 Front of the Playfair Building | |||||
| Alternative names | Edinburgh, Calton Hill, City Observatory | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Observatory code | 961 | ||||
| Location | Calton Hill,Edinburgh, Scotland | ||||
| Coordinates | 55°57′17″N3°11′0″W / 55.95472°N 3.18333°W /55.95472; -3.18333 | ||||
| Altitude | 107 m | ||||
| Established | 1776 | ||||
| Closed | 2009 | ||||
| Telescopes | |||||
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  Location of City Observatory, Edinburgh | |||||
 Related media on Commons | |||||
TheCity Observatory was anastronomical observatory onCalton Hill inEdinburgh, Scotland. It is also known as theCalton Hill Observatory.
The site is enclosed by a boundary wall with a monument toJohn Playfair, president of theEdinburgh Astronomical Institution, in the southeast corner. The oldest part is the Gothic Tower in the southwest corner, facingPrinces Street andEdinburgh Castle. It is also known as Observatory House, the Old Observatory, or after its designerJames Craig House. The central building with the appearance of a Greek temple is the Playfair Building, named after the building's designerWilliam Henry Playfair. This houses the 6-inch (15 cm)refractor in its dome and the 6.4-inch (16 cm)transit telescope in its eastern wing. The largest dome of the site is the City Dome in the northeast corner. During the early 20th century this contained a 22-inch (56 cm) refractor. In 2018, the entire site was restored and new buildings were added.[1] The City Observatory site was opened freely to the public for the first time on 24 November 2018 asCollective, a centre for contemporary art.[2]
In 1776 Thomas Short returned toEdinburgh, bringing with him a 12-foot (3.7 m,focal length)reflecting telescope made by his late brotherJames Short. He intended to open a publicobservatory onCalton Hill as a commercial enterprise. However, in 1736Colin Maclaurin, professor of mathematics at theUniversity of Edinburgh, had collected funds for a university observatory. Due to thePorteous Riots and theJacobite rising of 1745 the funds were left unused. These were made available to build Short's observatory; and theCity of Edinburgh provided a plot of land on Calton Hill. The observatory was to be open to university students.
James Craig designed the observatory, which, underRobert Adam's influence, was to look like a fortification with a wall andGothic towers at its corners. The city controlled the building project, but the money ran out after only the first of the towers was built. Short moved into this as residence and ran the observatory until his death in 1788. An actual observatory, smaller than originally planned, was also built where the Playfair Building is now. After Short's death the observatory was kept going by his family for a while, then leased to opticians and finally abandoned around 1807. The site reverted to the city.
Short's daughterMaria Theresa Short was to return to Edinburgh in 1827. She ran a second – a popular and commercial rather than scientific – observatory elsewhere on Calton Hill. In 1850 this was removed[3] and she moved to Castle Hill, where her enterprise eventually became today'sCamera Obscura on theRoyal Mile.
In 1812 the observatory was handed over to theEdinburgh Astronomical Institution, which opened its popular observatory in the Gothic Tower. In 1818 work began on the Playfair Building. Designed byWilliam Henry Playfair this was to become the scientific observatory of the Institution. Following a loyal address toGeorge IV in 1822 this became theRoyal Observatory. Again the funds proved insufficient, so that the purchase ofinstruments and the employment of an observer depended on funding from the Government. After much delay the instrumentation was completed in 1831 with delivery of thetransit telescope.Fraunhofer had made the lens, but after his death it fell toRepsold – and after his death to Repsold's son – to complete and install the instrument.
In 1834Thomas Henderson took up the position of observer. This was now the post ofAstronomer Royal for Scotland andRegius Professor of Astronomy in theUniversity of Edinburgh. Until his death in 1844 he worked on Calton Hill. In 1839 he published his results regarding the distance ofalpha Centauri based on observations he had made 1832/33 at theRoyal Observatory, Cape of Good Hope. In 1846Charles Piazzi Smyth became second Astronomer Royal for Scotland and set about reducing and publishing the backlog of Henderson's observations. In 1847 the Astronomical Institution – having run out of money – handed the Royal Observatory over to the Government.
According to the English journalistWilliam Jerdan, naturalist and oceanographerEdward Forbes, F.R.S. and his "The Red Lions", a dining club for younger members of the British Association, (named after the tavern where the first meeting was held), had occasion to run up to the observatory of Calton Hill for astronomical studies.[4]
The main purpose of the observatory was atime service. Thetransits ofstars through themeridian were observed and used to keep the observatoryclock, asidereal clock manufactured byRobert Bryson,accurate. Accurate time was important fornavigation, andmariners would bring ships'chronometers from the port ofLeith up to Calton Hill for adjustment. In 1854 thetime ball was installed onNelson's Monument next to the observatory and visible from the port. This was controlled by electrical pulses from the observatory clock. A few years later theOne O'Clock Gun onEdinburgh Castle was added. This was also controlled through an electrical wire, spanning the city from Calton Hill to the Castle. Today the time ball and One O' Clock Gun are tourist attractions. They are no longer controlled from astate of the art clock, but are triggered "by hand".
By 1888, when Smyth resigned, through underfunding the observatory's equipment had become largely obsolete. Also, the site had originally not been chosen through scientific investigation and its proximity to the city was causing problems. In 1896 the Royal Observatory moved to a new site onBlackford Hill. The Calton Hill Observatory, once again, reverted to theCity of Edinburgh.
In the wake of the Royal Observatory moving to Blackford Hill, a new City Observatory was created on Calton Hill toward the end of the 19th century. The 6-inch (15 cm)Cooke refractor was donated byWilliam McEwan and installed in the dome on the Playfair Building. Additional domes were built for a 13-inch (33 cm) reflector donated byRobert Cox and for a 13-inch (33 cm) refractor transferred from theDunecht observatory near Aberdeen. Only remnants of these two domes remain today. The City Dome was built to house a 22-inch (56 cm) refractor. This did not perform very well and was dismantled in 1926. The dome remained and was used as a lecture theatre.
The observatory opened in 1898 withWilliam Peck as City Astronomer. Peck had previously been observer at Cox's observatory in Murrayfield.[5] After Peck's death in 1925 his assistant John McDougal Field continued to run the City Observatory.
In 1924 theAstronomical Society of Edinburgh was formed with Field as first president. Peck andRalph Sampson, the thenAstronomer Royal for Scotland, were honorary presidents. Field died in 1937; and in 1938 the observatory was leased to the Society, which ran the City Observatory until vandalism and theft of roofing material rendered the site unusable in 2009.[6]
In 2009 theAstronomical Society of Edinburgh moved out of the City Observatory and the buildings reverted to the City of Edinburgh Council.[7] The Council renovated Observatory House and the interior was restored by the Vivat Trust (a charity which aims to preserve old buildings) who let it as holiday accommodation.[8][9] However Vivat went into liquidation in 2015.[10] After being unoccupied for several years, in 2012 the Council started a programme to renovate the remaining buildings in partnership with visual arts charityCollective[11][12][13] in a scheme designed by architectural firmCollective Architecture. In 2014, Collective relocated from their gallery inCockburn Street, Edinburgh, opened an exhibition in the City Dome[14] and received an award of £900,000 fromCreative Scotland to further develop the site.[15][14] After a £4.5 million development, in 2018 Collective re-opened the City Observatory site as Collective, a contemporary art centre and restaurant. New exhibition space the Hillside shows art by artists in Scotland who have never previously shown their work in a major exhibition[16] while the restored City Dome is host to works by international artists.[11][17] William Playfair's Observatory has been restored according to his surviving plans and the originalTransit instrument is now on public display. Observatory House was given a £400,000 renovation in 2021 and was offered for short term lets by Collective.[10][18]
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