Horizontal sundial

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This slate horizontal sundial was made for a Glasgow location in 1845 by Richard Melville, a travelling Ulster dial-maker.

The dial has eight subsidiary dials with brass gnomons showing local time at other locations around the world.

The 1840s was a period when there was much activity in central Scotland in garden landscaping and house building and alteration. It seems that Melville's dials found a ready market there. However, this particular dial has come from an unknown location.

Record details

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• Online ID: 000-100-102-750-C
• Image Rights Holder: National Museums Scotland
• Project: National Museums Scotland
  Project description   View all records in project
• Ref: National Museums Scotland  T.1979.103
• Date: 1845
  
• Material: Slate
  Sundial, horizontal
  
• Dimensions:
• What: Sundial, horizontal
  
• Subject:
• Who: Richard Melville, Glasgow (Maker)
  
• Where: Scotland, Lanarkshire, Glasgow
  
• Event:
• Description: Horizontal sundial by Richard Melville in 1845
  
• References:
  • Clarke, T.N., Morrison-Low, A.D. & Simpson, A.D.C., Brass & glass scientific instrument making workshops in Scotland as illustrated by instruments from the Arthur Frank Collection at the Royal Museum of Scotland. Edinburgh: NMS, 1989, pp 210-5 
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