Wasted treasure or fading relic? The future of the Moor Park observatory

The Jeremiah Horrocks Observatory - Photo: Guy Kilty

One of Preston’s most cherished public buildings, the space observatory in Moor Park, is closed and its future is uncertain. Local astronomers and astronomy professors want to see it reopened but the owners say it needs thousands of pounds of repair work before that can happen. Guy Kilty reports.

The Jeremiah Horrocks Observatory stands in a secluded corner of Preston’s leafy Moor Park, next to two busy roads and a playground.

Despite the constant traffic on nearby Blackpool Road and Garstang Road, the observatory itself is absolutely still – the only movement is a weather vane rotating slowly in the breeze.

The Jeremiah Horrocks Observatory was once a thriving centre of learning, both for university students and enthusiastic amateurs. Now, however, the telescope beneath its decaying dome is closed to the public indefinitely.

The University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) owns the observatory and the land around it. They closed it in 2003 because the site is unsafe.

A DIFFERENCE OF OPINION

PADAS Chairman John Hooper - Photo: Lancashire Evening Post

Ingol resident John Hooper, 61, chairman of the Preston and District Astronomical Society (PADAS), wants the observatory reopened to the public.

“A public facility is being wasted and we want to run it,” he said. The observatory still contains an antique telescope made in 1867, which people could use to see the stars despite the city-centre light pollution.

UCLan are adamant that the site is unusable and needs a lot of expensive work. A spokesman for UCLan said: “Apart from a very small annex on the side of the building which is used as a weather station, the University’s observatory on Moor Park has been closed for over four years as it no longer meets the modern health and safety standards required for such a facility. In addition to a new roof and repairs to subsidence the facility also requires Disability Discrimination Act adaptations, a complete rewire and new plumbing and sanitary fittings.”

The repair work would cost at least £25,000 according to Mick Masheter of LM Builders in Preston.

John Hooper thinks that UCLan are acting dishonestly. “The university closed it on the pretext of public safety. The only feedback in any way was that there was a problem with the electrics. They used it as an excuse to exclude us from the place. They are using it as a weather centre. It’s doing nothing and decaying.”

Mr Hooper believes that UCLan could come to an arrangement with PADAS where their members could become unpaid members of university staff. This would allow them to reopen the observatory as a public facility.

UCLan have told PADAS they must play a more active role in improving the observatory. One UCLan suggestion is that PADAS could become a charity to enable them to raise funds.

Many astronomical societies in the UK own their own observatories, such as York Astronomical Society.

“We did explore the possibility of becoming a registered charity, but that would be a lot of fund-raising activity for very few people,” said Mr Hooper. “Major maintenance is beyond our league. We don’t want to put people out, but we need the university or the council to be behind us.

“It takes a lot of energy to run a charity and that would detract from our hobby. We are getting legal advice as to ways we can take over the running of it without taking ownership so it does get the use of being a public facility.”

“A BRILLIANT IDEA”

Gordon Bromage - Photo: Guy Kilty

Professor Gordon Bromage is the Head of the Centre for Astrophysics at UCLan. “I really would like someone to take it over, either to buy it, or for us to maintain it and rent it out,” he said. However, he highlighted a number of reasons why this might not happen.

“It would cost an awful lot of money to bring it up to modern standards, the light pollution is dreadful, and the location is really bad. If the council provided a road through and a car park then things might be different, but it seems very unsafe to me in general.”

UCLan collect valuable data for the Met Office via an automated process on the observatory site. “The weather station is very important,” said Professor Bromage. “It’s the Met Office’s only Preston weather station, which we have run for a long time.”

The Alston Observatory - Photo: David Medcalf

Even though they used the Jeremiah Horrocks Observatory as a teaching centre for many years, UCLan use another observatory for their teaching now. The Alston Observatory, just outside Preston, has more modern telescopes, less light pollution, and a planetarium, which allows tutors to project images of the night sky on a specially curved ceiling.

Professor Don Kurtz runs classes at Alston. “It is a very good teaching facility,” he said. “There are regular programs for school children and the planetarium is a great teaching aid.” Professor Kurtz would love PADAS to take over the Jeremiah Horrocks Observatory.

“It’s a brilliant idea,” he said. “The light there is worse than here but it’s not unusable. You can look at Jupiter and the Moon and the planets. The number of things you can do is limited but there are still lots of things you can do. But who’s going to pay?”

Arthur Missira is the technician at Alston. He has worked there for twelve years and he looks after the telescopes and the facilities. He is sad to see the current state of the Jeremiah Horrocks Observatory. “It was a good public facility and it was the public face of the department,” he said. “I think it would be nice to reopen it but I think the money will stop it being reopened.”

STEP BACK IN TIME – THE JEREMIAH HORROCKS OBSERVATORY

George Gibbs (centre) and colleagues at the 1927 opening - Photo: Observatory archive

The Jeremiah Horrocks Observatory was opened on the 27th of June 1927, largely due to the efforts of the President of the Preston Scientific Society, George James Gibbs. He installed a telescope he had bought in 1912. This 8-inch refractor was made in 1867 by Thomas Cooke, an instrument maker based in York.

Two days later, on June 29th, thousands of people gathered by the observatory in Moor Park to watch the total eclipse of the sun at 6:30am.

George Gibbs died of a stroke in 1947 and he was succeeded as director of the Jeremiah Horrocks Observatory by Emeritus Professor Vinicio Barocas. He would remain as director until 1979.

In 1957, Professor Barocas opened the Wilfred Hall Observatory at Alston near Preston and the university’s astronomy teaching started to move from Moor Park to Alston.

In 1995, a planetarium was constructed at Alston, which allows tutors to project images of the night sky on a specially curved classroom ceiling. UCLan stopped teaching at the Jeremiah Horrocks Observatory in 1995.

Click here to download a detailed pdf on the history of the observatory.

THE INSPIRATION

Jeremiah Horrocks - Photo: Public domain

The Moor Park observatory is named after Jeremiah Horrocks – a 17th Century astronomer from Liverpool considered to be the father of British astrophysics. Horrocks was born in Toxteth Park to farming parents in 1618 and enrolled at Cambridge University as a poor scholar at the age of 13 where he taught himself astronomy.

Horrocks’ most famous piece of work came in 1639 while he was living in Much Hoole near Preston. He successfully predicted the Transit of Venus across the sun and observed it using a simple telescope set on a wooden beam. From his observations he was then able to work out the path, size and velocity of Venus.

In 1641, at the age of just 22, Horrocks died suddenly. His work is commemorated with a plaque in Westminster Abbey, two stained glass windows near St Michael’s Church, Much Hoole and, of course, the Jeremiah Horrocks Observatory in Moor Park.

WHAT NOW?

UCLan have told PADAS they can use the Alston Observatory for their public meetings, but they want to get back into the Jeremiah Horrocks Observatory. “There are actually very few local public observatories that are accessible to the public these days, which is a shame in itself,” said John Hooper.

“It seems to us that the fact that the public are now excluded from access to what was built at public expense as a public facility, at the public’s behest, is nothing less than unacceptable at best.”

UCLan would welcome a firm proposal from PADAS. A university spokesman said: “If PADAS have plans related to the future development of the observatory on Moor Park then we’d be delighted to hear their proposals.”

“This is the problem,” said John Hooper. “They want proposals from us. They’re not contacting us and saying this is what we want from you. We’re looking at our options now. The PADAS committee will meet in January and we’ll take it from there.”

Click below for an interactive view of the night sky from Preston.

Further Reading:
Call to re-open city’s observatory
2009 – International Year of Astronomy
Royal Astronomical Society
British Astronomical Society
Sky at Night Magazine
Astronomy for Kids
Astronomy.com
Sky and Telescope Magazine

Preston shop closing after 100 years

Bamber's of Preston - Tony Worral Photo - http://tonyworrall.wordpress.com/

One of Preston’s best-loved and oldest shops is closing after a century of trading.

Bambers of Preston on Friargate, a large family-owned furniture seller, is closing before Christmas. Owner Donald Bamber, 71, and his wife Dorothy, 69, are retiring.

The shop, which sells high quality furniture from around the world, has suffered in the recent recession.

They’ve sold more than half of the stock already and from next week everything will be half price.

“We’re ready for retiring,” said Dorothy. “The credit crunch is part of it. Business is not easy and it’s a huge shop which is just too big to manage now.”

The business was started in 1909 by Donald’s grandfather, Richard Bamber, and his son Harry, Donald’s father.

Sales have declined in the recession. “Our furniture is built to last and our customers just aren’t buying now,” said Dorothy.

Once they’ve sold the business, Donald and Dorothy are going to go on a four week tour of Europe to visit their family.

“We’ll miss the customers but I won’t miss this place,” said Donald, who has run the shop for 55 years. “We’ve enjoyed it. That’s the main thing. We’ve got plenty to do so we won’t go rusty.”