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Fingask Castle

Sundial (17th Century)

Site Name Fingask Castle

Classification Sundial (17th Century)

Alternative Name(s) Fingask Castle Lawn; Holyrood Palace Sundial; 'mermaid Structure; Fingask Castle Policies'

Canmore ID 30460

Site Number NO22NW 7.02

NGR NO 22833 27442

Datum OSGB36 - NGR

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/30460

Ordnance Survey licence number AC0000807262. All rights reserved.
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Administrative Areas

  • Council Perth And Kinross
  • Parish Kilspindie
  • Former Region Tayside
  • Former District Perth And Kinross
  • Former County Perthshire

Archaeology Notes

NO22NW 7.02 22833 27442

Not to be confused with NO22NW 7.04.

Fingask Castle Sundial, dated 1563 was reputedly removed from Holyrood Palace. Of complex design (similar to the sundial at Glamis) with badly weathered vertical and facet dials; four rampant lions support bell capital and mermaid figure.

Name Book 1865; L Melville 1939

Said to be at Dale, near Thurso (but see also NO22NW 7.1).

Visited by OS 18 October 1963

(Polygonal sundial of facetted type) "1563, removed from Holyrood Palace. Sundial of complex design with vertical and facet dials: badly weathered. 4 Rampant lions support bell?-capital and mermaid figure" (NMRS). OS Name Book (1861) says "bears the date of 1563 and is said to have been in the gardens of Mary Queen of Scots at Holyrood Palace". There is some confusion in these records: the structure with the mermaid and lions does not appear to be a sundial and has no date; another structure, an octagonal block on a pillar with a horse's head finial is a dial with 11 faces and has a worn date which could be 1563 (but possibly 1668). The plinth has the initials "MR" (Maria Regina?). If the date 1563 is correct, this is the oldest known polyhedral dial in Scotland.

The date on the dial block is certainly 1563 and it has a square and compass symbol above it. The horse's head finial is of a different stone. The pillar with the initials "MR" is also different and probably Victorian - it has an inscription on the base which seems to give the history of the dial but is only partly legible.

Visited 14 April 1987.

A R Somerville 1990.

On the lawn to the S of Fingask Castle there is a finely executed sundial with vertical and multi-facetted faces and lions rampant supporting a bell capital and mermaid figure. The dial is set on a modern shaft and is said to have been removed from Holyrood Palace (NT27SE 35.00). The date 1563, once visible, is no longer apparent. Visited by RCAHMS (IMS) 21 June 1989.

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