the south and west faces with the relevant hours marked on them. Telling the time kept you fit back in the day. Well at least you had to walk a few yards at different times of the day to be able to see it.
7 comments:
Kind of weird as I am accustomed to the symmetrical clock thing. I read the "10" very loud and clear plus I'm not sure. Call me an ignoramus. You Brits are way too sophisticated for me here.
Over here in Amurica, we like things big, bright, and easy. So we just keep 'er simple with a digital Jumbotron that can hold ALL the numbers! Takes the guesswork out don'tcha know. ;D
Fascinating! I wish there were sundials on building here. The only one I know of is at the Idaho Botanical Gardens -- in the English Garden section. But it's more old-fashioned looking.
Neetzy, sundials are fun. The flat type people have in their gardens have all the hours on them but on church towers the sun has moved round to the south face by half-ten so the east face is in shadow and that particular clock no longer works until the following morning.
On this one, if you imagine you're standing where I was when I took the picture the sun rises behind your right shoulder and so the shadow hits the left hand side of the clock; then it moves around you in a … forgive me … 'clockwise' fashion until it disappears round onto the south face of the tower on your left. While it does that the shadow moves from right to left and you read off the hours as it goes.
Fun!
Hahahahaha! Ah, Shan, thank you so much for that. The image of a digital Jumbotron clock on English church towers will keep me giggling for many a month.
Ms.M, this one is pretty old-fashioned; it's been up there in its current guise since the 1600s.
There are sundials everywhere over here. Sun calendars, too, like Stonehenge. Perhaps you should make one for your garden. They're simple to make. I saw a nice one the other day that consisted of stepping stones with numerals carved into them set in a wide circle in a lawn around a flagpole. Perhaps we can start a craze that sweeps America. Or perhaps not.
Oh … I forgot. One other thing, Neetzy:
The lines are set at an angle because we are as far north as the southern tip of Hudson's Bay so the sun takes a pretty slanty path across the sky.
Just in case you were wondering.
You just reminded me, we were always going to get a sundial for the garden, had forgotten all about it until I saw this....
Make one! Far cheaper.
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