Brook Street Chapel Sundial - Knutsford, Cheshire, UK.
N 53° 18.094 W 002° 22.220
30U E 541961 N 5906003
The sundial is located in the grounds of the Brook Street Unitarian Chapel in Knutsford.
Waymark Code: WM12Y4K
Location: North West England, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 08/04/2020
Views: 3
The sundial is located in the grounds of the Brook Street Unitarian Chapel in Knutsford.
The circular sundial is mounted on a stone plinth at the edge of a path in the tranquil garden at the side of the Chapel. The dial has roman numerals around the edge and points of a compass in the centre, it is quite weathered, but it still has a gnomon.
Brook Street Chapel is a Grade I listed building, the description given by Historic England can be seen at the following link: (
visit link)
"The chapel was built in 1689 soon after the passing of the Act of Toleration. The land was given by Isaac Antrobus, a Knutsford tanner and life long dissenter, as a gift to build the chapel and a small burial ground. Money for the building and fitments were given by other members.
William Tong helped Isaac Antrobus organise the building of the New Chapel. It was built of red brick with a stone-flagged roof in two storeys with two external staircases. Inside there is a gallery on three sides and a pulpit on a long wall. The pulpit dates from the late 17th or early 18th century and the pews from 1859.
The Chapel was built so that it was inconspicuous and resembled a private house or farm building. This was because the dissenters had a very real fear that the right to public worship and freedom from prosecution could be withdrawn. It is said that lookouts were posted by the outside steps to the galleries in case of attack.
It is the burial place of the novelist Elizabeth Gaskell who died in 1865, her husband William Gaskell who died in 1884, and their two unmarried daughters who died in 1908 and 1913.
The gardens which lie behind the chapel are tranquil and well kept. A cutting taken from a Mulberry Tree in Shakespeare’s garden, has been planted in the chapel garden in recognition of the two years Elizabeth spent at boarding school in Stratford-upon Avon.
The building is still in use as a Unitarian chapel."
SOURCES: (
visit link) (
visit link)