SUNDIAL

Part of a copper alloy pocket sundial dating from the 16th, 17th or 18th century. It consists of a broad, flat, copper alloy ring (now opened) with a channel cut in the centre of the outer side along its circumference, opening into a slot at one end. This should contain a separate sliding collar which is missing. The ring would have been suspended by a short twist of wire but this and the attachment loop for this are missing.

The centre of the ring is a depressed channel. The channel breaks through to the interior of the ring to create a slot along two-fifths of the circumference. This slot is flanked on the outer side by transverse incised gradation lines running from the slit to an incised line and the initials of the months of the year, in groups of six arranged to either side: 'I F M A M I' to one side (for the first months of the year) and 'I A S O N D' (for the later months of the year) to the other side. The missing collar would have been formed of a thin strip of metal, the ends of which were pushed through a circular hole in a small lozenge shaped piece of copper and bent back, holding the ends in place and creating a hole in the collar. The collar could have been moved so the lozenge shaped piece indicated the month and the hole in the lozenge is aligned with a particular part of the slit in the ring. The rest of the exterior of the ring is plain, apart from the letters S and W on the side of the channel with the later months of the year, and the letter H on the other side.

The interior has four incised lines running around it, one towards each edge to form a border (these are mainly missing), and two in the centre dividing the field into three equal parts. The top row has the symbols: "S 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 (W) S" incised in it. The centre row inscription reads: "8.7.H.6.5....12 H" and it slopes downwards onto the lower line, though the 12 and H are on the middle line. Diagonal lines between the dots seem to join the numbers above and below in columns. The bottom row starts between the 7 and 8 on the top row and reads: "[5 W] 4 3 2 1 W". These numbers are on a slope downwards and with the 7 and 6 on the line above, form a continual line.

The band of metal forming the ring is no longer a closed loop. It is broken across two small circular holes. This is where the suspension loop would have been attached.

These sundials are known as simple ring dials or poke dials ('poke' being an archaic word for pocket). The sliding collar would be set into position for the month of the year and, when the dial was suspended vertically, the sun would shine through the hole in the lozenge shaped piece, through the slot, and onto the interior of the ring. The hour could then be read by looking at the closest gradation mark to the spot of light on the interior of the ring. Turner states "A cheap dial, it was popular during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries among country people who kept it in their poke, or pocket. Not infrequently they are literally unearthed (Turner 1980: 25). Compare SOM-E51722 and SWYOR-129C91.

The ring dial is 52mm long, 42.5mm wide and 10.8mm thick. 16.56g. The ring is 2.1mm thick.