John, Frank -- Is it possible that a prime meridian other than Greenwich was used for some quirky reason? It seems unlikely since Greenwich was well established by the date mentioned, but dial makers have occasionally defied reason ;-)
Tom Kreyche Original Message: ----------------- From: JOHN DAVIS [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Sat, 21 Apr 2007 19:37:53 +0100 (BST) To: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: strange longitude Hi Frank et al, That's an interesting one! I make Hawkshead about 3 deg. W of Greenwich so assuming the second figure is a longitude difference, that would put the location as approx 38deg 44' E or 32deg 44' W relative to the Prime Meridian. My first guess was that an eastern location was the most likely, with Jerusalem or Constantinople (Istanbul) being the places most commonly found on dials or old maps. But Jerusalem is 35deg 10' and Constantinople is only 29deg. Old longitudes are often wildly inaccurate but by 1845 they should have been within a few arcminutes. The PL initials are new to me - how about 'Palestine' or some varient? Nowhere is South America or Greenland looks attractive for an eastern location. So I'm stumped for the moment! Regards, John ------------------------------------------------ Frank Evans <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: Greetings, fellow dialists, Reference the sundial on the Old Grammar School, Hawkshead, Cumbria, England. The school is a museum, famous as the place of William Wordsworth's education. Over the door is a fine dial dated 1845 with stated co-ordinates, latitude "54 deg. 22 min. 10 sec." and longitude "PL 35 deg. 43 min. 40 sec." The latitude appears to refer to the correct location but the longitude is a puzzle which the museum curator was unable to explain. Longitude eastward of Greenwich lands in an unremarked location in the middle of Russia but westward takes us close to Recife, formerly Pernambuco, Brazil. No significant place on the coast there (lighthouse, etc) fits but I am wondering if there is or was an observatory in or near the middle of the town. And what can the letters PL mean? Any suggestions for this strange longitude citing? Frank, 55N 1W --------------------------------------------------- https://lists.uni-koeln.de/mailman/listinfo/sundial -------------------------------------------------------------------- mail2web.com – Enhanced email for the mobile individual based on Microsoft® Exchange - http://link.mail2web.com/Personal/EnhancedEmail --------------------------------------------------- https://lists.uni-koeln.de/mailman/listinfo/sundial
