The Cyril Swindin Observatory
The History of the Cyril Swindin Observatory and Telescope.
The Bristol Astronomical Society have our own observatory at a dark site to the south of Bristol. The observatory was errected by the members of the society in the early 70's when former member Cyril Swindin donated his 12¼ inch Newtonian Reflector to the society. A piece of land was rented from a local farmer and the members raised funds to buy the materials they needed and could not obtain free of charge. The observatory was opened in 1972 by Patrick Moore |  Cyril Swindin at his Telescope |
Cyril's Telescope circa 1956 | Alan Quirk wrote a hilarious account of the story of the observatory entitled 'Great Telescopium', which you can read by clicking here Some of the members of the society involved in building the observatory were Jim Ashton (Chairman), Maurice Brain (Librarian), Chris Browning, Bill Clare, John Gardner, Vyrnwy Herbert, Cliff Martin (treasurer), John Money, John Pedlar, Steve Pine, Alan Quirk, Tom Watkins and George Woodman (Secretary). If you would like to read Cyril Swindin's own account of how he came to build and donate the telescope to the Society, please click here. |
The Present
The observatory is still regularly used and the telescope still provides great views of the sky. We hold open obseving sessions on Saturday evenings and the Sky at Night Magazine has used the site to carry some of their product tests.
| This pictuce of the society's 12½ inch Cyril Swindin Telescope was taken by Alex Rumford (Bristol Evening Post) |  |
 | Another of Alex Rumford's images showing BAS member John Willis lining up the telescope ready for an evening's observing. |
A shot of John Willis at the telescope, this one shows the whole of the Cyril Swindin telescope with it's huge fork mount. This is another of Alex Rumfords pictures. |  |