Close-Up of The Currie Sundial

Image: © Ian Dodds Taken: 21 Aug 2021

Although there are other sundials in the vicinity of Currie, this is what this one generally gets called in print, probably because of its accessibility - a lot of sundials are hidden in the grounds of big old country houses, but this one is in the churchyard, not far from the church's main door. The dial is extremely complex - apart from the time markings around the edge, which impressively divide the time of day into minutes, there are other markings on inner rings which I don't really understand. It seems that because the earth's orbit is slightly elliptical, and on top of that fluctuates a bit from year to year, corrections almost always needed to be made from the actual time shown according to the date. Due to the fact that the designer of the sundial, Robert Palmer, was a bit of a local polymath with a keen interest in astronomy, it seems likely that the confusing extra markings have something to do with this. It dates from 1836. Robert Palmer was the schoolmaster (ie headteacher) here for forty years and obviously had quite a big influence on village life. Two residential streets in what is now the main part of Currie - Palmer Road and Palmer Place - are named in his honour. Some names of notable places around the world can be seen towards the centre of the dial - Athens, Jerusalem, Mecca and Mauritius can easily be made out. When the shadow falls over these names it indicates that it is their local noon.

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