Orwell Astronomical Society (Ipswich)

Renovation of Orwell Park Observatory, 1970-2025

This page details work by members of OASI and others, from the early 1970s onwards, to restore and renovate Orwell Park Observatory. A companion article details maintenance activities on the Tomline Refractor.

Summary

Orwell Park Observatory (figure 1), which was commissioned in 1874, was designed and built to the highest standards of the era. Colonel Tomline, who built the observatory, continued to lavish money on it after the period of initial construction: some while after it opened, and undoubtedly at great expense, he installed a hydraulic lift to all floors. It is likely, therefore, that he ensured maintenance was undertaken as necessary to ensure the smooth running of the facility and preserve the value of the asset.

Tomline died in 1889 and unfortunately, his heir, George Pretyman, did not share the view that an observatory was a necessary adjunct to Orwell Park Mansion. Thus began the long, painful neglect of the facility. In the late 1930s, after Pretyman's son sold Orwell Park estate to Aldeburgh Lodge School (which subsequently changed its name to Orwell Park School) the Headmaster used the observatory to instruct the pupils in astronomy, and it seems, therefore, that at this time the facility was in a reasonable state of repair. (Below, Orwell Park School is referred to simply as the School.) However, the financial burden of maintenance must have been considerable, with relatively little obvious benefit in terms of the education of the pupils and, by the late 1960s, the observatory had been abandoned and was virtually derelict.

Individuals who went on to found OASI began to frequent the observatory circa 1967. There are two contemporaneous records describing the state of the facility around this time: recollections of OASI's second Chairman, Roy Cheesman, transcribed in 1981, of his first visit to the observatory, in 1969 and an edition of the Anglia TV Bygones series, broadcast in 1971. Roy's description may be found below, and the TV programme is available from YouTube.

During OASI's tenancy of Orwell Park Observatory, from the late 1960s onwards, members have devoted time and enthusiasm to restoration work and have achieved much. Roy provided the initial drive and enthusiasm for the task and, under his leadership, OASI restored the observatory to working order. The School, too, has undertaken some limited, essential maintenance. However, the ravages of time have continued to take their inexorable toll on the fabric of the building and there has not been finance available to undertake fully even essential restoration work.

This article, a considerably expanded and updated version of reports by Roy Gooding in 1999 and 2017 [1999a, 1999b, 1999c, 1999d, 2017a, 2017b], summarises the main highlights of maintenance and restoration work undertaken during the period of OASI's tenancy.

1969

At OASI's 1981 AGM [1981a], Chairman Roy Cheesman described his recollections of the state of the observatory in 1969, on his first visit there, when the Society was establishing its presence. The entire observatory, including the Tomline Refractor, was clearly in a parlous state:

Mr. Cheesman said that he remembered vividly his first trip to the Observatory, late one Friday evening with David Bearcroft and David Brown. After climbing the stairs to the Club Room, we were greeted by a force ten gale blowing through the broken windows, water was dripping from the ceiling and everything was very wet. On reaching the Equatorial Dome, the floor had collapsed and was sloping with a drop of over one foot towards the transit room where the main supporting beams had rotted away. The telescope was rusty, the object glass was covered in a thick film of dirt and the dome would hardly move while the shutter needed brute force to open it. The walls of the room were wet and in some places had collapsed.

1972

Early in the year [1972a], the shutter of the equatorial dome jammed. The Committee of OASI worried that further attempts to open it could result in it becoming stuck open or, worse still, falling off (!), so declared the refractor out of action. By March, OASI members George Sargeant, Vernon Wilkes, David Bearcroft and others had effected a repair [1972b, 1972c]. Unfortunately, the repair was short-lived and, by May, the shutter was broken again and the telescope out of operation. In consequence, the committee was forced to reschedule OASI's first Open Day, originally arranged for May 1972, to September of the year [1972d]. By late summer, a lasting repair had been undertaken and the observatory was operational again [1972e].

In the March 1972 Newsletter (edition number 2), the committee posted an appeal for volunteers to assist with redecorating the observatory [1972b]. This was the first of many similar appeals to appear in the Newsletter over the years!

The committee engaged a plasterer. On 22 July, he re-plastered the interior walls of the equatorial room [1972e]. On 10 and 12 August, parties of volunteers undertook further decorating work at the observatory.

1973

The observatory was out of operation May-August 1973 for essential maintenance. Parties of volunteers undertook work on Sunday mornings and Wednesday evenings during June and July to fit new lights to the stairs, belvedere, transit room and equatorial room (where a dimmer switch was fitted), to repair the floor and roof of the transit room and to begin repairs to a collapsed doorway. Many other unspecified repairs were also undertaken [1973a, 1973b, 1973c, 1973d]. The observatory was back in operation by late summer [1973e].

1976

Members of OASI sanded and varnished the wooden floor of the equatorial room [1976a].

On 15 August, Alan Smith and Geoffrey Collier installed an electricity meter in the observatory tower [1976a]. The intent was that OASI pay the School for electricity consumed but, fortunately, charges to the Society were never levied.

Later in the year, Alan installed noticeboards around the central pillar at the level of the belvedere [1976b]. The size of the noticeboards meant that they had to be hoisted by rope up the outside of the building. On a balcony off the belvedere, OASI members Martin Cook and David Barnard provided the lifting power while Alan, at ground level, held taut two ropes attached to the balcony, positioned between the boards and the building, forming a slide so that the boards could ascend without risk of colliding with the stonework. Alan, in control of operations, encouraged Martin and David in the task with the memorable phrase: Don't be wusses and get on with it. Figures 2 and 3, by photographer unknown, show the endeavour in progress.

Once the boards were safely in the belvedere, they were attached to the central pillar by screws fitted with large fibre washers fabricated by Martin.

1977

Some decorating was undertaken during the summer months prior to the Open Day on 24 September. As usual, notices in the Newsletter encouraged members to volunteer for the task.

Also during the summer, one of the wheels at the top of the observatory tower, upon which the dome rests, was adjusted to bear its fair share of the weight of the structure [1977a]. This improved the ease with which the dome could be rotated.

1978

Throughout the summer, decorating parties continued their work at the observatory. From late summer until November, a professional electrician engaged by the School rewired the totality of the observatory tower, replacing all fittings, conduit and cable [1978a, 1978b, 1978c].

1979

Repair and refurbishment work during the year concentrated on the Orwell Park clock tower. Tomline had commissioned Adam Thomson of New Bond Street, London to build the clock in 1859. It benefits from a quarter-hour chime and an hourly chime sequence played on 16 bells. It is mounted in a square tower some 15 m high, driving four faces. At the top of the tower is a small viewing platform from which, no doubt, Tomline and his guests enjoyed the view over his land. Unfortunately, many birds had nested in the tower and the associated twigs and other detritus had jammed the clock mechanism. (Fortunately, the bells of the chime remained in good condition.) Starting in April 1979, OASI members Martin Cook and David Barnard spent many evenings and weekends working to renovate the mechanism and finally, in September of the year, their efforts were successful, the clock running to within one second a day, the quarter-hour chime functioning and the hourly chiming mechanism only awaiting the provision of new steel springs before it could be brought back to life [1979b]. Figures 4-7 show the tower and the clock mechanism itself. (The wires running vertically upwards from the mechanism in figure 5 are to actuate strikers on the 16 bells producing the hourly chime.)

1981

1981 was a year of major repairs and reconstruction, with almost continuous activity from June until the end of the year [1981b, 1981c, 1981d, 1981e]. Numerous articles in the Newsletter called for volunteers to join work parties. The observatory was closed for several months, during which time it resembled a building site rather then a place of astronomy. The biggest single job was to sand down and re-varnish the mahogany panelling lining the inside of the dome. This was an arduous task which lasted from early July until early August [2017b] and required sustained hard work on top of tower scaffolding. Peter Parish deserves particular mention for the stamina which enabled him to continue sanding, atop the tower scaffolding, apparently tireless, for hours on end. After sanding, gallons of polyurethane varnish were applied to the mahogany panels. This was likely the first time that the lining had been re-varnished since the observatory was built.

Meanwhile, outside the observatory tower, suspended on a mountaineer's harness, OASI member Colin Button played Spiderman while others supplied cement so that he could re-point the observatory tower, repairing over a century's worth of damage caused by frost and rain. The East Anglian Daily Times featured his activities on the front page. Colin's professional employment involved maintenance of large electricity pylons, so he was well suited for the task at the observatory, and no-one else was sufficiently brave (foolhardy?) to put on the harness! Also busy re-pointing brickwork was David Barnard who, by stretching down from the roof of the transit room, was able to make good the brickwork at the top of the walls of the room. David also carried out repairs to the roof of the transit room to make it waterproof.

The next area of work concerned the door to the lift shaft. Some time after building the observatory, Tomline had installed a hydraulic lift to all floors [1979a]. Over the years, the lift had ceased to function and had become derelict with dry rot infesting the flooring and door surround. The door led to a 20 metre drop down the lift shaft to the basement. For obvious safety reasons, the door had been permanently nailed shut. Work parties removed the door and its rotten frame and, with the benefit of the facilities in the School woodwork room, constructed and fitted a new frame and reshaped and re-hung the door. (Both door and frame are curved to match the profile of the wall of the equatorial room.) The new door was locked with a key, rather than nails! (See figures 8-10. In figure 8, personnel L-R are David Barnard, Martin Cook, Colin Button, Peter Parish and Wayne Button.)

Volunteers removed loose brickwork and plaster from the interior walls of the equatorial room, and then undertook the laborious transport of large quantities of sand, cement, plaster and water up the 111 treads of the staircase enable repairs to begin.

Repairs were also undertaken outside the dome. There is a large aperture in the dome enabling the telescope inside to view the night sky. The aperture is covered by a shutter when the telescope is not in use. At the bottom of the shutter are two wheels which run in a track, enabling the shutter to move between open and closed positions. Three cast iron brackets secured to the framework of the dome maintain the shutter track in position. Bolts fixing the track to the support brackets had been scraping lead from the roof when the dome was rotated (this had been one of the major causes of damp in the observatory). Before the lead could be repaired, it was necessary to raise the support brackets and it was while attempting this task that disaster struck! One bracket had been removed for repositioning the track; unfortunately this caused the load on the remaining two to be too great, and both fractured, leaving the shutter inoperable. Fortunately, Martin Cook, with assistance from Anglia Grain Installation Ltd of Wickham Market, was able to fabricate two new steel support brackets which, when fitted, were positioned so that they were well clear of the lead roof (figures 11-13.)

Following the reconstruction and renovation work, we undertook some painting. We painted the equatorial room and transit room and also sanded down and re-varnished the floor of both (the floor soaked up four coats of polyurethane varnish during late September-early October before we achieved an acceptable finish!) Not wishing to see our work on the floor undone, we fitted rubber-tyred wheels to the observing chair so that it would not damage the varnish. We gave the Tomline Refractor another coat of battleship grey paint [1999d].

1982

After all the hard work in 1981, we had a well-deserved rest in 1982 and undertook little work of note. The School employed decorators to paint the external windows of the Observatory and renew two window frames [1982a].

In June, we noticed that dead bees had begun to accumulate on the floor of the dome…

1983

Our biggest jobs in 1983 were to repair the roofs above the stairwell, lift shaft (see figure 14) and transit room and to repair the gutter around the base of the dome. The gutter had almost rusted away in parts and, as we were unable to replace it, applied several coats of resin to its walls [1983a]. We also fitted a pair of new wheels to the bottom of the dome shutter, which greatly improved the ease of opening and closing. On 06 April, we painted the notice boards surrounding the circular column in the belvedere.

By mid-year, it had become apparent that we had a major infestation of bees! Throughout the summer there was a constant accumulation of dead and dying bees in the observatory. Every week, we swept them up, numbering many hundreds on each occasion. Eventually, we discovered a bees nest inside the top of the shutter - it was estimated that in mid-1983 there could have been some 60,000 bees in the nest, increasing at about half that number annually. By late 1983 we made preparations to evict the bees.

1984

Martin Cook, Colin Button (of Spiderman fame two and a half years earlier), Dave Barnard, Eric Sims and Alan Smith gathered, on 02 January 1984, accompanied by a local beekeeper, Mr Drew, to evict the bees. Their strategy was to effect removal of the nest and bees intact, and not to destroy any bees unless absolutely necessary. Bees were thought to be inactive beneath 64°F so undertaking the job in early January would be quite safe, or so the party thought - but that turned out to be a big mistake!

Operations began at 10.00am. The first job was to manhandle a 10 m ladder up the 20 m side of the observatory tower (the spiral stairs were not designed to allow passage of such a long object) and into the dome together with circular saw, hammers, crow-bars etc. Next, Colin ascended the ladder and, using a circular saw, very carefully cut and removed a mahogany plank lining the dome shutter. He scored a bull's eye and, on removal of the plank, the edge of a honeycomb was visible. He then removed several more planks to reveal more honeycomb. By this time, some of the more inquisitive members of the nest were flying around investigating the commotion - so much for the theory of inactivity due to the cold!

With the bees becoming increasingly active, it became apparent that a more stable platform from which to work was desirable. The party assembled a scaffolding tower (borrowed from the School) and Mr Drew took over removing the mahogany planking from the rather apprehensive Colin. Eventually, he revealed the whole nest, in the shape of a central core with several tongues of honeycomb, each 50-60 cm in length, extending from it. Together with the nest was a football-sized huddle of 25,000 - 40,000 bees, by this time, extremely agitated! The party made a strategic withdrawal for a couple of hours, in the hope that the bees would quieten down.

Returning some two hours later, the bees had indeed quietened down. Mr Drew had brought a large box equipped with specially constructed frames to contain the honeycomb. He cut honeycomb from the edge of the nest and dropped it into the box in order to provide food for the bees over the winter. He then cut each tongue of honeycomb away from the copper-clad outer skin of the dome and tied them onto the frames in his box to act as a new home for the bees over the winter. Once all the honeycomb had been transferred, it only remained to sweep up the few thousand remaining bees clustered inside the shutter and drop them into the box, and to replace the mahogany planking inside the dome. Mr Drew explained that, in the spring, he would re-house the bees in a traditional hive and, as the queen was unharmed, the colony stood a good chance of survival.

Alan Smith documented the episode in the February 1984 issue of the OASI Newsletter [1984a] under the title Search for the Beehive¹. Figures 15-20 below illustrate the operation.

Other work in 1984 included completing the bench seating in the clubroom, replacing two floorboards in the dome and painting the dome walls again.

1985

In 1985 we replaced another floorboard in the dome.

1986

The dome at the observatory is constructed around a set of steel ribs attached to a cast iron ring. Each rib is formed from a 6 mm flat steel plate upright with four steel right angle strips bolted to it to form an "H" section. The ring too is formed as an "H" section; its bottom half curved to fit over thirteen cast iron wheels mounted in the walls of the observatory tower. The ring, and thus the entire dome, can be rotated on the wheels so that the aperture faces any desired region of the sky. The "H" section of each rib fits into the top of the "H" section of the ring, secured by four countersunk screws, two on each side - see figure 21. The ribs meet at the top of the dome, and the space between them houses a wooden sub-structure. The inside of the dome is lined with tongue-and-groove mahogany planks.

In June, we noticed that the shutter, which opens/closes the aperture of the dome, was catching on the latter and required adjustment. However, before the matter could be addressed, a much more serious problem occurred. The School had arranged to have the flat roofs of the transit room, lift shaft and stair well re-leaded (the work was originally scheduled for September 1985 [1985a], but was delayed). Workmen winched rolls of lead up the lift shaft and left them in the equatorial room: it was fortunate that the floor did not collapse under the weight! In late June or early July, when lifting the rolls through the aperture of the dome prior to fixing the new lead to the roofs, the workmen rested them on the base of the aperture and, unfortunately, the cast iron ring at the base of the dome fractured under the weight. We therefore bolted a 3 m x 75 mm steel strip around the inside of the ring, under the aperture, securing it with approximately 50 bolts, and constructed and fitted new shutter support brackets. The dome was out of operation during July and August [1986a, 1986b, 1986c] while the repairs were undertaken.

Figure 22 shows a rib made visible by removal of two mahogany planks; figure 23 shows the base of the same rib, where it joins the ring and, below, the steel strip (light grey) fitted to repair the ring.

1987

Work started in a small way on 08 April with the fitting of a new lock to the door of the equatorial room. From there, our efforts rapidly grew into major repairs and painting [1988b, 1999d] in order to get the observatory in a good state for the 21^st anniversary celebrations of OASI the following year.

Over the period mid-September to mid-November [2017b], we completely refurbished the transit room. The first task was to remove the shutters (which close the observing slit), replace rotten timber, and rehang them. Next, we took up the old floor and replaced it. Research into the construction of the observatory conducted shortly before the work began had indicated that the original floor of the transit room had been lower than the one taken up, so we positioned the new floor at the original level and installed a new set of steps from the equatorial room down to it. It became obvious immediately that the transit telescope was more accessible in use, especially for stars at high altitude. We recast the tops of the pillars of the mount for the instrument. The final activities in the transit room were painting the walls and staining and varnishing the floor.

In the equatorial room, some of the mechanics of the dome were in need of repair. We constructed a new shaft for the dome rotation wheel and repaired two of the wheel boxes, raising one on refitting by 5 mm so that it took its share of the weight of the dome. We stripped all paint from the walls then hired a professional plasterer one Saturday to plaster the walls: he was able to complete in a morning an area that would have taken us many weeks! We strengthened the supports under the floor of the room, then painted the walls and woodwork, sanded the floor then stained and varnished it, and closed the observatory for some days to ensure that the varnish had a chance to dry thoroughly [1987a, 1987b].

Having completed renovation of the transit room and dome, we began work on a part of the observatory that had not been decorated since its construction: the spiral stairwell leading up to the dome. It had always been difficult to keep the spiral staircase free of dust, and we hoped that painting all the surfaces would help to alleviate the problem. We used Sandtex on the walls and concrete paint on the treads. The walls were very porous and required two coats of Sandtex, so painting continued beyond the usual summer maintenance period, right through into 1988.

On the night of 15-16 October 1987, a violent hurricane swept across England causing much damage and many casualties. Although the storm damaged many trees in the vicinity of the observatory (figure 24), the building itself remained intact and required no special maintenance, a testament to the quality of its construction.

1988

Decorating continued through into 1988; this marked the first time that work was not suspended over winter in favour of observing. We finally finished painting the spiral staircase by the end of April, bringing about a major improvement, as noted by an anonymous correspondent in the Newsletter [1988a]. The amount of dust on the staircase was indeed greatly reduced.

We then began work on another area of the observatory that which had not been tackled before, namely the clubroom. We painted the floor and applied Sandtex to the stone areas of the walls.

Several of the windows and balcony doors in the observatory tower were in a very poor state of repair: a window in the stairwell had been missing a pain of glass for at least ten years and two of the balcony doors were also missing pains of glass and, for many years, had been boarded up with sheets of plywood. The School replaced two windows and replaced the glass in the two balcony doors.

We also undertook additional work in the transit room. Opening and closing the shutter in the roof had always been a precarious operation involving climbing onto the roof and manipulating the shutter by hand. Originally, the shutter had been opened and closed from the inside via a rack and pinion mechanism. Although the mechanism still existed in part, its operation was a mystery and we speculated that a form of counterweight system, no longer present, must have been in place originally. We designed a new counterweight system and Martin Cook fabricated it. The new system for operating the transit shutter worked well (with a little care!) and was much safer to operate than the old one.

In the equatorial room, we renovated, varnished and re-carpetted the observing steps.

1989

We started 1989 by re-pointing the brickwork in the clubroom. At the end of March, we began a major project to floor over the lift shaft at the level of the clubroom and at the level of the equatorial room, creating two new spaces. We dismantled and removed the remnants of the lift mechanism, with the exception of the winding wheel which was too firmly embedded in the fabric of the building. We then fitted RSJs, mounted joists and fitted floorboards, completing the work in 1990. When completed, we used the room at clubroom level as a library while the room at dome level became a map room and storage area for eyepieces and other observing paraphernalia.

We moved the library bookcase (a large glass and wood case containing books, reports, CDs and other material) from its former site in the belvedere into the new library space in the lift shaft. This proved immediately to be a big success, removing the major obstruction that the bookcase had previously presented in the belvedere. However, there were some problems: the RSJs supporting the floor of the new library were anchored to the walls of the observatory at a level above that of the floor of the belvedere. This created a nasty, high, step on the threshold of the room; many members, on leaving the library, almost executed a cartwheel! In addition, the space proved to be dusty and poorly lit. These matters were dealt with a decade later (see below).

1991

The committee decided to construct a mezzanine shelf above the new library to provide storage for tools and materials that were infrequently used [1991a]. By this time, members of OASI were proficient at construction of flooring across the lift shaft, and work was completed within a few weeks [1991b].

1996

After several years with little effort devoted to maintenance and renovations, things began to change during the year and we undertook much painting of the external woodwork of the windows on the belvedere [1996a].

1997

The shutter of the dome had been getting harder to open during the previous year or so. We therefore erected tower scaffolding inside the dome to enable greasing of the top shutter rail [1997a]. After the work, the shutter opened and closed easily and smoothly.

While the tower scaffolding was in place, we undertook a second job, which was much more involved and had been pending for a considerable time! The cast iron ring at the base of the dome, to which the structural ribs are attached, had gradually developed hairline cracks which, if they continued to grow, would render the dome unsafe to rotate, effectively putting the observatory permanently out of action. (There was considerable speculation, all of it inconclusive, as to whether the appearance of the hairline cracks was related to the unfortunate incident in 1986 when the ring was fractured by workmen resting heavy lead weights on it.) We investigated the inner construction of the dome to assess the extent of the problem. We carefully removed two of the mahogany boards cladding the inside of the dome to reveal the area around one of the ribs. Except at the bottom of the dome, immediately above the ring, the internal structure was sound. At the bottom, the rib had corroded through the ingress of damp and the passage of time, but we judged that it was not in need of immediate remedial work. Taking our investigation as representative of the dome as a whole, we therefore restricted the scope of repairs to extending the steel strengthening ring, fitted in 1986 to the cast iron ring under the aperture, around the entire circumference of the dome.

On Wednesday 06 August, Martin Cook delivered two lengths of curved steel strips, each about five meters long, to the observatory. We then manoeuvred the strips round the observatory stairwell up to the belvedere and, from there, moved them onto a balcony and then hoisted (figures 25-26) them up the outside of the tower on to the roof of the stair well, before lowering them through the aperture of the dome on to the floor of the equatorial room. After delivery of the steel strips, work continued apace on Wednesday 13 August. On that evening, amid a great volume of noise, we began the task of fixing the first strengthening strip to the ring. At the peak of activity during the evening, there were four people drilling holes, one tapping a thread, and one inserting a bolt in every completed hole. Work continued for several successive Wednesday evenings, until the new strengthening strips were securely fitted and painted and the considerable mess made during the fitting was cleared.

In late 1997, the committee noted [1997b] that work to fit the steel strips around the interior of the dome was complete, and expressed the intent to make the dome as robust as possible by fitting, in summer 1998, similar strips around the exterior of the base of the dome.

1998

The committee made plans [1998a, 1998b] for three major maintenance activities during the year:

• fit steel strips around the exterior of the base of the dome.
• paint the inside of the equatorial room and the stairwell leading to it. In time-honoured fashion, it was intended to organise summer work parties to progress the task.
• refurbishment of the balcony doors in the belvedere, which were all in a shocking state of decay. It was hoped that the School would undertake the work.

Unfortunately, little progress was made with any of the activities. Gradually, the ambition to have the balcony doors refurbished was replaced with the aim merely to paint them, if the School would reimburse the cost of materials [1998c]. By autumn, the committee placed all maintenance work on hold [1998d], and ultimately decided [1998e] to pursue the painting of the stairwell the following summer.

1999

Early in the year [1999e], the committee turned its attention once more to the task of painting the stairwell. On request from OASI, the School supplied 25 L of paint [1999f, 1999g] enabling work to start. The work turned out to be a major undertaking, and an appeal was issued in the Newsletter [1999i] for volunteers. By the time the supply of paint was exhausted, forcing work came to a halt, the volunteers had completed painting the walls of the stairwell and the walls of the clubroom [2000a]. It then became clear that the floors also needed to be painted [1999j], but the work could not be undertaken immediately as there was no suitable paint to hand.

The noticeboards wrapped around the central column of the observatory in the belvedere had deteriorated and begun to work loose during the almost quarter century since they had been installed (see above). Ken Goward effected renovations, ensuring that they were once more firmly attached to the fabric of the building [1999g, 1999h].

James Appleton, OASI Librarian, had been actively growing the OASI library with books primarily for the benefit of beginners. As a result, the library had outgrown its allocated storage space in a large, glass-fronted bookcase. James placed a request in the Newsletter [1999k] for a larger bookcase to accommodate the library stock but, unfortunately, none was forthcoming. The committee took a much wider view of the matter and reconsidered [1999f, 1999g] the work undertaken a decade previously to create the library and some of the associated problems (documented above). Eventually, an ambitious plan evolved to completely renovate the spaces in the former liftshaft and create a custom-built library. The plan called for work in three main areas:

• In the library, to replace the floor with a new floor level with that of the belvedere, remove the plaster interior walls, apply a damp-proof lining to the external walls and construct new plaster interior walls, replace lighting, install low-level background heating and custom shelving.
• Above the library, to reconstruct and extend the storage floor, providing a larger repository for tools and infrequently-used materials.
• Below the library, at first floor level, to construct a new floor across the lift shaft to provide storage space.

The plan was challenging, and little progress was made during the year. Initially, work on the first floor, below the library, was scheduled for summer of the following year [1999h, 1999j], but this was later postponed [2000b].

2000

Planning and investigative work was undertaken in relation to the proposed work in the lift shaft. Some materials were gathered and self-assembly cupboard units were purchased for the library [2000b, 2000c, 2000d, 2000e]. However, no substantive work was undertaken.

A request in the Newsletter for volunteers [2000f] enabled the stairwell to be painted on 15 July, after fresh supplies of paint had been purchased and volunteers recruited. The map room, off the equatorial room, was also painted.

2001

We began implementation of the 1999 plan for reconfiguration of the lift shaft, aiming to complete the work within 18 months [2001a]. Off the belvedere, the first task was to remove the steel frame (installed in 1989) and the floor which it supported. Safe working in the lift shaft required use of an industrial safety harness, and removal of the frame turned into an elongated process. Meanwhile, work lower down the lift shaft progressed well, and a new floor was installed by autumn of the year [2001d]. Requests for volunteers to assist with the work appeared in the Newsletter over summer and autumn [2001b, 2001c, 2001e, 2001f, 2001h]. In autumn, Chairman Ken Goward provided an amusing interim report on progress [2001g].

Work to fit a strengthening ring around the exterior base of the dome was put on hold [2001b] and ultimately abandoned.

Unfortunately, work on the lift shaft revealed that the electrical wiring of the observatory, last renewed in 1978 (see above), was in need of replacement, so the committee added rewiring of the observatory to the list of activities [2001d] associated with renovating the lift shaft.

2002

Initially, hopes were high that work on the liftshaft would be completed within the year [2002a]. However, by early summer, it had become painfully apparent that initial estimates of timescales for the project were utterly unrealistic: although a new space had been created under the library, it remained to be decorated and, although the library had been re-floored, work was still in hand to strip and re-line the internal walls. Work to rewire the observatory had not yet started.

Work continued throughout the year [2002b, 2002c, 2002d, 2002e], with repeated requests for volunteers [2002f, 2002g].

2003

At the start of the year, it was hoped to complete renovation of the lift shaft in time for the joint lecture meeting with the SPA on 04 October [2003a]. Requests for volunteers to assist with the work, and with other maintenance activities, once more appeared in the Newsletter [2003b, 2003c, 2003d, 2003e, 2003f, 2003g, 2003h]. In the event, the revised timescale was essentially met, with all substantive work completed by late summer.

2004

The finishing touches were put on the liftshaft refurbishment [2004a]. After three years of hard work, a ceremony was in order to celebrate the opening of the new library on 15 May 2004.

Figures 8-10 (above) illustrate the lift shaft in 1980, before any work started. Figure 27 (below), taken in mid-2001 as renovation work was about to begin, looks up the lift shaft showing from underneath the steel-framed floor that OASI had installed in 1989. Figures 28-42 show subsequent aspects of the renovation work during 2001-04.
 

Maintenance had long been a very expensive, ongoing concern for the owners of Orwell Park. In May, the School commissioned steeplejacks to conduct a professional survey of the exterior of the mansion, including the observatory tower. The survey brought into sharp focus the parlous state of many areas of the building and highlighted the scale of restoration work that was required.

2005

In the early years of the new millennium, government regulations concerning the safety of children and vulnerable adults were considerably tightened. As a result, the School had to review its security protocols and make arrangements to segregate members of OASI (and other potential visitors to the observatory) from pupils. To enforce segregation, a new security system, comprising computer-controlled electrically-lockable doors was installed late in the year [2005a, 2006a]. Planning for the installation of the new system coincided with the School undertaking a root-and-branch review of its financial status. Unfortunately, the steeplejacks' survey the previous year had exposed the huge amount of renovation work required on the fabric of the mansion. A newly-appointed and particularly zealous Bursar attempted to make OASI shoulder responsibility for the considerable cost of the portion of the security system attributable to the observatory tower. Although the attempt rapidly foundered on the easily forseeable obstacles of (a) OASI's lack of funds and (b) OASI's lack of responsibility for the expenditure, it engendered much ill will. A pervasive uncertainty about the future of OASI at the observatory became widespread among members and the committee began active consideration of options should it prove necessary/desirable to decamp from the building.

Unsurprisingly, because of the frosty nature of relations with the School, OASI put in abeyance plans for renovation work, including plans to sand and varnish the floor of the equtorial room during the summer maintenance week [2005b] and to install an eyepiece cupboard in the library [2005c].

2006

A meeting with the Bursar and Head of Security at the School in early January brought much-needed respite from the doom and gloom of the previous two years with the news that the School would no longer endeavour to strong-arm OASI into paying a share of the cost of the new security system [2006a]. As relations between OASI and the School thawed, members of the Society became increasingly willing to undertake maintenance and renovation activities.

Neil Morley installed an eyepiece cupboard in the library [2006b, 2006c, 2006d, 2006e, 2006f, 2006g, 2006h].

2008

For a few years prior to 2008, the School had enjoyed success in raising funds for restoration projects. Unfortunately, the observatory had not benefitted from this endeavour. Pete Richards encouraged members of OASI via an article in the Newsletter [2008a] to suggest ideas by which the School could raise funds to restore the observatory.

2009

The floor of the equatorial room was in need of sanding and re-varnishing [2009a]. However, the work was subsequently deferred to summer 2010 [2010a].

Neil Morley was elected Chairman of OASI in 2009. He brought to the post a determination to address the deterioration in the fabric of the observatory. As a first step, through informal contacts with staff at the School, he generated interest in seeking external funding for renovation work. He then arranged a meeting between members of OASI and the Headmaster and other members of staff of the School to discuss the history of the observatory and how it could be exploited to support potential applications for funding [2009b, 2009c].

2010

Following the initial meeting between members of OASI and personnel from the School, 2010 turned out to be a very busy year for Neil [2010b]! On 27 January, he met with Simon Dodsworth (School Bursar), Richard Brunt (School Surveyor) and David Payne (OASI Trustee) to survey the observatory outside and inside with a view to obtaining a quotation for repair of the most pressing problems, specifically the stonework, guttering and balcony windows. (Other matters were discussed, too.)

One week later, he met with Simon (again), Rowland Constantine (School Headmaster) and James Appleton (OASI Committee Member) to further discuss the state of the observatory. In the evening, Rowland visited the observatory for the first time and met several members of OASI.

One further week later, Neil met with Tony King at Ipswich Transport Museum. The Museum had recently been awarded a Heritage Lottery Grant to fund refurbishment of their building. Tony briefed Neil on his experience in applying for the grant, information which Neil subsequently relayed to Simon.

On 18 February, Neil and James met with Peter Hingley (RAS Librarian and SHA Membership Secretary) at the RAS building in London. Peter suggested some potential sources of funding and identified several schools with observatories attached, in a broadly similar situation to Orwell Park. He also mentioned Peregrine Bryant, a conservation architect whom he knew well, involved in various conservation projects including one featuring an observatory of similar vintage to Orwell Park. Neil subsequently put Peregrine in touch with Simon to arrange a visit to Orwell Park.

On 26 February, Simon, Richard, Peregrine, David, Neil and Kelvin Smith (School Head of Maintenance) met at the School and showed Peregrine around the observatory (outside and inside). Subsequently, Peregrine drafted a report [2010c] providing an initial assessment of the work required, a rough estimate of the likely cost, and a preliminary list of potential sources of funding. He estimated the cost at circa £500k and recommended the following actions:

• establish the exceptional nature of the building through comparative studies,
• consider re-listing the observatory,
• apply for funding (to which end he identified potential additional sources of finance).

On 07 April, Neil met with David Strange, Chairman of the Norman Lockyer Observatory (NLO) in Sidmouth, to exchange notes. (Peter Hingley had advised that the operating model of the NLO might be of interest to OASI.) Neil intended also to visit, on the same day, Belmont House in Kent, where both Peter and Peregrine were involved in the conservation of the attached Victorian observatory, of a similar vintage to Orwell Park; in the event, it unfortunately provied not possible to schedule the visit.

On 23 April, Neil again met with personnel of the School and others to discuss approaches to renovating the observatory [2010d]. The main protagonists at the meeting were Rowland, Simon (recently retired), Peregrine and Allan Chapman (OASI Honorary President). Roland advised that restoration of the observatory would perforce have to be funded by grants or donations, as the School lacked sufficient means to pursue the project. Discussion then focussed primarily on the question of whether to pursue an upgrade of the listing of the observatory from Grade II to Grade II*; the benefit of the latter, upgraded listing, would be to open additional sources of funding, in particular English Heritage (EH).

The meeting catalysed subsequent meetings with representatives of various organisations (including the Royal Astronomical Society, the Victorian Society, the Ipswich Society, Suffolk & Norfolk Life magazine) and a concerted effort to document the historical significance of the observatory and the work done there in the nineteenth century, to provide material to support grant applications [2010d, 2010e, 2011a].

OASI Treasurer, Paul Whiting, FRAS established the 582 Fund to attract donations to aid with potential restoration work [2011a]. (The name is taken from the IAU (International Astronomical Union) Minor Planet Center observatory code for the observatory.)

In November, Peregrine drafted a proposal, incorporating evidence assembled by members of OASI of the historical significance of the observatory, to upgrade the statutory listing of the facility from Grade II to Grade II* [2010f]. The intent was for the remainder of the School to remain listed at Grade II. Roland endorsed Peregrine's proposal, and efforts to implement it became the main focus of activities.

2011

In March, Rowland approved submission to EH of an application to re-list the Observatory to Grade II*. To support the application, Peregrine updated the proposal [2010f] to upgrade the listing of the observatory [2011b]. The proposal, with a considerable volume of supporting documentation, much of it sourced by members of OASI, was submitted.

The wheels of bureaucracy at EH ground on… In August, Sarah Gibson (Local Designation Adviser, EH Eastern Region) contacted Neil to arrange to meet with relevant personnel at the School and to survey the observatory. The meeting was held on 08 December; in attendance were Adrian Brown (Headmaster, Rowland having vacated the post), Justine Barber (the new Bursar), Peregrine and David Payne (OASI Trustee). Neil and David led Peregrine and Sarah on a tour of the observatory to enable them to assess its structure, condition and demarcation from the remainder of the mansion, essential to enable staff at EH to make a suitable recommendation on re-listing [2011c, 2011d, 2012a, 2012b].

The subsequent process was to be as follows [2012a]. The recommendation was to be in the form of a consultation report, to be presented to the board and governors of the School in February 2012. Once received, the School authorities would have 28 days to respond. Assuming a successful outcome, EH would forward the report to the Secretary of State who would make the final decision, expected in late 2012.

2012

On 08 May, Sarah forwarded the long-awaited consultation report. To the amazement of the recipients it recommended re-listing both observatory and School buildings as Grade II* [2012c, 2013a]. Clearly, a misunderstanding had occurred somewhere during the process of drafting the recommendation.

The School authorities, anxious that re-listing the entire School as Grade II* could impose onerous restrictions, immediately contacted EH to insist that the process be stopped, and summoned Neil to explain himself! In November, EH confirmed that the School and observatory would remain listed as Grade II [2013a].

2013

Despite obvious disappointment regarding the outcome of the attempt at re-listing, Neil resolved to explore other approaches towards restoring the observatory. On 13 June, together with the Trustees of OASI, he met Adrian and Justine to explain the most pressing items of maintenance required to the fabric of the building. After the meeting, Neil accompanied personnel from the School on a tour of the observatory, pointing out the areas in most urgent need of restoration; the sorry state of parts of the building left the visitors visibly shocked [2013b, 2014a].

The School commissioned a detailed structural survey by TVR Building Services Limited, over the summer period, of the exterior and interior of the observatory. Subsequently, a schedule of prioritised, costed repairs was created. Essential work was estimated at £300k, which would need to be raised externally. Once more, Neil provided staff at the School with comprehensive historical evidence to support fund raising activities. See [2013c, 2014a].

2015

Neil had resigned from the post of Chairman of OASI and David Murton had been elected to the role. The secretary of the Old Orwellians visited the observatory in early 2015 and reported to David that the association was at last seriously investigating the availability of grants for renovation of the fabric of the building [2015a]. On 27 March, David met with Adrian; among the items discussed was repairs to the fabric of the observatory. Adrian was keen to effect permanent repairs to the large windows in the balcony doors off the belvedere (the doors were in a shocking state of disrepair) and promised to raise the matter with the School governors [2015b]. Unfortunately, however, by November, no action had ensued and the Old Orwellians appeared to feel that they had exhausted potential avenues for funding renovations [2015c].

In the equatorial room, Martin Cook and Matthew Leeks replaced the rope used to open the shutter (the rope was beginning to fray) - see figure 43.

2018

David Murton had resigned as Chairman and Paul Whiting, FRAS occupied the post. In early 2018, staff at the School informally advised Paul that the School authorities intended to spend money on maintenance at the observatory [2018a]. In the event, unfortunately, again no action ensued.

At the June committee meeting [2018b], Martin Cook reported three maintenance items in need of attention:

1. The floor of the equatorial room needed to be re-varnished.
2. New cracks had appeared in the walls of the equatorial room.
3. The map room (off the equatorial room) was afflicted by considerable damp which was causing plaster to come off the wall.

2019

In 2019, Andy Gibbs was elected Chairman of OASI. His aims included fostering good relations with the School and supporting efforts to undertake renovation of the observatory. Also in 2019, Amy Carbonero was appointed Development and Alumni Manager at the School, with a remit which included exploring routes to fund renovation of the observatory, particularly via the Old Orwellians. On 27 March, Amy visited the observatory and met with Andy, who showed her areas of the building in particular need of maintenance, and provided details of repairs undertaken by OASI during the Society's tenure [2019b]. Amy was successful in attracting donations, and hopes within OASI rose that it might soon become possible to begin some renovation work [2019a, 2020a].

Martin Cook, committee member responsible for maintenance, reported that restricted access to the observatory over the summer months (due in large part to the School being let out to external bodies) created difficulties in scheduling extensive maintenance tasks [2019b, 2019c]. (In fact, summer access restrictions were a very real cause of frustration over many years.) Nevertheless, by September, the floor of the equatorial room had been sanded and re-varnished [2019d]. However, the other maintenance matters raised by Martin in mid-2018 remained outstanding at the end of the year [2019e]: no progress had been made in investigating the damp in the map room, or repairing the walls where plaster had fallen off and, no solution was evident for the new cracks in the walls of the equatorial room.

2020

Early in the year, Amy Carbonero arranged for filming inside the observatory, to support efforts to raise funds for restoration [2020b]. Later, in autumn, the School arranged for contractors to estimate the cost of repairing the balcony doors on the belvedere, several of which were in a very serious state of decay, and was quoted a sum of £12,213 [2021c]. The School also made several grant applications including to the Pilgrim Trust and Heritage Lottery Fund, Culture Recovery Fund for Heritage. The committee of OASI offered to make whatever contribution it could, sourced from its 582 Fund [2021a, 2020c].

During the initial stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, in late March, OASI perforce had to suspend face-to-face meetings and close the observatory; it remained closed for 18 months.

2021

In late January, the School applied to the Heritage Lottery Fund for a grant of £10k to make the observatory "Covid secure" (including funding hand sanitisers, PPE and signage) in preparation for its eventual reopening. The Heritage Lottery Fund duly awarded a grant and, in late summer, materials to implement Covid security were delivered [2021e]. A small team of volunteers cleaned the observatory over the weekend of 07-08 August and full access was restored on 22 September [2022a].

The School intended to fund repair work, with the priority being the balcony doors, from any money left over from the grant after purchasing materials for Covid security. The School also intended to apply, by the end of February, to the Pilgrim Trust for £20-25k to enable further repairs [2021b]. In the event, money was left over from the grant and, in late summer, the School finally replaced the three most badly decayed balcony doors off the belvedere. OASI made a contribution of £1100 from the 582 Fund [2022a]. Chairman Andy Gibbs contacted the School pointing out that several of the windows in the equatorial room were also in a very poor state of repair; subsequently, the School replaced the most decayed such window [2021d, 2022a].

2022

Unfortunately, in 2022, Amy Carbonero left her post at the School. The post remained unfilled, thus much of the momentum from efforts to gain funding for restoration of the observatory was lost [2022b, 2022c, 2022d, 2023a].

The dome became stiff to rotate so, in October, Martin Cook refilled the oil reservoirs of the rotation system [2022c]. This temporarily eased the problem but, by the end of the year, the dome became stiff once more, and the Trustees recommended further lubrication [2023a].

2023

In February, the School Bursar, Steven Hawley, emailed Andy Gibbs and Paul Whiting, FRAS (OASI Chairman and Treasurer respectively) setting out the position of the School regarding restoration of the observatory. Unsurprisingly, the Covid-19 pandemic had seriously impacted the finances of the School, and there was no money available for restoration. Indeed, the Bursar enquired whether OASI could take a more prominent role in fundraising to support restoration! A brief, inconclusive exchange of emails followed, but it proved not possible for the two parties to meet for an in-person discussion of matters.

Steven informed Andy that there was no difficulty with members of OASI attending the observatory during the summer holidays while most youth groups resided at the School [2023b]. This was very welcome news, which promised to remove one of the main restrictions which had hampered maintenance work in recent years.

During exceptionally heavy rainfall in November, there had been major water ingress to the observatory. Andy reported the matter to the head of maintenance at the School, who immediately dismissed the problem as due to an extreme weather event. Martin Cook constructed a guard to prevent debris from blocking drainage channels at the observatory [2023c].

2024

By early 2024, a new Bursar, Sarah O’Laoi, was installed at the School. Unfortunately, she renaged on the promise by her predecesor that access to the School for maintenance purposes during the summer months would not be a problem, and authorised only one week of maintenance access [2024a]. Despite bitter disappointment at the change of heart by the School, volunteers from OASI undertook a concerted period of maintenance 12-14 August [2024b], the main tasks being:

• The gutter around the base of the dome was cleaned and painted with bitumen. In four places the gutter had delaminated and come away from the inside wall leaving a gap for water to ingress into the brick work; the four gaps were sealed with bitumen.
• Wheel boxes were cleaned and debris including rust, lumps of metal, wood and string was removed. At the bottom of each box, the wheel had compressed a mixture of debris and oil causing friction which made it hard to rotate the dome (explaining the problem noted in 2022 and 2023). The debris was very difficult to remove as it was compacted and hard to reach. Approximately 40 kg of metal and rust was eventually removed from the gutter and wheel boxes!
• Walls in the transit room and observatory were washed.
• The damaged plaster in the map room and transit chamber was replaced.
• The two windows at the top of the stairwell were sealed on the outside with mastic.
• Mould was scrubbed off the walls at the top of the stairwell. The remainder of the stairwell walls, stairs and windows were scrubbed and cleaned.
• The belvedere room and windows were cleaned.
• Floors in the observatory, map room and transit chamber were hoovered and washed.
• The Tomline Refractor was washed.

Although the maintenance work significantly improved matters in the short term, it unfortunately also revealed the ongoing steady decline of the fabric of the observatory.

Starting in approximately the middle of the year, the shutter on the dome became noticably stiffer to open and close. Investigation was scheduled for the following year.

2025

Following the success of three days of maintenance in August 2024, the committee agreed with the School two further days of maintenance work 10-11 April. The main tasks undertaken were:

• painted the south and west walls of the map room,
• erected scaffolding and greased the top wheels of the shutter,
• investigated the bottom wheels of the shutter,
• painted the safety edge of the steps on the spiral staircase,
• cleared junk from the room at the bottom of the spiral staircase,
• cleaned the Tomline Refactor,
• applied patio cleaner to remove slime from the stone floors of the balconies.

Martin Cook investigated the two wheels at the base of the shutter. The wheels run in a curved track along the outer skin side of the dome; unfortunately, they were out of alignment and needed to be replaced. Martin was able to effect a temporary repair to one of the wheels, as a stopgap measure. By way of a more permanent repair, he fabricated two new wheels, complete with bearings and axles, and the committee agreed with the School a further period of maintenance 11-15 August to fit them [2025b]. Replacement of the first wheel went without incident. However, the second simply would not fit in the available space, and it soon became apparent that the wheels were of different diameters, fortunately, the second being smaller than the first! Martin made a quick trip to the lathe, to reduce the size of the second replacement wheel, after which the task proceeded without further difficulty.

Other maintenance carried out in mid-August included:

• sanded, stained and varnished the floor of the transit chamber,
• varnished the floor of the equatorial room,
• refurbished the south-west balcony door in the belvedere,
• unblocked a drain on one of the balconies.

Figures 45-46 illustrate the activities.

Image Credits

JMA = James Appleton

MPC = Martin Cook

ANM = Neil Morley

AJS = Alan Smith

JRW = John Wainwright

Footnote

References

Roy Gooding & James Appleton

Original: Newsletters April, May, June, July 1999; March, April 2017. MPC emails 06, 11 Nov 2025; photo archive. AJS photo archive. JRW photo archive.
Updated: 12 November 2025