real time web analytics
Report - - Penllergare Observatory - Wales - June - 2015 | Other Sites | 28DaysLater.co.uk

Report - Penllergare Observatory - Wales - June - 2015

Hide this ad by donating or subscribing !

Lenston

Bajo Tierra
Regular User
Some History

A Victorian space observatory where some of the world’s earliest photographs of the moon were taken, Photographic pioneer John Dillwyn Llewelyn took early pictures of the moonscape in 1857 from the observatory. The astronomical observatory was built in 1846 by wealthy industrialist and renaissance man John Dillwyn Llewelyn - a founder member of the Royal Photographic Society.

After installing a telescope in the building, he and his daughter Thereza captured some of the earliest photographs of the moon. Llewelyn was a noted botanist, scientist, abolitionist and a health campaigner as well as a world-renowned photographer. Queen Victoria and Prince Albert bought many of his pioneering works to add to their growing photographic collection.

His invention of the Oxymel process - the use of honey and vinegar to instantly preserve images - in the 1850s meant landscape photographers could do away with cumbersome portable laboratories and darkroom tents. Llewelyn’s industrialist family owned the Cambrian pottery in Swansea, South Wales, and he inherited Penllergare house and estate in 1833. He died in 1882, aged 72

For more than half a century the Penllergare estate was almost forgotten and the mansion was destroyed and replaced by council offices.But now the historic observatory and surviving estate woodlands have been saved for the nation by a £2.9m Heritage Lottery Fund grant.

Sadly even with extensive research the two telescopes seem to have been lost in the 1930s but the main building and lab still stands


The observatory in 1850
19189258626_14bd667388_z.jpg


John Llewelyn
19189186896_6aec22d5c4_o.jpg


His daughter Thereza Llewelyn
19029145219_a332f3368e_z.jpg


One of the first pictures ever taken of the moon from the observatory in 1857

19029144349_5c9e4e9152_o.jpg


2013

18594728803_f269ee5379_c.jpg


19029119009_ff9d16971f_c.jpg


19209383192_2a6a517c26_c.jpg


2015 with lottery funding work in progress

19218921931_10c28da344_c.jpg


19189128456_b2d6c358f3_c.jpg


19209347662_9f98c926c3_c.jpg


19028482988_d130d7ed8b_c.jpg


19189101866_8389999c02_c.jpg


18592682754_20342838c9_c.jpg


19027591508_0e94bb3570_c.jpg


Thanks for looking​
 
Last edited:

The Kwan

28DL Regular User
Regular User
Bet that was a nice surprise to see that brickwork inside, ^^ heard about that Monster telescope Nick^^ Hubble MkII apparently :)
 
Top