Sundial, 18th Century

The bronze sundial at Lydiard Park, is inscribed with the makers name, J Sisson of London, a well known designer of mathematical instruments.

The dial is engraved with the arms of Henry 1st Viscount St.John (died 1742) impaling those of Pelissary, beneath a viscounts coronet. The arms of Pelissary represent the family of the viscount's second wife, Angelica Magdalena. Portraits of the couple can be seen in the State Rooms of the House.

For many years the sundial, which stands on a base of carved Bath stone, was situated in front of Lydiard House near the south corner of the building. However a plan of the park produced by Francis Howard Willington in 1766 marks the sundial in the walled garden.

In the early 20th century an attempted theft of the dial caused damage to the stone plinth and the sundial was removed and put into storage for safekeeping. Subsequently, archaeological investigations in the walled garden in 2004 revealed the original site of the sundial and a replica dial was reinstated on the stone plinth as part of the Lydiard Park Landscape Restoration Project

The replica was made by Rupert Harris, metal conservators of London with funding provided by Upper Thames NADFAS. The original dial was conserved and put on display in Lydiard House.

A second sundial at Lydiard Park can be seen above the entrance to the south porch of St. Mary's church; a public dial fashioned in stone with the very simplest decoration.