Edinburgh - NT 269739 - Earle 79,80 - Gatty 23, 156, 564 - Ross 441, 552, 564
Lat: 55:57:10N Lon: 3:10:20W
This sundial has long been called 'Queen Mary's Dial' but was in fact carved for Charles I and Henrietta Maria for their coronation at Holyrood in 1633. It was carved by John Mylne III at a cost of £408.11 6d Scots + charges for painting and gilding. During Queen Victoria's time it was restored and Somerville reports it to have been recently cleaned circa 1986.
Visited 13 Sept 1986 - A. R. Somerville
Visited 11 June 2007 - Author
I had a suitably debauched stag-do in St Andrews and still nursing my injuries and sitting rather delicately I made my way down to Edinburgh to catch the train to London. What do you do on a sunny day in Edinburgh when you have a few hours to use up and are in desperate need of an antidote to stagness? Simple - head off to see a dial. Finding a dial at short notice that I haven't seen is rather tricky but luckily I had been saving the dial at Holyroodhouse for just such a day. My best man and another good friend came along and they weren't overly surprised when by some amazing coincidence we stumbled on an astounding sundial. Ah they know me well and humour me.
www.scran.ac.uk has beautiful images of the dial
