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Description: | Located at 30 Windsor Road, the house was originally called Grove House. In 1786 William Herschel, who had moved to England from Hanover, decided to settle in Slough following his appointment by King George III as his 'private astronomer'. Herschel had discovered the planet Uranus in 1781; the first planet to be discovered that could not be seen with the naked eye. The first thing Herschel did on moving into the house was to cut down all the trees so that he could have a clear view of the night sky. In 1786 he set up a 20ft telescope in the garden. A project for a 40ft telescope was finished in 1789 and was in use until 1815. This had a 49.5 inch [ 110 cm ] diameter mirror that was finally dismantled in 1839.
Observatory House was occupied by the descendants of William Herschel until the death of Lady Herschel in November 1957. The house was demolished in 1963 although several societies did try to save it. The astronomical equipment and telescopes are now in various museums. Offices are now on the site of the house and there is a sculpture by F Belsky to honour Herschel sited close by. | Format: | image/jpeg | License: | http://www.sopse.org.uk/ixbin/hixclient.exe?a=query&p=gateway&f=generic_sitetext%2ehtm&_IXFIRST_=1&_IXMAXHITS_=1&cms_con_core_subtype%3acms_con_text_what=copyright&%3acms_sys_group=%22sopse%22 | Rights holder: | Slough Library | Subjects: | Houses Grove House ; Observatory House ; Herschel House | Temporal: | start=1900-01-01; end=1940-01-01; | Source: | Sense of place SE | Creator: | Copy by Reg Harrison | Identifier: | http://www.sopse.org.uk/ixbin/hixclient.... | Language: | en-GB | Format: | image/jpeg | Go to resource |
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