Observatory, Bristol

The Observatory
Location within Bristol
General information
Town or city	Bristol
Country	England
Coordinates	51°27′24″N 2°37′35″W / 51.45663°N 2.62640°W / 51.45663; -2.62640Coordinates: 51°27′24″N 2°37′35″W / 51.45663°N 2.62640°W / 51.45663; -2.62640
Completed	1766
Website
www.cliftonobservatory.com

Clifton Observatory (grid reference ST564733) is a former mill, now used as an observatory, located on Clifton Down, close to the Clifton Suspension Bridge, Bristol, England.

The building was erected, with the permission of the Society of Merchant Venturers, as a windmill for corn in 1766 and later converted to the grinding of snuff, when it became known as 'The Snuff Mill'. This was damaged by a fire on October 30, 1777, when the sails were left turning during a gale and caused the equipment to catch light. It was then derelict for 52 years until in 1828 William West, an artist, rented the old mill, for 5 shillings (25p) a year, as a studio.

In 1977, the Merchant Venturers sold the observatory to Honorbrook Inns; however, they were obliged to maintain public access to the camera obscura whose ownership was retained by the Merchant Venturers.

It has been designated by English Heritage as a grade II* listed building and is on the Buildings at Risk Register. In February 2015 the Observatory was bought by Ian Johnson, a local Bristol-based entrepreneur, who was born in Clifton not far from the Observatory.

West installed telescopes and a camera obscura, which were used by artists of the Bristol School to draw the Avon Gorge and Leigh Woods on the opposite side. Many examples of these paintings can be seen in Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery. The pictures which originated from images within the camera obscura he called 'photogenic drawing' and were based on the work of William Fox Talbot.