A 19th century sundial which was accidentally damaged by a lawnmower has been restored to its former glory and will go on display at Heriot-Watt University Museum and Archive.

The stone sundial was designed by Robert Palmer in 1829 with the schoolmaster also being a keen astronomer and known for his knowledge of the subject.

From the village of Currie on the outskirts of Edinburgh, Palmer was also extremely knowledgeable in mathematics and the sundial sat in the centre of the lawn at Riccarton Estate for around 130 years.

Palmer engraved roman numerals on his sundial from 4am to 8pm and also had astrology symbols, the months of the year and 50 place names including Quebec, Mecca, Mauritius, London and Waterloo.

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The sundial was removed from its position in the 1960s when Riccarton Estate was sold by the Gibson Craig family but it was returned by their ancestors in 2022 but looking a bit worse for wear.

It had been damaged by a ride on lawnmower but a specialist team have worked to put it back together and restore it to the levels Palmer had it.

Julia Stephen, the curator at Heriot-Watt, said: “So for the last 60 or so years, only the stone base of the sundial has sat in the lawn at Riccarton, with no actual sundial on top of it.

“At some point, the sundial had been damaged by a sit-on lawnmower. It had cracked in half and was literally in pieces. And it was almost black with surface dirt, so it needed reconstruction and restoration work.”

The sundial will be on display from now until May 2025 at the university but it isn’t Palmer’s only claim to fame.

The Dumfrieshire born schoolmaster also helped create the rules for the sport of curling and played it himself with Steven adding: Palmer helped set up the rules for the game of curling and he was a very enthusiastic and really good player.

“As well as being the school teacher, he kept records for the local community. He was the local registrar, responsible for recording births, marriages and deaths and also a kirk session clerk and president of the local Scottish school teachers’ association, so quite a pillar of the community. Children came from all around to be boarders in his school, because the standard of education they were getting there was significantly better than the average local school.”