Horace
The oldest working observatory in Yorkshire was built in 1832-1833 and is located in Museum Gardens.
The first meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science held at the Yorkshire Museum brought about a promise by Dr Pearson, the Vice President of the Royal Astronomical Society that if an observatory was built in York then he would supply the telescope, which he did when the building was completed two years later.
Dr Pearson also provided a clock, which is still working today and tells the time based on the position of the stars. York residents would come to the observatory and for sixpence could synchronise their watch with the most accurate in York.
Unfortunately the building fell into disrepair during World War II and the original telescope went missing not long after. By the 1970s the building was facing demolition but fortunately a public campaign managed to raise £50,000 to restore it in 1981 including the original rotating roof designed by John Smeaton, of Smeaton’s Tower fame.
The original telescope was unfortunately never recovered but the observatory is still fully working thanks to a replacement. The four inch refractor telescope currently in use was built by York man Thomas Cook in 1850 and at the time was the largest telescope in the world.
The observatory is open the visitors regularly throughout the year and is managed by volunteers from the museum. Throughout the winter is is illuminated as is much of the rest of Museum Gardens.
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