Carrow Ridge Observatory

One ridge, five instruments.

Every era is measured against the same line: what the observatory was looking at, and what it was looking through. The columns are meant to be read across, not down.

1889

Brass and gaslight

A twelve-inch refractor under a canvas dome, paid for by the town’s watchmakers and open on Fridays.

1927

The plate room

Glass plates replaced the eyepiece. Forty thousand of them are still stacked in the north room.

1954

Wired to the coast

A telephone line and a quartz clock made the ridge useful to anyone timing an occultation.

1981

A one-metre mirror

The new mirror came up the hill by road in March. The refractor went downstairs to the schools room.

2016

Public nights

Survey work moved north, out of the town’s glare. The dome now opens twice a week to whoever books.