 In 1669 a new King's Sun Dial was erected for Charles II, designed by Father Francis Hall, a Jesuit priest. It was an extremely elaborate construction that Hall detailed in a book, Explication of the Diall, that he published in 1673 to explain how it operated. It stood 3 metres (9.8 ft) high and was constructed of stone, brass and wood, with gilded ironwork and painted glass panels to accompany its 270 component dials. It resembled "a fountain of glass spheres, or a giant candelabrum with tiered, branching arms ending in crystal globes", which showed not only the hours of the day but "many things also belonging to geography, astrology, and astronomy, by the sun's shadow made visible to the eye."
