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Return to Co. Derry list |
Go to Prehistoric Alignments & Dials |
Go to Ancient Monastic Dials |
Go to Medieval Dials |
Go to Modern (1600+) Dials |
Go to Sundial Info.and Books |
 Derry Sundial |
 Noon at the Equinox |
Some 5000 years ago the Stone Age Neolithic people in Ireland aligned some of their megalithic monuments to the major solar events of the Equinoxes and the Winter and Summer Solstices which divided the year into four parts. The half way points between these major solar events, (which we now call the cross quarter days), mark the turning of the seasons and further subdivide the year into eight parts. It is more than likely that these ancient people had some form solar calender dial in their village to indicate the turning of the seasons, the time to plough, plant, harvest etc. None of these dials have been found but this conjectural design consists of a vertical direct south facing dial with a horizontal pointed rod gnomon. Spirals were used by the Neolithic people as a sun motif on their megalithic stone carvings, most notably at Newgrange in Co. Meath, world famous for its Winter Solstice alignment, so spirals were used on this dial to indicate the turning of the seasons and a noon line was also incorporated to mark the passing of the first half of every day. On any day, when the sun is due south and at its highest in the sky, the shadow of the tip of the gnomon touches the vertical line at mid-day, twelve noon, which is marked on the dial with the Roman numeral XII for clarity. The length of the shadow, which varies throughout the year, indicates the occurrence of the Eight Calendric Events when it touches the varying sized spirals, the smallest anti-clockwise indicating the cold mid-winter, the largest clockwise the warm mid-summer with a double spiral at the Equinox marking the transition from winter to summer and vice versa. The Eight Calendric Events with their names in old Irish are:- 
Translation of the Latin inscription - Delineated by M.J.Harley 2013 |