Building record 7756/2 - Jodrell Bank Observatory: Sir Bernard Lovell Radio Telescope

<1> Oxford Archaeology North, 2015, Jodrell Bank Control Building, Cheshire East: Historic Building Survey and Impact Assessment Report, p.13 (Client Report). SCH7975.

‘… Between 1952-57 the Mark I Radio Telescope was planned and constructed [see 3]. An original plan shows the proposed site of the telescope further to the north on land presently occupied by the visitors centre; in the final design the location was changed to the field just to the north-west of the original experimental…Charles Husband and Co were commissioned as engineers and architects to design the telescope and Control Building. The construction of the building was carried out by Z and W Wade (of Whalley Bridge) Ltd. The Control Building was sited to the south-east of the telescope…’

<2> Historic England, 2011, The National Heritage List for England, 413530 (Web Site). SCH6528.

Radio Telescope. Built 1952-57. Designed by engineers Husband and Company of Sheffield to the requirements of Sir Bernard Lovell. Bowl of welded sheet steel, carried on a space frame of structural steel. Paraboloid bowl or 250 feet in diameter, with supporting lattice triangles to left and right or 180 feet high, braced to form a yoke under the bowl. and mounted on a track of 2 concentric rails of an overall diameter of 353 feet. The Sir Bernard Lovell Telescope (formerly known as Mark I) was the largest fully steerable radio telescope in the world of its time.

<3> The University of Manchester, Various, Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics, 12/05/2015 (Web Site). SCH8564.

<4> Hartwell C, Hyde M, Hubbard E & Pevsner N, 2011, The Buildings of England: Cheshire (2011 revision), p.416-7 (Book). SCH7059.

‘…The Lovell Radio Telescope is famous, internationally for its seminal and continuing contribution to radio astronomy, nationally as a symbol of Britain's technological prowess, and locally as Cheshire's most impressive man-made landmark, visible from almost every one of its hilltops…Mark I, is…the oldest. The design was initiated in 1949-51 and the telescope was built in 1952-7… has a circular bowl 250ft [76 metres] in diameter. The supporting lattice triangles are 180ft [55 metres] high. The great lattice semicircle behind is for stabilizing…The Mark I telescope was upgraded and strengthened during the 1970s and in 1987 it was renamed the Lovell Radio Telescope. The latest upgrade took place in 2002. It is now the third largest fully steerable radio telescope in the world…’

<5> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey Land Line and Master Map Vector Maps, 28/09/2018 (Maps and Plans). SCH4491.