Building record 7756/13 - Jodrell Bank Observatory: Park Royal Building

<1> Historic England, 2011, The National Heritage List for England, 1443093 (Web Site). SCH6528.

In 1946 Lovell acquired former military technology and hardware to aid his research into radar echoes from meteors. This included a military trailer which Lovell described as ‘a large cabin packed with electronic equipment built onto a prime mover which was commonly known in the service as a ‘Park Royal’. The name originated from Park Royal Vehicles Ltd who were the London coach-builders who built the vehicles. When moving the Park Royal to the north end of the site, it became stuck in the mud half-way, where it then remained, determining the siting of several aerials and then the first purpose-built, permanent buildings. In 1947 a 218ft Transit Telescope was built with the size of the bowl determined by the distance between the place where the Park Royal trailer stood and the edge of the field; the receivers were placed in the trailer. In 1949 one of the earliest permanent buildings was constructed close to the trailer specifically to house its apparatus and instantly became known as the Park Royal Building. It is first shown on the 1:25,000 Ordnance Survey map published in 1952. The building was originally the control room for the Transit Telescope which was used to detect radio waves from the Andromeda Galaxy, the first known extragalactic radio source and the remnant of Tycho’s supernova. It also housed the radar transmitter for a Yagi array experiment (date unknown), for the development of electronics equipment, and as offices. When the Mark II Telescope was built in 1962-64 the Park Royal Building was extended with a small, projecting control room added on the south-east side looking towards the telescope, built in 1963-64. It was the first telescope in the world to be controlled by a computer and it is believed that this computer was housed in the Park Royal Building. The extension is first shown on the 1:2500 Ordnance Survey map published in 1969-71. The building was also used over the following decades as research offices and laboratories. At present it is mainly used for storage.

<2> Chris Blandford Associates, 2016, Jodrell Bank Observatory, Conservation Management Plan (Client Report). SCH8560.