Armillary Octahedron Sundial - Horniman Gardens, London Road, Forest Hill, London, UK
N 51° 26.495 W 000° 03.732
30U E 704161 N 5703026
Within Horniman Gardens, at Forest Hill in south London, there is a trail of sundials. These are of a variety of types that demonstrate how the sun is used to indicate the time. There are 12 sundials in all but only 11 are easily accessible.
Waymark Code: WMM6NK
Location: London, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 07/31/2014
Views: 2
Close to the first sundial in the trail, the scaphe sundial, there is a map showing the location of the others. As a suggestion, and to easily locate the others, pop in to the museum reception and ask for a (free) map of the museum and grounds. Return to the map and transfer the locations - it makes finding them a lot easier!
The Horniman Museum website tells us about this sundial:
Armillary Octahedron
Design: David Young and John Moir, 2007
Construction: Tony Moss, 2008
This unusual dial consists of three interlocking diamonds, based on Borromean rings – three rings which are linked together but become separated if one is removed. This motif, which you can see engraved on the dial, has often been used to symbolise strength and unity.
Reading the dial
The central vertical diamond acts as the gnomon casting a shadow onto hour scales engraved on the other two diamonds. Between the hours of 9am to 3 pm, the gnomon's shadow falls on the vertical hour scale facing the reader. Before 9am and after 3pm, the gnomon's shadow falls on the horizontal hour scale.
Correcting the "reading" |
Map of the sundials |