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The Observatory () is a former mill, now used as an observatory, located on Clifton Down, close to the Clifton Suspension Bridge, Bristol, England. At 337 feet (92 metres) above the gorge, the cliff top is likely to have been used as a lookout post since at least the Iron Age. The building was erected, with the permission of the Society of Merchant Venturers, as a windmill for corn in 1766 and later converted to the grinding of snuff, when it became known as 'The Snuff Mill'. This was damaged by a fire on October 30, 1777, when the sails were left turning during a gale and caused the equipment to catch light. It was then derelict for 52 years until in 1828 William West, an artist, rented the old mill, for 5 shillings (25p) a year, as a studio.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 work=Bristol link )〕 In 1977, the Merchant Venturers sold the observatory to Honorbrook Inns; however, they were obliged to maintain public access to the camera obscura whose ownership was retained by the Merchant Venturers.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 work=Bristol City Council )〕 It has been designated by English Heritage as a grade II * listed building〔(【引用サイトリンク】 work=Images of England )〕 and was currently on the Buildings at Risk Register. ==Camera obscura== West installed telescopes and a camera obscura, which were used by artists of the Bristol School to draw the Avon Gorge and Leigh Woods on the opposite side.〔 Many examples of these paintings can be seen in Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery. The pictures which originated from images within the camera obscura he called 'photogenic drawing'〔(【引用サイトリンク】 work=Clifton Online )〕 and were based on the work of William Fox Talbot. A 5" (13 cm) convex lens and sloping mirror were installed on the top of the tower; these project the panoramic view vertically downward into the darkened room below. Visitors view the true image (not a mirror image) on a fixed circular table 5 feet (1.5m) in diameter, with a concave metal surface, and turn the mirror by hand to change the direction of view.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 work=Brighton and Hove Museums )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Observatory, Bristol」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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