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Aldershot Observatory

Astronomical observatories in EnglandBuildings and structures in AldershotGrade II listed buildings in HampshireMilitary in AldershotUse British English from October 2010
Aldershot observatory 01
Aldershot observatory 01

Aldershot observatory is a circular red-brick building with a domed roof standing on Queens Avenue in Aldershot Military Town near Aldershot, England, home to the British Army since circa 1854. Inside is an 8-inch (203 mm) refracting telescope on a German-type equatorial mount with a clockwork drive which will run for about 2 hours without rewinding, this has a facility to vary the drive rate. The telescope and observatory building were a gift from aviation pioneer Patrick Young Alexander to the British Army, a fact which is recorded by a plaque near the observatory door. It reads: ‘Presented to the Aldershot Army Corps by Patrick Y Alexander Esq 1906’.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Aldershot Observatory (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Aldershot Observatory
Queen's Avenue, Rushmoor

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Wikipedia: Aldershot ObservatoryContinue reading on Wikipedia

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Latitude Longitude
N 51.258412 ° E -0.762339 °
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The Cambridge Primary School

Queen's Avenue
GU11 4AA Rushmoor
England, United Kingdom
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Aldershot observatory 01
Aldershot observatory 01
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RAMC Memorial, Aldershot
RAMC Memorial, Aldershot

The RAMC Memorial at Aldershot in Hampshire is a monument commemorating the men of the Royal Army Medical Corps who lost their lives during the Boer War of 1899 to 1902. It is a Grade II listed structure.Located at the top of the town's Gun Hill and placed near to the former Cambridge Military Hospital, the memorial was dedicated by Edward VII on Empire Day - 24 May 1905, and this is commemorated by a small plaque lying before the steps of the memorial.The memorial commemorates the 314 officers and men of the Royal Army Medical Corps who died in the Boer War - namely, one Colonel, two Surgeon Lieutenant-Colonels of the Militia Staff Corps, six Majors, five Captains, five Lieutenants, two Quartermasters, two Sergeant-Majors, nine Staff Sergeants, nine Sergeants, five Lance Sergeants, eighteen Corporals, five Lance-Corporals and 243 Privates.The granite and bronze memorial is in the form of a three stepped semi-circular base with a wall behind. In the centre is a mounted obelisk with a sculptural group placed at the base. The 14 bronze name plaques placed on the front of the wall record the names of the 314 soldiers who lost their lives in the conflict. The sculpted group by the Welsh sculptor Sir William Goscombe John RA is formed by two men of the Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) tending to a wounded man lying on a stretcher in a pietà composition. The wounded soldier lies in the arms of a RAMC Orderly while his left leg is bandaged by a Medical Officer. The inscription reads: "Erected by the Officers, Warrant and Non-Commissioned Officers and men of the Royal Army Medical Corps in memory of their comrades of the Corps." The architectural setting is by the Scottish Arts and Crafts architect and landscape designer Robert Weir Schultz. The sculpted group was cast by A.B. Burton at the Thames Ditton Foundry. The memorial has been a Grade II listed structure since 2010.

Inglis Bridge, Aldershot
Inglis Bridge, Aldershot

The Inglis Bridge near Aldershot in Hampshire, carries a sewer pipe across the Basingstoke Canal. Also known as the Inglis Pyramid Bridge, or the Inglis Pipe Bridge, it is an early form of military portable prefabricated steel bridge, manufactured in 1916. It is a unique survivor of this type in England, after a similar bridge in Lincolnshire was removed after 2017. The Aldershot bridge is located near Laffan's Road and Aldershot Wharf car park. It is owned by the Ministry of Defence, and was listed at Grade II in 2024. The Inglis Portable Military Bridge (Light Type) was designed by the engineer Charles Inglis, in the First World War as a lightweight, portable and reusable bridge that could be assembled or disassembled by a team of soldiers in the field within a matter of minutes. The original design used modular units built from 8 ft (2.4 m) lengths of steel pipe, joined by pre-cast junctions to heavy steel transoms, with four pipes meeting at the apex to form pyramids which would be linked longitudinally. Ten of this first design, the light type, were constructed during the war, designed as a footbridge allowing passage by soldiers in single file. A similar "heavy" type of Inglis bridge was developed to bear vehicles, and later models used steel pipes joining rectangular and then square frames, known as Type I and Type II respectively, capable of carrying tanks across wider gaps. Developments of the Inglis bridge continue in use until the Second World War, until it was replaced by the Bailey bridge. The Aldershot bridge comprises six pyramids forming three W-shaped Warren trusses on each side, sloped to meet at the apex. It is believed to have been brought back to England from France after the First World War, and constructed by military engineers as a training exercise. It has been in place since at least 1963 and possibly before 1944.