AN Oxford college has turned down a share of the £888,000 estate of a former fellow who bequeathed the money on the condition that the dons relocate a huge sundial.

All Souls College announced this week that it would not accept the bequest by John Simmons, an expert on sundials who wanted the instrument to be returned to its original position.

Throughout his life, Prof Simmons, who died last year at the age of 90, had always maintained that the college had made a dreadful mistake in moving the sundial to a different position in the quadrangle.

But an Oxford University spokesman said All Souls had declined the offer and that the unspecified amount of money was likely to be given to the university's Bodleian Library instead.

The sundial was designed by Sir Christopher Wren in 1658 and is recognised as one of the most beautiful examples in the world.

It was moved from the southern chapel wall, in the front quadrangle, to the Codrington Library in the 1870s.

Prof Simmons, who published a history of All Souls and its buildings, was an expert on sundials and shared a 130-year grievance with other Oxford traditionalists about the college's treatment of Wren's dial.

They argued that in its original position, it was so accurate that the Oxford watch and clockmakers used it to check their timepieces.

They also complained that moving the sundial upset the symmetry of the North Quad.

Prof Simmons, who was also a leading Slavonic scholar and spent much of his career in Oxford libraries in charge of Slavonic books, promised the college a share of his £888,000 estate.

His only condition was that the fellows must agree to put the sundial back "where it was originally positioned by Sir Christopher Wren, over the south front of the college chapel". He left a share of his estate to the Bodleian Library, on condition that three funds "for specific purposes" are created. St Antony's and The Queen's colleges and the Taylor Institution were all left £10,000 each.

Ronald Milne, acting Bodley's Librarian, said: "We wait to hear from Mr Simmons' solicitors.

"If it is the case that All Souls College has declined the bequest, it looks as though the money would come to the Bodleian Library.

"We would be very pleased indeed. The money would be applied for a variety of purposes within the Bodleian including the acquisition of works in the Slavonic and East European fields.

"The gift will add to the lustre of one of the world's great libraries."

No one at the college was available for comment.