Tuesday 16 June 2015

Sun dial makes history in St Peter Port



I've blogged about a few interesting sundials. This one is more like a "history dial". It only tells the time on one day a year - May 9th - the day Guernsey was liberated at the end of the war. The shadow moves along the bench and tells you what was happening at that time of day on 9 May 1945. Since it only works on one day a year, there is no need for a gnomon of a particular angle. The only problem is that it needs to be sunny on 9 May every year. We were there on the wrong day but at least it was sunny. The Sun is higher in the sky in June so the shadow fell short of the bench.