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Sundial basics

 

Sundials are more complex than they seem. See our introduction page

The many types of sundials are

explained. And there are 6 sundial projects to start you on your journey.  Our FAQ lists some questions raised by readers with the answers you may find helpful

Setting up sundials

 

The 3 essential things you need to set up a sundial are explained here. You will find it helpful to know your latitude, and to know the time of solar noon when the sun is directly overhead; if you access this site on your computer, you can print out a table showing the time of solar noon for the whole year

Technical info

 

Vertical dials on a wall are the most challenging, and for them you need to know the declination of the wall. It is helpful to know why sun time is different from watch time because of the Equation of Time - our watches assume that every day is exactly 24 hours, when in fact they vary in length

                Join the british sundial society






 

Join our group finding, making, discussing and publicising sundials

Sundials are an ancient technology, combining art in design, craft in making, and maths

Our members are young and old, male and female, of diverse interests

and come from all over the world

Our website is at www.sundialsoc.org.uk and we publish a quarterly Bulletin

Join us now, and get six months extra on your first years subscription

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Sundial pictures

 

Our page on new sundials has a great selection of modern dials from all over the world. And our picture page has links to many other websites which have pictures of sundials in individual countries and others

Sundial trails

 

Sundial trails give you the opportunity to visit many good sundials when you travel. Some are walking trails, for some you need a car. And there are sundials trail all over the world, from Ottawa to Tasmania

Sundial locations

 

Our locations page leads you to a sundial map of Austria (which also extends to other neighbouring countries) and to a sundial map of the  British Isles from the British Sundial Society. Please tell us of any others

You can translate all the pages on this site into more than 100 other languages, including:

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Sundial makers

 

Our Sunfair page gives details of some experienced sundial makers who produce accurate, well-crafted sundialswhich are beautifully made and correctly designed. And the makers page gives links to sundial makers all over the world

Sundial Mottoes

 

Sundial mottoes are many and various, whether rules for living ("Always time for friends"), exhortations ("While we have time, let us do good"), mortality ("Life passes like a shadow") or use ("Make haste, but slowly") and here are more

Sundial societies

 

There are national sundial societies in many contries around the world.  The largest are the British Sundial Society & the North American Sundial Society, Both have quarterly jourrnals and an international membershp. Click here for a complete list

Reference Articles

 

We have an archive of articles providing more information about all aspects of sundials and we are adding articles we have found particularly well written and informative whenever we come across them

Books and sources

 

The books page  lists some of the classic texts on sundials and how to make them; these are particularely useful for people new to this challenging field

Links

 

When this site started in 1996, there were only a handful of other sundials sites. Now there are thousands. We list here on our links page  all those we think especially worthy of note - and would welcome suggestions for any others!

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