Message text written by INTERNET:sundial@rrz.uni-koeln.de >I noticed that there are several scratch dials in the UK and Ireland, but there are hardly any on the continent. When I mentioned this to a historian he right away said: "but there was never anyone of the Benedictine order in the UK or Ireland, so that sounds logic".Is there an explanation for this different<
It's true that a lot of people think there are not many such dials on the continent. However when you start to keep records you find that there are actually quite a lot in France and even a few in the Channel Islands. Also their presence in Britain is very much restricted to the southern half of the country. Very few in Northern England and almost none in Scotland. I don't know about any Benedictine connexion - it might be worth following up. Dom Horne (in his book 1929) gave his view that the scratch dials in Britain and Ireland 'spread' there from Normandy. They certainly seem to be concentrated on Norman Churches here. Patrick -
