Prospects of Finding Royal Sundial's 'Twin' Dim, Answer Man Learns

While visiting Leeds Castle in Maidstone, Kent, England, we saw a sundial that tells the time in Fairfax and were told there is a matching sundial in Virginia. No one could give us an exact location, but someone did say that it might be on property that is now part of Fort Belvoir. Can you find this sundial, and can I go see it?

-- Susannah Phillips, Oakton

The short answer? No and no. The considerably longer answer follows.

Susannah is correct that the sundial at Leeds Castle tells the time in Fairfax. Why would there be such a sundial in England, leaving aside the fact that England is seldom sunny?

The reason has to do with why Fairfax County is called Fairfax County. It's named after Thomas, the 6th Lord Fairfax, the English royal who was granted much of Virginia. Thomas was born in Leeds Castle.

He was that rare royal who actually visited his Colonial holdings, coming to Virginia for two years in 1735 and returning for good in 1747. When he emigrated, Thomas left Leeds Castle to his younger brother, Robert, who is described by various sources as "extravagant," "luckless," "petulant" and "weak."

Be that as it may, the first thing Robert did upon taking over was order a survey of Leeds Castle and its surrounding land. The map was drawn up by Thomas Hogben, a schoolmaster and surveyor. Hogben also designed sundials. In 1749, he created one for Leeds Castle. According to English sundial aficionado John Foad, it was probably fabricated in London by a man named Wright. It told, and tells still, the time in Virginia.

Meanwhile, Lord Fairfax's cousin William Fairfax was running things for his lordship in America. William had constructed a handsome house overlooking the Potomac River about 12 miles south of Mount Vernon. He called it Belvoir, which means "beautiful to see."

Lord Fairfax owned lots of other properties in Virginia -- and in fact eventually moved to a house called Greenway Court near White Post, where he died in 1781 -- but if there was a sundial, it most likely would have been at Belvoir. Was there one? Well, the World Wide Web is full of references to the twin sundials. According to "The History of Leeds Castle," such a sundial "is said to have shown the time at Leeds Castle." A 1965 biography of Lord Fairfax says the sundial was "purported to show the corresponding hour at Leeds Castle."

"Said to." "Purported." What Answer Man has been unable to find is any contemporary reference to the Virginia sundial, any letter or diary entry from a Colonist along the lines of "I faw the fineft fundial out at the Fairfax houfe today."

That doesn't mean there wasn't one. What's clear is that there isn't one now, and that may be because there isn't a Belvoir now. It was engulfed by a tremendous fire in 1783. In 1814, American forces set up an artillery position near Belvoir's ruined walls to fire on British ships that had just plundered Alexandria after the English burned Washington. The British returned fire. From 173 guns. For four days. Pity the poor sundial that has to endure such an onslaught.

What remains of the Fairfax house -- the outline of the foundation -- is on the grounds of Fort Belvoir. Archaeological digs have been done there since the 1930s and the findings catalogued by the county. "If there were something that 'gee-whiz,' we would have heard about it," said Fairfax County archaeologist Elizabeth Crowell.

Perhaps there never was a sundial at Belvoir. Perhaps there was and someone scavenged it years ago. Or perhaps it's there still, buried in the rubble and the dirt, just waiting to be unearthed, when it can once again glint in the sun and link two brothers across an ocean.

Send a Kid to Camp

You don't need a sundial, a watch or a clock radio to tell it's time to support Camp Moss Hollow, the summer camp for at-risk kids from the Washington area.

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