Sundial

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This is the restored globe sundial on Guisboroughs market cross.

The sundials were removed in July and taken to Wiltshire where they were restored to their former glory by Harriet James, a member of the British Sundial Society.

Ms James is quoted as saying: "There is a similar globe sundial in Sweden but it is the particular horizontal arrangement of the numbers on the globe that make the Guisborough sundial unique."

She believes it is possible the globe was modelled on a drawing from a book written in 1686 by John Moxon because of the same arrangement of numbers. The numerals indicate it dates from the late 17th Century and the globe from the early 19th Century.

If you look at the placement of the sundial on the market cross, it is now slightly turned. I understand this was neccessary for the sundials to give an accurate reading. The council in their wisdom wanted the sundials to be mounted back squarely on top, so it looked neater! Typical.

There are also plans to put up a board, with instructions on how to read the sundial accurately.

Oh, and as a side note, when I was looking at this image I thought I had some dust in the camera. You may have noticed a blob near the point of the arrow at the top. When I looked more carefully, I saw it was a bee hovering about!