Portable Sun Dial
This sun dial, or shepherds' dial, is one of the simplest of the portable sun dials. These dials have been used for centuries - there is a reference to such a device in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.
The sun dial comes in a neat presentation cardboard tube, and there is a short printed history of sun dials included, as well as illustrated instructions for how to use your sun dial.
The gnomon (the little wooden pointer) comes packed inside the sun dial. You simply push it into place, and then twist the top of the sun dial so that the gnomon is aligned with the correct week and month - these are printed around the bottom of the dial.
You then suspend the dial by the string, so the sun dial hangs freely. Gently twist the string so that the gnomon is pointing directly towards the sun. The shadow will then be cast directly underneath the gnomon, where you can read the time according to which line the shadow is touching.
The line are much closer together in winter, so the sun dial is less accurate on these dates.
The dial is drawn up for Greenwich Mean Time, so you will need to make adjustments if you are not at GMT.
The sun dial is 12.5cm high (excluding the string) and the storage tube is 15cm high.
Made in the UK