Sundials

A sundial is an instrument used outdoors for determining the hour of the day, when the sun is shining.  The shadow of an upright object (known as a gnomon) falls on a flat or curved surface, which is marked with the hours.  The earliest known sundials were used by the Egyptians in around 1500 BC.  In medieval and early modern Europe the sundial was the most popular way of telling the time.

Sundials can be either altitude dials or direction dials.   With altitude dials the time of day is determined by the altitude of the sun.  Altitude dials can be sub-divided into plane, cylinder, scaphe and ring.  With direction dials, the time is determined by the sun's azimuth (compass direction) or hour angle.  Direction dials can be sub-divided into horizontal (including analemmatic), vertical, polar, equinoctial/equatorial (including armillary spheres), azimuthal and multiple/polyhedral.

Piles Mill near Allerford

This double-sided equatorial sundial was given by the Minehead and West Somerset Centre of the National Trust in 1984 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Richard Dyke Acland's gift of the Holnicote Estate to the National Trust in 1944. It was unveiled by his son Sir John Acland.  It is made from Limpley Stoke limestone and was designed by David Brown to look like a millstone and carved by the National Trust's stonemason John Salter. 

Piles Mill Sundial

Scratch dial, St Mary's Church, East Stoke 

Scratch dials are also known as mass dials.  They are medieval (1100-1600) sundials found on the south side of many churches.  They are thought to have shown the times of mass and other church services.  There would once have been a metal or wooden rod or gnomon in the hole in the centre of the dial, which would have cast a shadow.

Scratch dial, St Mary's Church, East Stoke

Scratch dial, St Mary's Church, East Stoke

Scratch dial, St Andrew's Church, Brympton

Scratch dial, St Mary's Church, East Brent

Scratch dial, St Michael's Church, Creech St Michael

Scratch dial, St Michael's Church, Creech St Michael

Scratch dial, St Andrew's Church, Burnham-on-Sea

Scratch dial, St Mary's Church, Seavington

Scratch dial, St Mary's Church, East Quantoxhead

Scratch dial, St Dunstan's Church, Baltonsborough

Barrington Court

This is a dodecahedron dial with pentagonal faces. 

Barrington Court

Barrington Court

Armillary Sphere, Tintinhull Gardens

This is a type of equinoctial/equatorial sundial.

Armillary Sphere, Parade Gardens, Bath
This was restored in 2019 to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the founding of the British Sundial Society, who held their conference in Bath in 2019.

Armillary sundial, Jubilee Nature Garden, Norton-sub-Hamdon

Analemmatic sundial, Peile Drive, Taunton

The inscription on the sundial reads "The light of learning cast its shadow here from 1939-1994.  Stand facing your shadow with toes on the date scale."  Bishop Fox School was located here until it moved to its present site on Calway Road in September 1994. Analemmatic sundials are a type of horizontal sundial in which the gnomon (in this case a human being) is vertical and hour markings are marked in an elliptical pattern. The position of the gnomon varies, depending on the month of the year.

Analemmatic sundial, Peile Drive, Taunton

Analemmatic sundial on Minehead seafront

This sundial was provided by West Somerset District Council with the support of Minehead Town Council to commemorate the Golden Jubilee of Her Majesty, The Queen in June 2002. The names of the towns in West Somerset (Minehead, Williton, Watchet and Dulverton) are arranged around the centre and further out the names of all the parishes in West Somerset are listed in alphabetical order in a ring.

Close-up view of the centre of the Minehead analemmatic sundial

Vertical sundial, Stapley Mill

Sundial House, Wheddon Cross

Vertical declining sundial on Sundial House at Wheddon Cross

This sundial dates from c1850.  It shows the hours from 5aqm to 4pm and the half hours are shown by fleur de lys symbols.  The Latin motto shown on it is tempus edax rerum, which means time devours all things.

Lady Smith Memorial Institute/Parish Rooms, Somerton

This vertical sundial was commissioned by Somerton U3A to mark the new millennium and was unveiled on 8th July 2000.  It was made by Peter Walker and features a dragon at the centre. It shows the hours from 7am to 5pm in hours and half hours.

Vertical sundial, St George's Church, Ruishton

The Latin motto engraved at the top of the sundial says "concito gradu", which means "with hurried step".

Scaphe sundials, Church of St Peter & St Paul, Bleadon

Vertical sundial on Ilminster Old Grammar School

This sundial is dated 1586.  The Latin motto above it says "Sic transeunt dies tui", which means "So passeth your days".

Vertical sundial above the porch of St Augustine's Church, West Monkton

This sundial is dated 1725

Vertical declining sundial, St Leonard's Church, Otterford

The inscription carved above the sundial says "Our Days on the Earth are as a Shadow".  It is dated 1826.

Vertical sundial, St Mary's Church, Norton-sub-Hamdon

It has the motto "Sic Transit Gloria Mundi" (Thus passes the glory of the world) inscribed above the gnomon and also has the date 1711 carved on it.

Horizontal sundial in the Dunster Village Garden

Horizontal sundial in the Garden of Remembrance at St George's Church, Bicknoller

It has the date 9th July 2010 carved on the gnomon.

Horizontal sundial, Victorian shrubbery, Hestercombe Gardens

Horizontal sundial, Marine Cove Gardens, Burnham-on-Sea

This sundial was unveiled in March 2021.  It was made by Wells Cathedral stonemasons and replaced an early one, which was damaged beyond repair by vandals.

Vertical dial over the porch door of St Nicholas's Church in Brushford

This sundial is a memorial to William Wood.  It shows the hours from 6am to 6pm, with 30, 15 and 5 minute intervals shown.  The motto Memor esto brevis aevi, which means "Bear in mind how short life is" is inscribed on it.

Market Cross, Ilchester

This is made of Ham stone and also features a weather vane and a sundial at the top of a Doric column.  The original sundial dated from 1792.  This was damaged in a gale in 1990 and was replaced in 1991.  The original motto was indecipherable and the current one is tempus orbis.

Holy Trinity Church, Burrington

This vertical sundial has the motto "Life is but a shadow" carved below it. It was apparently a gift from John Addington of Langford Court.

Vertical sundial, St Mary's Church, Cossington

Vertical sundial, St Lawrence's Church, Lydeard St Lawrence

IHTS Wardnes 1653 is written around the gnomon.

Dawe's Twineworks, West Coker

Dawe's Twineworks in the village of West Coker is the only surviving Victorian twineworks with its original working machinery in Britain.  

The bedrock which underlies the West Coker area is Yeovil Sandstone and Lower Oolite Cornbrash, which is a crumbly limestone.  These rocks, which occur in an arc from Bridport to Castle Cary, create brashy, well-drained soils that are ideal for growing flax, hemp and corn.  Flax and hemp, which both have long fibres, are the raw materials for making yarn.  

Yarn is one thin strand of twisted fibre.  Yarn is used to make twine, rope and woven cloth.  Twine is made by twisting together between 2 and 7 strands of yarn.  Twine is less than 3mm in diameter. Rope is much thicker than twine and is made by twisting several bundles of twisted yarn or twine around a central core.  A twineworks produces lengths of twine that are twice the length of the walk.  A ropewalk can only produce lengths of rope the same length of the walk.

From 1830 until 1875 Israel Rendell, who lived at Millbrook House in West Coker, operated one narrow un-powered twine walk in the grounds of his house.  Israel Rendell died in 1878. William John Dawe had taken over the business in 1877 and used the existing facilities,  He died in 1894 and his brother Henry took over the business.  

Henry died in 1899 and his son Francis John Dawe took over. He had a purpose-built steam powered twineworks built in 1899.  The twineworks, which is 100 metres long, was built almost entirely of bolted together timbers.  It was roofed in double Roman clay tiles made by A.G. Pitts of Highbridge.  The east end of the walk, where the manager's office and drying area were located, had timber-boarded walls.  The twine walk has open sides. The only solid brick structure was the engine shed, which originally housed a steam engine.

Yarn was twisted into twine on the first floor.  It was then washed in water.  Animal guts, bones and skins were boiled up in an outside boiler to produce size.  The size stopped the twine from rotting.  It was applied to the moving twine by hand with a coconut mat sponge on the ground floor of the twine works.  The twine was polished with a horsehair rope and then circulated to dry it. 

Hanks of twine were then wound into balls and spools ready for sale. The hand powered balling machines were mainly operated by women, who could wind a ball of twine in less than a minute.

In the 1920s an oil engine replaced the steam engine.  In 1937 Francis John Dawe died and his son Henry Stuart Dawe took over the business.  He retired in 1968 and closed the twineworks.  After his death in 1983, the site was bought by a boat and general dealer called Dick Marks, who used it to store his stock.

In 2005 South Somerset District Council compulsorily purchased the twineworks to save it from dereliction.  Scaffolding was erected around the twineworks in 2007 to prevent it from collapsing and the Coker Rope & Sail Trust was formed.  The main walk was lifted and straightened out in 2010 and in 2013 the restoration process began.  In 2015 a 1927 Shanks diesel engine was lent to the twineworks, to replace the oil engine, which had been sold off in 1968.  

Funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund was secured in 2016.  A visitor centre was built in 2019 on the site of a derelict 1930s bungalow.  Dawe's Twineworks is now open to the public on the 4th Saturday of every month.  Enthusiastic volunteers offer guided tours and run the engine.

Twine treatment on the ground floor

Water and size troughs on the ground floor

Twine walk

This is probably the largest roof of Bridgwater Double Roman tiles anywhere in the world.

First floor: twine twisting machines

Spooling, braiding and balling machines

Engine house

Size boiler

Millbrook House

Monkey Brand Soap: a Crewkerne Connection?

On the west wall of the north aisle of St Bartholomew's Church in Crewkerne is a brass memorial to Adam Martin of Seaborough, who died in December 1678.  Seaborough is a small village located two miles to the south of Crewkerne.  

The memorial shows the coat of arms of Adam Martin.  At top of the coat of arms is a monkey looking at its reflection in a mirror.  This was supposed to have been the inspiration for a late 19th century advert for Monkey Brand scouring soap.  The memorial was moved from its original position in the south transept in 1937. 

Monkey Brand abrasive scouring soap, which was probably made from pumice, was first produced by Benjamin Brooke & Co Ltd in Philadelphia in the 1880s.  In 1899 William Lever of Lever Brothers bought the company and production was transferred to Port Sunlight near Liverpool.  It was sold in an orange paper package, which featured a monkey studying its reflection in a hand-held mirror.  I have not found any explanations as to how and why the Martin coat of arms came to be used to advertise Monkey Brand soap, so maybe it is just a coincidence.

Adam Martin's Memorial Brass

Monkey looking at its reflection in a mirror

West Somerset & Devon Shirt Factory, Abbey Street, Crewkerne

The West Somerset & Devon Shirt Company built a factory in Abbey Street, Crewkerne  c1872-1875.  They moved there from their original premises behind 11 Market Street.  There were two factory buildings with a house built in the 1840s sandwiched between them.  The house was designed and lived in by local architect John Patch.  It was later used as offices.

In 1953 the factories were taken over by Van Heusen.  More recently the factories were occupied by Bonsoir of London, which made pyjamas there until 2004.  The company is currently based elsewhere in the town.  The former factories were then converted into apartments.  The names of the blocks of flats acknowledge the former use of the buildings: The Shirt Factory, The Pyjama Factory and Bonsoir House.

The Shirt Factory

The Pyjama Factory

Plaque on Bonsoir House, 3 Abbey Street

Hugh Trenchard: "Father of the RAF"

Hugh Montague Trenchard is regarded as the "Father of the Royal Air Force".  He was born at Windsor Lodge, Haines Hill, Taunton on 3rd February 1873.  When he was two years old, his family moved to Courtlands near Norton Fitzwarren and he spent the rest of his childhood there.

Hugh Trenchard didn't do well at school but was granted a commission as second lieutenant in the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Scots Fusiliers in September 1893 and was posted to India.  He served in the Boer War 1899-1902 and was promoted to the rank of Captain in February 1900.  He was severely injured at Dwarsvlei in the Transvaal in October 1900 and was invalided back to Britain.  He recovered and returned to South Africa in May 1901.  He then served in Nigeria 1903-1910. He was promoted to major and later to lieutenant colonel. He became seriously ill in 1910 and was sent back to the UK.  After recovering, he served in Ulster until 1912.  

He learnt to fly aircraft in July 1912 at the Sopwith School of Flying at Brooklands in Surrey and was immediately seconded to the newly formed Royal Flying Corps.  In 1913 he was appointed Assistant Commander of the Central Flying School at Upavon in Wiltshire. In August 1915 he was put in charge of the Royal Flying Corps in France.  His policy was to launch persistent attacks in order to establish air supremacy. 

In January 1918 Hugh Trenchard was appointed as the first Chief of the Air Staff, although he resigned from that post in April of the same year.  He was also knighted (KCB).  In May 1918 he returned to France as the head of a small force that was intended to bomb targets in Germany, although only a few raids were carried out.  

In 1919 Winston Churchill, who was Minister of War and Air, persuaded him to resume his post of Chief of the Air Staff.  Hugh Trenchard was created a baronet in October 1919. During the 1920s he founded an apprentice school for ground crews at Halton in Buckinghamshire, a cadet college for career officers at Cranwell in Lincolnshire and a staff college at Andover in Hampshire. He set up University Air Squadrons at Cambridge, Oxford and London in 1925 and introduced short-service commissions.  He was knighted again (GCB) in January 1924 and he became the first Marshal of the RAF in 1927.

In 1920 Hugh Trenchard married Katherine Boyle.  They had two sons together: Hugh (born 1921 and died in North Africa in 1943) and Thomas (1923-1987).

Hugh Trenchard retired from the RAF on 31st December 1929 and was made a baron the following day.  He was Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police 1931-1935, during which time he founded the police college and forensic laboratory at Hendon. He was made a viscount in January 1936.  He was then Chairman of the United Africa Company 1936-1953.

Hugh Trenchard died in London on 10th February 1956 and his funeral took place in Westminster Abbey.  In July 1961 prime minister Harold Macmillan unveiled a bronze statue of of him by William McMillan outside the Ministry of Defence in Embankment Gardens.  A 7-foot high cast bronze statue of him by Vivien Mallock was unveiled at RAF College Cranwell in October 2020 to mark the 100th anniversary of the college.

In 2018 Taunton's new Northern Inner Distributor Road was named Trenchard Way in memory of him.  In June 2018 his grandson, Hugh Trenchard, 3rd Viscount Trenchard, unveiled a memorial on Trenchard Way close to Taunton Station.

Windsor Lodge, Haines Hill, Taunton

Memorial stone on Trenchard Way

Plaque on the memorial stone