Stonyhurst Observatory
The rear of the 1866 Observatory
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| Organization | Stonyhurst College |
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| Location | Stonyhurst, Lancashire, United Kingdom |
| Coordinates | 53°48′N 2°30′W / 53.80°N 2.50°W |
| Altitude | 115m / 377 feet |
| Weather | Average temperature: 8.4°C |
| Established | 1838 |
| Website | https://www.stonyhurst.ac.uk |
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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 one of the oldest continuous daily records in the world. (the very oldest continuous daily temperature records was taken at the 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 its telescope, parts of which dated to the 1860s, was sold after the Second World War. 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.
The observatory was originally established at Stonyhurst College in 1838, and intended primarily to serve as a meteorological station. With the foundation of the Meteorological Office in 1854, it became one of seven key UK stations. The observatory was managed and operated by the Jesuit priests who ran the school. During the mid-nineteenth century, Fathers Weld, Perry and Sidgreaves, broadened the scope of the observatory's operations to include astronomy, geomagnetrometry and seismology.
In 1858, the observatory was chosen as one of the main observing stations by General Sir Edward Sabine, when he was conducting a magnetic survey of England. Five years later, the observatory's first regular series of monthly geomagnetic observations was inaugurated by Fr Sidgreaves. In 1866, the latter installed a set of self-recording photographic magnetographs, donated by the Royal Society, in a specially constructed underground chamber.
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