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Click the image for a larger picture, use 'back' to return Fig 1 Ashton-under-Hill, Worcs	The Ecclesiological Society is grateful to Tony Wood of the British Sundial Society for this essay Mass dials (scratch dials) are medieval (1100 - 1600) dials found on the south walls of churches. They were usually near the main door or the priest door at about four to five feet above the ground. Due to rebuilding, mass dials can end up almost anywhere on a church, even the north wall. They are frequently found inside a later added porch over the south door. It should be noted that Saxon Dials form a distinct and separate group of earlier date. They are usually skilfully carved in relief, pre-date mass dials and possibly influence some mass dials but it is difficult to establish a link by either style or geography.
Fig 2 Wootton, Kent Fig 3 Little Missenden, Bucks	About 8 or 9 inches across and rather roughly cut, mass dials come in a wide variety of designs, from semi-circles of dots to complete circles with associated radii. Their chronology is difficult to determine but simple versions with only four or five lines are early whilst those with numbers round the edge (rare) are late. The gnomon, invariably missing, pointed straight out horizontally and so the dial would not record the same hours at all times of the year. The mass dial is in any case usually regarded as an event marker for the church services rather than a time piece. It is thought that the earliest mass dials may be a simple carving of  four or five lines from the gnomon hole, possibly with circle or arc later. Ashton-under-Hill, Worcs. (Fig. 1) and Wootton, Kent (Fig. 2) are typical examples. The Ashton-under-Hill stone also includes an example of ‘four holes in a row’; the row of dots would originally have been horizontal with the gnomon stuck into a mortar line above.
Fig 4 Waltham, Kent	Re-positioning mass dials is quite common, an inverted example is shown in Fig.3 at Little Missenden, Bucks.  The usual form of later dials has radii principally in the lower half and may be bounded by a circle or an arc of  ‘pocks’. Waltham, Kent (Fig. 4) is typical. Lines above the horizontal are a bit of a mystery in practical terms but were probably ‘space filling’ or alignment lines used if the church was limewashed over. The Alfriston in-lining is modern.
Above: Fig 5 Great Witcombe, Glos Below: Fig 6 Rhossili, W Glamorgan Fig 7 Boddington, Glos Fig 8 Leckhampton, Glos	The quality of carving is very variable and some very crudely cut dials are found. Fig. 5 -  Great Witcombe, Glos. and Fig. 6 - Rhossili, W. Glamorgan are good examples.                              There is also an enormous range of  sizes recorded, from 70mm diameter at Boddington, Glos. (Fig. 7) to 400mm diameter at Leckhampton, Glos. (Fig. 8).
Fig 9 Avening, Glos Fig 10 Bibury, Glos Fig 11 Sandhurst, Glos	The final phase is probably ‘dials with numbers round the edge’. The numbers can be in the form of  some dot arrangement - Avening, Glos. (Fig. 9), Roman - Bibury, Glos. (Fig.10) or even Arabic as at Sandhurst, Glos. (Fig. 11). This latter dial probably represents the end of the mass dial line as the ‘hour line’ spacing seems to be variable rather than a uniform 15º as on many dials. Also there is no ‘mass marker’ at around 9 a.m. which is a feature of many mass dials.
Fig 12, Cambury, Lot, France	Frequently, several appear on one church but no regional variation in design has been established.  Their boundaries of  occurrence are slowly appearing. Some counties (e.g. Lancashire and the West Riding of Yorkshire) have few dials whereas others (e.g.. Gloucestershire, Lincolnshire and Kent) have many. They are largely an English device; within England some counties have few dials (‘dial deserts’) whilst others are well documented to have many. Scotland and Wales seem to have few, Rhossili, (Fig. 6) is one of the westernmost.  The last picture (Fig.12) is of a dial at Cambury (Department of Lot) in France (southernmost?) and its resemblance to the Great Witcombe dial (Fig. 5) is striking. Whether the mass dial is indigenous to England or came from France (or even Ireland) is still unknown, it is hoped the new Register (see below) will at least give us a distribution and maybe further clues to these dials.
	The British Sundial Society has a separate Mass Dial Group who are compiling a Register of the 3000 or so dials so far recorded. Contact:         Tony Wood, 5 Leacey Court, Churchdown, Gloucester,  GL3 1LA         Tel: 01452 712953   e-mail:   bssaow@joymail.com

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August 2000
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