Sundial 4 - Pencaitland

The day started out bright and sunny so we decided to walk through the shady woods between Ormiston and Pencaitland and back along the old railway track between fields of ripening grain.  We had taken containers for gathering the wild raspberries growing in the woods and were lucky enough to find a few wild strawberries and even some redcurrants which seemed to be nowhere near any habitation.   Now we can look forward to a taste of summer as we sample jam during the cold dull days of winter.

The sun was still shining when we viewed the 3 sundials on Pencaitland Church.  There is a single faced one high up on the church tower and a 3 faced sundial on the southwest buttress but I was interested in the one high up on the apex of the east gable.   It is a cube dial with a fancy ball shape on top and has 3 faces.  The east face has the numbers 3, 5, 7 and 9 but I'm sure the sun has never struck it at 3am, while the south face has the numbers from 6am to 6pm but I couldn't see the west face properly. Today it was registering about half past 11 but of course is an hour out with BST being an hour ahead.

On the way back we noticed another sundial on the market cross with 4 dials.  So there was no excuse for the villagers of old not to know the time as long as the sun was shining.