NavList:

   

Reply

Thank you George for the info, and I look forward to the day when I could have
you be my "local pilot".

I know that my asking for GPS coordinates got Fred H. to simply reply "GPS!" --
of course I meant to ask "what is the position of the grave as determined by
celestial navigation".  I know that George always carries an artificial horizon
around with his Ebbco sextant and had plenty of time to determine the grave's
location by traditional, Maskeylnian methods...  ;-)

Dan

-----Original Message-----
From: Navigation Mailing List
[mailto:NAVIGATION-L@LISTSERV.WEBKAHUNA.COM]On Behalf Of George Huxtable
Sent: Monday, July 19, 2004 1:55 AM
To: NAVIGATION-L@LISTSERV.WEBKAHUNA.COM
Subject: Re: Nevil Maskelyne.


Dan Allen asked-

>Did you happen to fix Nevil Maskelyne's grave position by GPS?  Perhaps you
>could bring one of those along as well, so when I come to the UK I can easily
>find the grave.  I would like to visit Nevil's final resting place... it sounds
>like a nice town.

Reply from George-

Well, Purton's just a village really, not a town. Which is about 4 miles NW
of Swindon, not my favourite city.

I will supply Dan with the information on condition that he phones me when
he visits (01865 820222 from within UK), so that we can (at least) enjoy a
pint together.

Maskelyne's tomb is a stone object above ground, close against the South
wall of the church. The plaque is close to the same spot, but inside the
church.

Once, the tomb had been enclosed within wrought-iron railings, but these
have been crudely cut off near ground level and the stumps remain visible.
Presumably, that was a legacy from the 1939-45 war, when anything made of
iron was collected for munitions. I remember, as a young lad in Liverpool
in the early 1940's, the teams going round with a horse and cart to rip out
any house railings, and what a difference it made to the look of the
suburbs afterwards. Nobody minded; they felt they were "doing their bit".

The coordinates Dan asked for are as follows (taken from an OS map).

1deg 51.5'W. 51deg 35.0'N. This is on the OSGB36 (Ordnance Survey of Great
Britain 1936) datum, which is near enough to the GPS standard datum WGS84
to ensure that the distinctive church, with (unusually) both a spire and
another tower, will be well within view.

In terms of Ordnance Survey National Grid coordinates, to be found on many
maps, this is in square SU (or 41) and it's SU096872 or, as I prefer,
40961872.

But Dan will find that with the British road system (if, indeed, it can be
dignified by the word "system"), Cartesian coordinates are of little help
in finding the way from A to B. A local pilot is often best.

George.

================================================================
contact George Huxtable by email at george@huxtable.u-net.com, by phone at
01865 820222 (from outside UK, +44 1865 820222), or by mail at 1 Sandy
Lane, Southmoor, Abingdon, Oxon OX13 5HX, UK.
================================================================

   

Reply