I’ve had a few sunny days in Cambridge over the years, but only a few. So I am puzzled, after my last visit to Fenland, at just how obsessed the City seems to be with sundials.

Never noticed any? Well a lot of them - typically, perhaps, for this slightly snooty city - are hidden away for the enjoyment of gown rather than town. However, do persevere. There are some fascinating solar timepieces around the Colleges and other academic buildings.

Take this extraordinary device, for starters:-

You will find it at the North end of the grounds of Downing College, accessible to the public because it’s also the way into the Sedgwick Museum - not the most famous attraction in Cambridge but a treasure trove of earth science collections. Technically this is a polyhedral sundial - a bit of a nonsense really and newer than a lot of the Cambridge dials because it was gifted in 1913 by archaeologist Sir William Ridgeway. This isn’t a boast-post, I had to look all this up after seeing the dial, which is how I now know the shape is also known as a pseudo-rhombicuboctahedron.

It was the first sundial I spotted on my recent trip and it caught my eye when I was having a bit of a breather after touring the Sedgwick before tackling the extraordinary Fitzwilliam Museum nearby. Ridgeway’s dial looks as if it has had a bit of a bashing from the elements and from generations of students. The gnomons (the parts which throw the shadows) are bent out of shape and the whole thing definitely needs a bit of attention. It’s odd that it has not been attended to because Sir William left quite a sum in his will with the instruction that the first call on this Fund should be for maintenance of the Dial. Maybe a Burser somewhere needs a bit of a reminder!

But there are lovelier and more impressive dials to find. The best-known and maybe most beautiful is The Queens’ Dial at Queens’ College.

Painted on a wall in Old Court and repainted a few times since, it is a thing of beauty. Apparently it’s been there is one form or another since 1642. The complexity is impressive, including the only “moon dial” in the country. And, no, I don’t know how that works!

At Christ’s College there is a rather elegant dial. The college says of it:-

The sundial is located on the wall of the Hall, and – for those not entitled to enter the College – easily visible from the entrance by the Porters’ Lodge. It is dated 1927, replacing a dial known (from an old print) to have been in this position in C17 that was lost during C19 alterations to the Hall. The dial was the gift of a College benefactor. His initials and the year of installation are on the dial supports. The calculations were carried out by a Member of College who was a sundial expert.

Another I spotted at a distance is the multi-faceted dial at the ancient Gonville and Caius College. It can be partially viewed by outsiders over the top of the imposing walls, just above the Gate of Honour.

Fascinated though I am sure you are by this brief horological tour, I’m not going to list all Cambridge’s 19 sundials - because somebody already has. There is a book (see below with their locations and history - it’s oldish, but apparently still available at Amazon. Appropriately enough only second-hand) and apparently a Sundial Trail.

I didn’t have time to track them all down on this visit, but I will keep looking. But do look for yourself - we’re having perfect sundial spotting weather this year. If global warming keeps producing power outages like those in Spain and Portugal, maybe the sundials will be in demand as more than just lovely old curiosities!

Cambridge Sundials by Alexis Brookes and Margaret Stanier. (1991)

Pendragon Press, Papworth Everard, Cambridge. Colour photographs and full descriptions of 19 sundials in the city of Cambridge and 4 nearby. 56 pp