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Penllergare Observatory

The Trust has had some great news! We have been awarded funding from the Architectural Heritage Fund to develop a project in partnership with Dark Sky Wales to help restore the historic Penllergare Equatorial Observatory and look at the possibility of introducing a planetarium to the building.

Restoring the Observatory

Join our campaign to fully restore the historic Observatory here at Penllergare. To find out more and get involved follow us at www.facebook.com/groups/www.penllergare.org or email our Project Co-ordinator Celeste Ryan at [email protected]

Restoring the Observatory

The Trust has had some great news! We have been awarded funding from the Architectural Heritage Fund to develop a project in partnership with Dark Sky Wales to help restore the historic Penllergare Equatorial Observatory and look at the possibility of introducing a planetarium to the building.

For more details about the project and the support from the Architectural Heritage Fund please find the link below:

https://ahfund.org.uk/news/latest/written-in-the-stars-grant-award-for-astronomical-observatory/

Over the next few months ahead we will be providing updates on the project via social media including how you can get involved in the future of the Observatory.

(Photo left to right: Allan Trow (Dark Sky Wales), Professor Mike Edmunds (President of the Royal Astronomical Society) and Lee Turner (Penllergare Trust) at a recent visit to the Observatory)
Observatory Facts
- The Equatorial Observatory is both a Grade II* listed building and scheduled monument.
- The observatory is a rare intact example of mid-19^th century private observatory.
- CADW records show that the observatory was built in 1851 by John Dillwyn Llewelyn.
- It was built as two rooms the observatory and laboratory. The laboratory had a stone gable on the back which is no longer visible today.
- The observatory was a birthday present for Theresa from her father. Theresa herself laid the foundation stone and her sisters places the next stones.
- It was here that John Dillwyn Llewelyn and Theresa would take one of the earliest photographs of the moon in 1855. They worked as a team to take the photograph with Theresa moving the Telescope whilst her father would take the photograph. This process was needed due to the long exposure times.
Observatory Structure
- The hollow bricks used to build the laboratory were from the Great Exhibition of 1851. At the Great Exhibition Prince Albert commissioned architect Henry Roberts to make a model dwelling for the labouring classes to combat the growing sanitation issues. This dwelling was built with hollow bricks which would guard against damp/moisture within the structure. Henry Roberts had placed pamphlets at the end of the dwelling route for visitors to the great exhibition to take away. These pamphlets showed how to recreate this model dwelling. The model dwelling and the observatory at Penllergare share some similarities in design.
- The observatory tower is made up of tolled squared stone with a metal-clad cylinder above. Within the centre of the observatory is a circular stone-built telescope chamber where the telescope would have been mounted during the observatories period of use.
- The observatory also had a garden alongside it. The garden contained a collection of rare flowers laid out in a way that allowed for easy observation of their growth and blooming.
- There have been multiple different periods of restoration to the Observatory and laboratory. In 1981 the Lliw Valley Borough Council renovated observatory. Then by the Penllergare Trust in 2013.
- Used during the Second World War as target practice by the American troops that were stationed at the Penllergare House.

Click here to find out more about the restoration of Penllergare

Penllergare Observatory

Restoring the Observatory

Observatory Facts

Observatory Structure