Sundial Sponsorship

Caroline Webb touching up the dials in situ prior to the unveiling by Her Majesty Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands and Prince Claus in 1989.

There are six sundials on the Sundial Pillar. Each enables different hours of the day to be read. The dial faces were designed and painstakingly carved and gilded by Caroline Webb in her studio in Wiltshire in 1989. The positions of the hour lines were calculated by the Trust's astronomer, Gordon Taylor, and the one tonne dialstone was carved by youth trainee masons. Each face is accurate to within ten seconds. See Restoring the Missing Monument.

Three of the six sundials are already sponsored - by Cecil Denny Highton & Partners; Hoskyns Group PLC (now Cap Gemini UK PLC); and International Banking Information Systems Ltd.

The following three dials are available for sponsorship:

Sundial facing 60° East of North

Sundial facing North

Sundial facing 60° West of North

Sundial sponsors are commemorated on the brass ring around the base of the Sundial Pillar as well as on this website.

Each sponsor receives a unique Portland Stone section of their Sundial (9½” x 6½”) which has been cut, painted and gilded by Caroline Webb. The sections are set in a specially-carved freestanding or hanging wooden presentation frame with the sponsor’s details on a small brass plaque or carved in the base.

Sponsors also receive a signed and numbered limited edition (500) collotype of Seven Dials c.1750, measuring 184 x 162 cms. Taken from a painting by William Hodges, it is drawn by trustee Paul Draper, one of the country's leading architectural illustrators. Paul dedicates each collotype individually with the wording of sponsor's choice.