Analemmatic dials

Private garden, Makkum

This really is a unique dial! Not only is it the oldest one in the northern part of the country, but it is also the only one I know of, in which the shadow always extends beyond the hour ring. That's because of the long rod used as a gnomon. The major axis of the ellipse is 6 m (20 ft), the rod reaches 3.3 m (11 ft) high.

The date line is formed by a slit in the brick platform. The circular bulge divides it according to the Golden Ratio, hence into parts of 62% and 38%.
The grey block should prevent the rod from falling over, and the bolts serve to adjust the vertical alignment. A pointer at the side enables the rod to be set at the correct date.

When we visited, the grass had not yet been mown and the markings not yet been refreshed, due to the foot-and-mouth disease that crippled rural life at that time. Wiebe Tilstra cleared the ellipse with the hour points especially for us.
He also gave me the pictures below, which were taken shortly after the construction was finished. They give a better view of the scales.

The left picture shows the winter side of the date line, which is divided per 1/3 month. The ellipse, at the right, is made of bricks, which are inserted far enough to be mown over. It has hour points for local time (Roman numerals) as wel as Central European Time (Arabic numerals).

Location: 53.1° N, 5.4° E
Design: Wiebe Tilstra
Inauguration: 1990