The Longitude Dial
As part of the celebrations to mark the 400th Anniversary of the House, Lord Salisbury commissioned a m monumental Longitude Dial which was unveiled in June, at the summer solstice.
The Longitude dial is a precision timepiece with no moving parts. It relies upon the motion of the Earth to tell the time to the nearest minute. It has been designed for the precise point it occupies within the gardens at Hatfield and Hatfield house lies at the centre of the map. The longitude dial tracks the Earths daily rotation on its axis (360 degrees in 24 hours or one degree every four minutes) and its annual orbit around the sun. In addition to tracking the daily time and motion of the earth, the design contains a paved compass rose complete with graduated degree scale. Outside of this circle, are arrows showing the direction and distance of 125 places throughout the world. These include cathedral cities prominent at the time Hatfield house was constructed, places carrying historical associations with the Cecil family in addition to other well known cities and islands throughout the world.
The Longitude dial has been designed by William, J Andrewes, based upon an idea first published in Nuremberg by Franz Ritter in 1607 (the same year that Robert Cecil acquired the Old Palace and Royal Estate of Hatfield).
The design of the polished stainless steel arms which support the dial plate is based upon an armillary sphere, a scientific instrument depicting the heavens that was widely used for reaching astronomy during the 17th Century. In addition to telling the time, the dial plate serves as a form of Nephoscope, a cloud observing instrument used in the 1800’s to observe the direction of the wind by the drift of clouds reflected in the polished surface of the dial.
The dial plate and information panels are manufactured from a micro-fine igneous rock. Whilst these and the associated stainless steel arms and gnomon have been machined under Mr Andrewes watchful supervision in the USA, the pedestal and stonework comprising the compass rose has been sourced, cut and engraved within the United Kingdom. The Compass rose is constructed from precision cut slabs and is composed of Cornish Granite with large pointers of Cumbrian and Welsh Slate. The pedestal is carved from Clipsham Limestone, a sedimentary stone found in Lincolnshire not far from Stamford, where Robert Cecil’s father, Lord Burghley built another magnificent Country House.