MILLS OBSERVATORY

Built in 1953 and equipped with a refraction telescope, it is the only observatory in Great Britain where an astronomer is permanently present. Exhibitions on space exploration are organized there.

History : The Mills Observatory was established by a bequest from John Mills in 1935, a wealthy flax farmer, who left the observatory a legacy of fertile land. Designed by the town's architect, McLellan Brown, in collaboration with Professor Ralph Sampson, it is built in sandstone and has a rather atypical dome 7 m in diameter. It was built for the sole purpose of popularizing science to the general public! Its main telescope measures 400 mm in diameter and offers quality images of the Moon and the planets. However, it has another, much more prestigious and older instrument, a 250 mm telescope made by Thomas Cooke of York in 1871. Alas! due to its age and condition, it is hardly used anymore. When this observatory opened its doors on October 28, 1935, it housed a 450 mm mirror telescope built by Grubb Parsons of Newcastle. What remains of this equipment can still be seen today in one of the observatory's rooms. An astonishing mixture of classicism (the buildings and old telescope) and modernity (the telescopes in which visitors usually observe), this observatory is still worth the trip, as it is located in a pleasant wooded park that stands in stark contrast to the surrounding residential areas.