Record Details

NHER Number:12653
Type of record:Structure
Name:The Dial, Attleborough Road

Summary

The Dial is a pillar erected as a memorial to a donation by Sir Edwin Rich, which allowed the construction of the road in 1695. It was one of the first three turnpikes to be authorised in Britain and the second to be built, predated only by the Great North Road. It used to be crowned by a sundial, though this no longer survives.

Images - none

Location

Grid Reference:TM 0807 9778
Map Sheet:TM09NE
Parish:WYMONDHAM, SOUTH NORFOLK, NORFOLK

Full description

The Dial.

Stone Pillar inscribed "This pillar was erected by order of the sessions of the peace of Norfolk as a grateful remembrance of the charity of /Sir Edwin Rich K/ who freely gave ye sum of two hundred pounds towards the repair of ye highway between Wymondham and Attleborough/AD 1675".
Pillar is arranged on each side as two recessed panels above each other; the inscription is arranged, in the first panel as far as the stroke, then on the dividing bar (K standing for knight) then on the next panel, the date being on the base. It was erected when the road was built in 1695 (20 years after the donation) and was one of the first three turnpikes to be authorised in Britain and the second to be built, predated only by the Great North Road cf (S1).
The pillar stands at the central part of the road. Tom Martin's Church Notes c.1730 (S2) has an illustration marking it as 1 foot square at base, 3 1/2ft [1.1m] high (both still correct) but with a 2ft [60cm] chamfered top bearing a sun dial. Latter dimension is a little exaggerated; the sun dial has gone but its socket remains and the top is now bound in iron. The inscription was restored in 1888 but is already partly illegible again. When the Attleborough bypass is opened the Dial is to be moved slightly.
Compiled by E. Rose (NAU), 28 October 1981. Information from record card (S3).
Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 19 March 2022.

1985.
Restored and reset on far side of road.
Compiled by E. Rose (NAU), 21 May 1985. Information from record card (S3).
Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 19 March 2022.

Photograph and newspaper cuttings (S4) and (S5) in file.

September 1992. Listed, Grade II.
Listing Description excerpt:
"Commemorative pillar. 1675. Limestone. Square section stone pillar with two panels to each side. South side bears inscription: 'This Pillar was erected by the order of the sessions of the peace of Norfolk as a grateful remembrance of the charity of Sir Edwin Rich Knt who freely gave ye sume of two hundred pounds towards ye repaire of ye highway between Wymondham and Attleborough. A.D. 1675'. Sundial on top lost 1730. Moved to present site by Department of Transport 1985."
Information from (S6).
Please consult the National Heritage List for England (S6) for the current listing details.
P. Watkins (HES), 19 March 2022.

For detailed discussion of the relationship between the grant and the turnpike act, and the placing of the monument (Martin's note is in fact of 1722) see (S7).
Compiled by E. Rose (NLA), 4 March 1993.

See history of turnpike in NIAS records.
According to the Ordnance Survey First Edition Six Inch map (S8) the original position of the Dial was TM0819397869
W. Arnold (HES), 17 January 2011. Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 19 March 2022.

Monument Types

  • COMMEMORATIVE MONUMENT (17th Century to 21st Century - 1695 AD? to 2100 AD)
  • SUNDIAL (17th Century to 21st Century - 1695 AD? to 2100 AD)

Associated Finds

  • INSCRIBED OBJECT (Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1900 AD)

Protected Status

  • Listed Building

Sources and further reading

---Monograph: Pevsner, N and Wilson, B. 1999. Norfolk 2: North-West and South. The Buildings of England. 2nd Edition. p 806.
---Photograph: Photograph of The Dial, Attleborough Road, Wymondham. Black & white.
---Secondary File: Secondary File.
<S1>Article in Serial: Cossons, A. 1952. The Turnpike Roads of Norfolk. Norfolk Archaeology. Vol XXX pp 189-219. p 199.
<S2>Documentary Source: Martin, T. c. 1700-1799. Collections of Church Notes. Norfolk Records Office. Walter Rye Collection. RYE 17.. c. 1730.
<S3>Record Card: NAU Staff. 1974-1988. Norfolk Archaeological Index Primary Record Card.
<S4>Newspaper Article: Eastern Daily Press. 1985. [Article on the renovated Dial Stone]. 20 May.
<S5>Newspaper Article: Eastern Daily Press. 1987. Pillar reveals road's past. 8 June.
<S6>Designation: Historic England. National Heritage List for England. List Entry 1196727.
<S7>Article in Serial: Morley, G.. 1992. The London Road.. NIAS Journal. Vol 5, no 2.
<S8>Map: Ordnance Survey. 1885-1891. Ordnance Survey Map. Six inches to the mile. First Edition. 1:10,560. Norfolk LXXXVI.NW (Surveyed 1881-1882, Published 1887).

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