Infrastructure, Jodrell Bank, Cheshire.

Visited September 2024.

I haven’t visited Jodrell Bank for over 15 years, probably 10 years before that when I went to the Lynx Location Apollo event. That was a strange weekend.

My dad hadn’t visited either for a long time so off we went for a gentle early autumn day out.

A little further up from the car park is the Arboretum and a new building called the First Light Pavilion. It is wonderful. The exhibition showing the story of Jodrell Bank is just brilliant and there’s even panels on the walls from the telescope. Go HERE to read about it.

‘The striking building, designed by Hassell, takes the form of a grass-topped 76m diameter dome which cleverly mirrors the shape and scale of the landmark Lovell Telescope.
By maintaining an age-old tradition of building structures that express our relationship to the skies above us, the building also makes reference to ancient sites such as Stonehenge and Newgrange, by aligning with the Sun via a meridian line cut through the dome’s entranceway. Facing due south, a slim vertical window right in the centre of the building invites the sun to shine through a finger of light that moves across the entrance foyer as the day goes on, acting as a giant sundial.’ SOURCE.

Moving on to the telescope, you never, ever get tired of seeing it, how big it is and how it spontaneously bursts into life. When I was here as a kid, I remember watching a Hornet fighting to get out through the glass in the old café, now I was fighting to stop a bee from stinging me. Maybe it was the signals.

‘The Lovell telescope, with its 76 metre diameter reflecting surface, has stood over the Cheshire plain since construction was completed in 1957.
Since then, the telescope has been upgraded several times and it remains one of the biggest and most powerful radio telescopes in the world, spending most of its time investigating cosmic phenomena which were undreamed of when it was conceived.
It was given a Heritage Grade I listing in 1988.’ SOURCE.

It is just such a strange and beautiful place, listening to the crows and looking out over the countryside.

I will really treasure this visit as it was my dad and the early autumn light was just perfect.

Go HERE to learn everything that you need to know about Jodrell Bank, HERE to listen to Alan Garner talk about The Bronze Age Man of Jodrell Bank.

Also go HERE to listen to astronomer Bernard Lovell talk about his life and the origins of the telescope.