Remains of Red Scar Observatory
Remains of Red Scar Observatory William Cross was a prominent Preston lawyer. In 1803 he purchased a cottage and surrounding land at Red Scar. He subsequently expanded the cottage into a Jacobean-style mansion known as Red Scar House , incorporating the original structure into the new design. The Cross family resided there until the mid twentieth century. A photograph of Red Scar House circa 1920 from the Preston Digital Archive The remains of the observatory can be accessed just off the Guild Wheel. It once belonged to Colonel William Assheton Cross of Red Scar House, which was demolished in 1939, partly to make way for Courtauld's works. The house was located in what is now the garden of remembrance of Preston Crematorium, south of Longridge Road. A large part of the former wooded grounds became the Red Scar Industrial Estate. As was relatively common amongst wealthy landowners at the time, he had an interest in astronomy and h...