Seven Dials Covent Garden is a unique quarter of London whose star-shaped layout remains as constructed in the early 1690s. It was brought back to life largely through the dedication of the Seven Dials Trust, working in partnership with the local authorities and landowners for nearly forty years.

The reconstruction of the Sundial Pillar at Seven Dials was the first project of its kind in London since the erection of Nelson's Column in the 1840s. However, there is a fundamental difference between the Sundial Pillar and London's other great monuments - the Sundial Pillar performs a function: telling the time accurately on six dial faces. So our story…

We began life as the Seven Dials Housing Action Area Committee (1977-1984) - six residents and six businesses supported by a group of talented Camden officers led by the outstanding officer, Dougie Gordon. Seven Dials was in a state of dereliction, with 90% of its housing stock having been vacant for more than 40 years and gas lighting and outside…

The first meeting of Camden Council at which restoring the Sundial Pillar was discussed, 1985. Our first task was to get Camden Council on board. The Borough Engineer was sceptical as to how the foundations could bridge the deep sewers and many other services beneath the Dials. Other departments were concerned about traffic implications and whether our small group had…

Planning consent for "the erection of a column at the centre of Seven Dials" was granted in spring 1985 and the project was launched on 29th July 1985 at a reception in trustee Christina Smith's restaurant. The owners of the Crown Public House on the Dials, Taylor Walker, gave much in-kind assistance through their PR company. 300 invitations to the…

Even though clocks existed in the 1670s, public sundials were an important part of everyday life in London and throughout Europe. This story from the Athenian Mercury of 1692/3 (iv, No. 4), the year before the erection of the original Sundial Pillar, provides a graphic illustration of the need for sundials: "I was walking in Covent Garden where the clock…

The Covent Garden Sundial Pillar in the middle of the Piazza.     Horological Journal, February 1989.  

Seven Dials was laid out by Thomas Neale MP in the early 1690s. Neale commissioned England's leading stonemason, Edward Pierce, to design and construct the Sundial Pillar in 1693/4 as the centrepiece of his development. It was regarded as one of London's 'great public ornaments' and the layout and identity of the area revolved around it. On October 5th 1694,…

  The following pages are from our booklet The Seven Dials. This was one of our fundraising tools. It sets out our position in 1987 and gives a flavour of the detailed work and innovative fundraising involved.        

The Trust appointed Gordon E. Taylor (formerly of the Royal Greenwich Observatory) as its astronomical consultant. The base of the Sundial Pillar had to be aligned in a North-South direction, but how does one determine direction accurately in a crowded, built-up area such as Seven Dials? Certainly nothing as crude as a magnetic compass can be used. Helpfully, John Strype's…

As architect A.D.Mason of Whitfield Partners writes in his article below, when designing the original Pillar Pierce would have chosen one of the classical orders for the column - Ionic, Doric, Corinthian etc - and then built it accordingly. We knew from the remains at Weybridge that  he had chosen Doric but then a chance discovery led to a conundrum.…

Much scepticism had been expressed as to how to bridge the plethora of underground services across the Dials and, above all, how to engineer a solution which would allow for all eventualities, including the main sewer either bursting or needing repair. Structural engineers Hockley & Dawson's Roger Howard devised the ingenious solution in the drawing above. The Pillar sits on…

In 1987, the Trust celebrated the completion of the Seven Dials Sundial Pillar's complex foundation works with a traditional 'topping in' event but, in this case, underground. These ceremonies are traditionally carried out at the top of a new building but this was clearly not going to be possible atop a Sundial Pillar! The hidden foundation works are an unusual…