Fountain And Sundial, Dundas Castle is a Grade A listed building in the City of Edinburgh local planning authority area, Scotland. First listed on 22 February 1971. Fountain.
Fountain And Sundial, Dundas Castle
- WRENN ID
- inner-crypt-frost
- Grade
- A
- Local Planning Authority
- City of Edinburgh
- Constituency
- Edinburgh West MP: Christine Jardine (LD)
- Country
- Scotland
- Date first listed
- 22 February 1971
- Type
- Fountain
- OS grid reference
- NT 118 766
- Coordinates
- 55.97514, -3.41367
- Source
- Historic Environment Scotland listing
Description
The Fountain and Sundial at Dundas Castle, built in 1623, is a substantial and ornate square Renaissance fountain featuring 12 spouts for drinking. It is topped by a sundial on an octagonal pedestal and is approached by a flying-arched stair. The fountain is made of carved ashlar sandstone.
It showcases low-relief strapwork carving with projecting masks at intervals, from which lead water spouts emerge. Below these masks are corbelled water troughs. The fountain includes Latin inscriptions in carved cartouches positioned between pilasters. Each elevation has a central section of cornice that projects on carved consoles, except on the west side where the stair connects. The consoles are adorned with male and female heads, cherubs holding floral wreaths, and the cipher of Sir Walter Dundas. The angle compartments feature decorations of Dundas family emblems, including a lion's head emerging from a thicket, a lion gules, a salamander amidst flames, and the shield of Sir Walter Dundas quartered with that of his wife. The sundial pedestal is finished with winged termini.
Local climate
Fountain And Sundial, Dundas Castle receives an average of 930 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 71% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 51% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 40 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 77% of listed buildings. Of these, 21 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
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- No EPC on record for this property
- No sale records on file
- No related consent applications matched
- Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
- Flood risk assessment
- Radon risk assessment
- Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
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