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 "On the southern side of the
mansion, on a slightly elevated mound, stands a most complete
and very beautiful sun-dial, deserving of careful observation,
inasmuch as it reflects a great credit on the sculptor, the late
George Boulby, who was a common mason at the contiguous and rural
village of Crofton, in 1813.A a work of art, and, especially
when it was well known to have been executed by a totally uneducated
man - by a common mason, not only devoid of inculcated literary
attainments, but by one having had no guiding artistic instruction
- by a man having to earn, 'by the sweat of his brow', the few
shillings sufficient to enable him to secure some of the works
of the philosopher of Athens - by one having to entirely depend
upon self counsel so as to elevate him in his financial and social
position. I venture to say, considering all these formidable disadvantages
and impediments, that this specimen of sculpture is a wonderful
development of innate talent, and must be admired and applauded,
for generations in futurity, as a relic of the excellence of the
scientific execution of the common stone mason.
This dial is composed of twenty equilateral
triangles, which are so disposed as to form a similar number of
individual dials, ten of which, whenever the sun shines
out, and whatever may be its altitude in the heavens, are
always in use, and ever faithful time-keepers. On these separate
dials are engraven, severally, the names of cities in all parts
of the globe, which are placed in accordance with their different
degrees of longitude, by which arrangement, the solar time, at
each of the cities recorded on the different dials, can be simultaneously
ascertained. On one occasion Mr. Waterton, having
to pass Boulby's house ... saw this dial in the stonemason's yard,
for which Boulby asked a mere trifle. The Squire, delighted with
the execution and the ingenuity of this simple-minded man, generously
presented Boulby with twenty guineas by way of purchase, when
the ingenuous and unaffected mason was infinitely more delighted
to have the honour of his own artistic skills exhibited at Walton
Hall, under the patronage of the Squire, than with the douceur
which the sculptor erroneously considered far beyond its value." |
 The Boulby Sundial - a fine piece of craftsmanship by a local Yorkshire lad.
No longer in tip-top condition, but an impressive piece of work, all the same.
© John S. Sargent 6th April 2009. |
 Demerara on the sun dial.
An echo of Waterton's time on the sugar plantation and Wanderings in South America |
-s.jpg) On this face, Philadelphia, one of the American cities visited by Charles Waterton, where he met George Ord, Charles Willson Peale and John James Audubon. (More here.) |
The Boulby Sun Dial at Walton Hall
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