Quid de Nocte?

I suspect that is Hardy humour, asking how to tell the time at night with a sundial.  This is the tower extension of Max Gate, Thomas Hardy's second home and now a National Trust property.  The name apparently comes from the name of the toll keeper at the nearby toll gate whose name was Mack – so Mack's Gate.  Hardy had a sense of humour it seems.

It's an interesting and spacious house, designed by Hardy.  The Extra shows a panorama of the Third Study, or Poetry Study; this was a room in the extension (behind the original house) where Hardy wrote most of his poetry, a delightfully tranquil and private area of the house.  He was quite famous after the establishment took against Tess of the d'Urbervilles and Jude the Obscure and had some trouble maintaining a degree of privacy.