Smout House Sundial, Bransdale

Back in Bransdale volunteering for the National Trust. Life is getting back to normal.

You don’t often come across a sundial in the middle of a field. This is one of a pair (as far as I know) near to Smout House, the National Trust’s Estate Office¹“SUNDIAL APPROXIMATELY 20 METRES SOUTH EAST of SMOUT HOUSE, Bransdale – 1149070 | Historic England.” Historicengland.org.uk, 2012, historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1149070. Accessed 8 Apr. 2021.. The other is close to Bransdale Mill and carries a date of 1819. This one was probably built around the same time by William Strickland.

By the early 18th-century, the Stricklands are recorded as having built up a sizeable estate in Bransdale including the mill. The history of Bransdale Mill is detailed in a booklet available to visitors at the mill²“The Mill at the World’s End”. Bransdale Mill. ‌Information for Volunteers. The National Trust. Undated.:

“In 1811 William Strickland came to Bransdale [Mill] with his two children Elizabeth and Emmanuel. He married again and had three sons, John, Noah, and Edmund. With the help of his eldest son Emmanuel, William changed the simple, and not very lucrative mill into an industrial complex. He built wagon sheds, threshing sheds, stables, pigstyes, forges, and extra houses. He installed the huge 16 foot diameter overshot [water] wheel, and enlarged the capacity two or three times. They built sundials, carved inscriptions, paved the fords across the river; rationalised, organised and sanctified. In tune with their time the new work was done to a high standard of finish. Great care and attention was spent on the stone work and embellishments.”

The copper face and gnomon (the pointer) of the Smout House sundial is a modern replacement. It is inscribed:

Silas Higgon – fecit
G.A.M. & J.M.M. 1996

Unfortunately, it was overcast today so I couldn’t set my watch.

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  “SUNDIAL APPROXIMATELY 20 METRES SOUTH EAST of SMOUT HOUSE, Bransdale – 1149070 | Historic England.” Historicengland.org.uk, 2012, historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1149070. Accessed 8 Apr. 2021.
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  “The Mill at the World’s End”. Bransdale Mill. ‌Information for Volunteers. The National Trust. Undated.