Renfrewshire - NS 561565
Lectern desk without a star. Equatorial on top. When Somerville visited in 1984 it was 180 degrees out of alignment but recent photographs show it to have been realigned. It was recently vandalised to the point of hanging off its plinth held on only by the steel rod at its core. At the time of the authors visit it was being restored at Culzean Castle, Ayrshire by the National Trust for Scotland's restoration workshop.
Visited 23 August 1984 - A. R. Somerville
Visited 21 August 2005 - Author
Visiting this dial was a bit foolish.
I was in a desperate rush while moving house and as it was just a short railway journey away I should have visited it many years ago. Therefore I took it for granted. Instead of doing any research I thought it would be easy just to breeze along relying on the National Trust for Scotland to provide everything - even tea and cake.
Things got off to a bad start when exhausted from moving house I fell asleep on the train and ended up feeling rather silly in East Kilbride much to the amusement of the surrounding old ladies.
When I finally got to the right station - it started raining. Not giving up though quickly walked the distance to Greenbank House and as I neared the sun began to shine.
However, the dial was not there. It was all in vain. The polite lady at the desk did not seem to understand why the soaking wet man in front of her might be a bit irritated by this and after just five minutes in the grounds I left. At least I hadn't paid to enter.
Greenbank House is surrounded by middling housing estates which means that this dial despite being carefully tended by the National Trust for Scotland is at severe risk of vandalism.
At the time of my visit the lectern dial of Greenbank House,Renfrewshire was at the National Trust for Scotland's workshop at Culzean for restoration following two severe acts of vandalism. I was told it would be returning late 2005.