A four-faced sundial in this old market town.
Posted by: greysman
N 52° 03.852 W 002° 13.044
30U E 553648 N 5768467
The sundial is mounted on an old market cross which has been reused as a war memorial.
Waymark Code: WMD9FQ
Location: West Midlands, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 12/09/2011
Views: 3
This is an old village market cross, with a circular base and an octagonal shaft. It was removed to Ham Court in the C18th and converted to a sundial. In 1920 it was returned to Upton-upon-Severn for use as a war memorial placed in the yard of the old parish church. It is grade II listed and topped by a much decayed iron wind vane, no cardinal points or vane left on it.
There are two brass plaques recording the dedication as a war memorial, to both WWI and WWII. The WWI inscription, quite well worn due to polishing and the open-air environment reads:
This Ancient Parish Cross
was placed here
in Memory of the Men
who fell in the Great War
1914-1918
whose Names are Recorded
in the Parish Church
The WWII inscription reads:
and in Memory of the Men
who fell in World War II
1939-1945
whose Names are Recorded
in the Parish Church
The sundial has four faces and four wrought iron gnomons. The faces each have hours marked in Roman numerals, east from V to XI, the south from VI to VI - hour marks each hour but numbered every other one - the west from I to VII - again hourly marks but numbered as the south. Although there is a gnomon on the north face there are no numbers and the hour marks are indistinct.