21220

 

II  

Designated  

25/01/1999  

25/01/1999  

Sundial at Pool Park  

 

Denbighshire  

Efenechtyd  

 

Pool Park  

309897  

355566  

W  

Located on top of a terraced rise immediately opposite the main front of the house.  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

 

Garden sundial dated 1661 and bearing the carved initials C.S. These probably refer to Charles Salesbury of Bachymbyd (near Ruthin, Denbighshire), second son of Colonel William `Blue Stockings' Salesbury, the famous royalist commander and defender of Denbigh Castle. Charles Salesbury also served as a royalist officer during the Civil Wars and was amongst those nominated as Knight of the Royal Oak at the Restoration. It was he who rebuilt Bachymbyd in 1666; he served as High Sheriff of the county in 1661, significantly the year which appears on the sundial. It seems probable that the sundial originated at Bachymbyd and was brought to Pool Park at the time of the rebuilding under Lord Bagot of Blithfield between 1826 and 1829. The Bagots had inherited the Pool Park and Bachymbyd estates through marriage into the Salesbury house in 1670.  

Sandstone sundial base of columnar type. On a moulded square plinth with chamfered corners. The shaft has noticeable entasis and sits upon a tall rectangular base with strapwork decoration to its 4 faces. Surmounting the shaft is a square abacus with paired, chip-carved rosettes to two of its faces, and the date 1661 and the initials C.S. to the other two respectively; these are raised in relief. The sundial plate itself is missing and the sundial is supported by modern strapping wires.  

 

Listed for its special interest as a dated C17 garden sundial.