Granary, Historical granary in Watt, Switzerland.
The Sander Speicher is a four-storey tithe granary built in 1626 in Watt, Regensdorf. Its walls are rough stone masonry, over a metre thick in the basement and about 70 cm above, and the basement sits below ground level, reached through a covered tunnel. A tiled saddle roof covers the building, and the inscription "1626 VSM" is still legible in the arch of the cellar entrance.
Built in 1626, as the inscription "1626 VSM" in the cellar arch records, the Sander Speicher stored the tithe, the tax paid in kind. The letters may refer to its builder, Meier. After the reform of existing authorities in the 19th century the granaries of Regensdorf lost their purpose; many decayed or were enlarged, while this one kept its original state. It was restored in 1979/80.
The name Sander Speicher refers to the tithe granary, where taxes paid in grain and other produce were stored. The building is owned by the Zivilgemeinde Watt, except for the cellar, and is listed simply as a Speicher in the inventory of cultural property. The painted stepped pattern above the sundial marks the original stepped gable, and the sandstone hemisphere above it was the gable's peak before the building was raised twelve years after 1626.
The cellar lies below ground level and is reached through a covered tunnel, a layout typical of granaries in the Zürich Unterland. The entrance arch still carries the inscription "1626 VSM". The sundial on the south wall faces the street side of the building in Watt.
The sundial on the south wall dates from the building year 1626. Its face shows local time on the inner ring and Central European Time, added after 1894, on the outer ring; the two differ by about thirty minutes. The wall deviates 3–4° from true south, so the dial runs about ten minutes off, and the 15:00 line sits out of step with the others.
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