Coats Observatory

The Coats Observatory is a public observatory in the Scottish town of Paisley in Renfrewshire unitary authority. In 1971 the building was added to the Scottish lists of monuments in the highest monument category A.

History

At the Annual Meeting of the Paisley Philosophical Institution to set up an observatory was excited. Thomas Coats, brother of the textile industrialist Peter Coats, who had a decade earlier donated the Paisley Museum, presented the funds needed for the construction of the observatory are available. In addition to setting he paid the company from also provide funding of around £ 2,000. In March 1882 Coats laid the foundation stone of the building, but could not attend the opening ceremonies in Obktober 1883 for health reasons. He died two weeks later. The construction of the building, designed by John Honeyman cost a total of around £ 3,100.

With the opening of 1883, the Coats Observatory was the first public observatory in Scotland. Over the decades, various telescopes were installed. Since the 1920s, the institution was in financial difficulties, which intensified during the Second World War. According to a further worsening of the financial situation, the town of Paisley took over the facility and incorporated it to the next-door Paisley Museum. In the 1970s, the facility was renovated in 1995 and replaced the dome. Today, the Coats Observatory is one of four public observatories in Scotland.