Stonyhurst Observatory

The Stonyhurst Observatory is a functioning observatory and weather station at Stonyhurst College in Lancashire, England. Built in 1866, it replaced a nearby earlier building, built in 1838, which is now used as the Typographia Collegii. The records of temperature, which continue to be taken there, began in 1846 and are among the oldest continuous daily records in the world (the very oldest continuous daily temperature records have been taken at the Old Stockholm Observatory since 1756). In 2004, Stonyhurst replaced Ringway as one of four weather stations used by the Met Office to provide central England temperature data (CET); revised urban warming and bias adjustments have since been applied to the Stonyhurst data. During the course of the twentieth century, the observatory fell out of use for astronomical purposes and after the Second World War its telescope, parts of which dated to the 1860s, was sold. When its private owner came to re-sell it, the College was able to buy it back and restore it to its original home. See: Stonyhurst Refractor The observatory is currently run by Classics master Fintan O'Reilly, who also teaches GCSE astronomy. Occasionally access is permitted to the observatory for visitors.