Liverpool observatory (before 1867)

Liverpool Observatory's original home stood at Waterloo Dock in Liverpool, England, from 1843 until the site was given up in 1866, when the observatory relocated to Bidston Hill.

About Liverpool Observatory (before 1867)

The observatory was built in 1843 to give Liverpool's merchant shipping fleet a reliable way to check and correct their chronometers, alongside carrying out astronomical and meteorological observations. John Hartnup served as the observatory's astronomer and director from its founding.

History

By the mid-1860s, the expansion of Waterloo Dock required the observatory's site, forcing a move. In 1866 the facility relocated to Bidston Hill, on the Wirral peninsula, where it continued its work under Hartnup's direction as the next chapter of Liverpool Observatory.

Location & getting there

The original observatory stood at Waterloo Dock, in the heart of Liverpool's historic docklands in Merseyside, England.

Visiting Liverpool Observatory (before 1867)

The Waterloo Dock building no longer stands as an observatory; its work continued at the relocated site on Bidston Hill from 1867 onward.

See your named star from here

Accurate timekeeping and precise coordinates were the whole point of Liverpool's original observatory, much like the exact right ascension and declination that comes with every star named through Star Register. Explore our naming packages or browse the star catalogue.