Analemmatic (Human) Sundial - Horniman Gardens, London Road, Forest Hill, London, UK
N 51° 26.519 W 000° 03.648
30U E 704256 N 5703075
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: WMM6NW
Location: London, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 07/31/2014
Views: 3
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:
Analemmatic (or human) Sundial
Design: Barry Small
Construction: Staff at Horniman Museum and Gardens, 1992
Analemmatic dials are dials with horizontal dial plates and vertical gnomons. The hours are arranged in an elliptical shape and the gnomons are moveable so the time can be read accurately throughout the year.
This sundial is formed by a set of stone slabs set into the ground, each slab representing an hour of the day. Facing this semi-circle is a central paving slab aligned North to South, on which the months of the year are marked.
Reading the dial
Stand on the central line of the slab adjacent to the correct month as a human gnomon. Your shadow will indicate the time. This dial has been delineated for British Summer Time so you need to deduct one hour when Greenwich Mean Time is in force.
Correcting the "reading" |
Map of the sundials |