Observatory House was an observatory in Slough, England. It was built, run and used by the astronomer William Herschel, and his sister Caroline. The famous '40-foot telescope' - at that time the largest in the world - was housed there in the late 18th century and early 19th century.
The main house was on Windsor Road. There was also a small cottage on the land. Herschel moved there on 3 April 1786. John Herschel was born in the house, and William died there on 25 August 1822. John Herschel and his family moved out of the house to Hawkhurst in 1840. Observatory House was later demolished. There is a poignant section of one of the early programmes by Sir Patrick Moore on BBC "The Sky at Night", which was aired in 1960. He talks about the discovery of the planet Uranus by Herschel and how Patrick Moore visited the house, "now empty and likely to be demolished." In the garage is a section of the 40 ft telescope still sitting and Patrick shows photos of it. All gone now. A monument remains on Herschel Street, close to where the 40-foot telescope was located.
Famous quotes containing the words observatory and/or house:
“Where there is an observatory and a telescope, we expect that any eyes will see new worlds at once.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“... a family I know ... bought an acre in the country on which to build a house. For many years, while they lacked the money to build, they visited the site regularly and picnicked on a knoll, the site’s most attractive feature. They liked so much to visualize themselves as always there, that when they finally built they put the house on the knoll. But then the knoll was gone. Somehow they had not realized they would destroy it and lose it by supplanting it with themselves.”
—Jane Jacobs (b. 1916)