99-684: The King's Observatory (called for many years the Kew Observatory ) is a Grade I listed building in Richmond, London . Now a private dwelling, it formerly housed an astronomical and terrestrial magnetic observatory founded by King George III . The architect was Sir William Chambers ; his design of the King's Observatory influenced the architecture of two Irish observatories – Armagh Observatory and Dunsink Observatory near Dublin . The observatory and its grounds are located within
198-646: A heritage asset legally protected) is called 'designation'. Several different terms are used because the processes use separate legislation: buildings are 'listed'; ancient monuments are 'scheduled', wrecks are 'protected', and battlefields, gardens and parks are 'registered'. A heritage asset is a part of the historic environment that is valued because of its historic, archaeological, architectural or artistic interest. Only some of these are judged to be important enough to have extra legal protection through designation. Buildings that are not formally listed but still judged as being of heritage interest can still be regarded as
297-436: A material consideration in the planning process. As a very rough guide, listed buildings are structures considered of special architectural and historical importance. Ancient monuments are of 'national importance' containing evidential values, and can on many occasions also relate to below ground or unoccupied sites and buildings. Almost anything can be listed. Buildings and structures of special historic interest come in
396-465: A 40-foot (12 m) iron rod at Marly-la-Ville , near Paris, drawing sparks from a passing cloud. With ground - insulated aerials, an experimenter could bring a grounded lead with an insulated wax handle close to the aerial, and observe a spark discharge from the aerial to the grounding wire. In May 1752, Dalibard affirmed that Franklin's theory was correct. Around June 1752, Franklin reportedly performed his famous kite experiment. The kite experiment
495-661: A building. Listed building consent must be obtained from local authorities before any alteration to a listed structure. There are about 8,500 listed buildings in Northern Ireland, divided into four grades, defined as follows: In Scotland, listing was begun by a provision in the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1947, and the current legislative basis for listing is the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997 . As with other matters regarding planning, conservation
594-463: A commitment to sharing the understanding of the historic environment and more openness in the process of designation. In 2008, a draft Heritage Protection Bill was subject to pre-legislative scrutiny before its passage through UK Parliament. The legislation was abandoned despite strong cross-party support, to make room in the parliamentary legislative programme for measures to deal with the credit crunch, though it may be revived in future. The proposal
693-478: A decorated modern carving of his coat of arms. The dining room is decorated with modern, hand-painted Chinese wallpaper, based on the 1772 painting commissioned by Alexander Hume, now in the Hong Kong Maritime Museum . The grounds have also been restored and are now surrounded by a ha-ha with a pond, all auxiliary buildings have been demolished apart from two old 'Magnetic huts' dating from
792-405: A giant battery in the atmosphere, charging up the electrosphere to about 400,000 volts with respect to the surface. This sets up an electric field throughout the atmosphere, which decreases with increase in altitude . Atmospheric ions created by cosmic rays and natural radioactivity move in the electric field, so a very small current flows through the atmosphere, even away from thunderstorms. Near
891-404: A group that is—for example, all the buildings in a square. This is called 'group value'. Sometimes large areas comprising many buildings may not justify listing but receive the looser protection of designation as a conservation area . The specific criteria include: The state of repair of a building is not generally deemed to be a relevant consideration for listing. Additionally: Although
990-451: A list of locally listed buildings as separate to the statutory list (and in addition to it). There is no statutory protection of a building or object on the local list but many receive a degree of protection from loss through being in a Conservation Area or through planning policy. Councils hope that owners will recognise the merits of their properties and keep them unaltered if at all possible. Listing began later in Northern Ireland than in
1089-403: A listed building is a criminal offence and owners can be prosecuted. A planning authority can also insist that all work undertaken without consent be reversed at the owner's expense. See also Category:Grade II* listed buildings for examples of such buildings across England and Wales. See also Category:Grade II listed buildings for examples of such buildings across England and Wales. It
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#17327728930191188-558: A listed building which involves any element of demolition. Exemption from secular listed building control is provided for some buildings in current use for worship, but only in cases where the relevant religious organisation operates its own equivalent permissions procedure. Owners of listed buildings are, in some circumstances, compelled to repair and maintain them and can face criminal prosecution if they fail to do so or if they perform unauthorised alterations. When alterations are permitted, or when listed buildings are repaired or maintained,
1287-687: A listed structure. Applications for consent are made on a form obtained from Historic Environment Scotland. After consulting the local planning authority, the owner, where possible, and an independent third party, Historic Environment Scotland makes a recommendation on behalf of the Scottish Ministers. The scheme for classifying buildings is: There are about 47,400 listed buildings in Scotland. Of these, around 8 percent (some 3,800) are Category A, 50 percent are Category B, and 42 percent are listed at Category C. Although
1386-473: A minimum around 03 UT and peaking roughly 16 hours later, were researched by the Carnegie Institution of Washington in the 20th century. This Carnegie curve variation has been described as "the fundamental electrical heartbeat of the planet". Even away from thunderstorms, atmospheric electricity can be highly variable, but, generally, the electric field is enhanced in fogs and dust whereas
1485-558: A non-statutory basis. Although a limited number of 'ancient monuments' were given protection under the Ancient Monuments Protection Act 1882 , there was reluctance to restrict the owners of occupied buildings in their actions related to their property. The extensive damage to buildings caused by German bombing during World War II prompted efforts to list and protect buildings that were deemed to be of particular architectural merit. Three hundred members of
1584-532: A process of reform, including a review of the criteria used for listing buildings. A Review of Heritage Policy in 2006 was criticised, and the Government began a process of consultation on changes to Planning Policy Guidance 15 , relating to the principles of selection for listing buildings in England. The government's White Paper "Heritage Protection for the 21st Century", published on 8 March 2007, offered
1683-519: A provision in the Town and Country Planning Act 1947 covering England and Wales, and the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1947 covering Scotland. Listing was first introduced into Northern Ireland under the Planning (Northern Ireland) Order 1972. The listing process has since developed slightly differently in each part of the UK. The process of protecting the built historic environment (i.e. getting
1782-544: A result, modern high quality mechanical watch movements have an extremely high degree of accuracy. However, no mechanical movement could ultimately compare to the accuracy of a quartz movement . Accordingly, such chronometer certification ceased in the late 1960s and early 1970s with the advent of the quartz watch movement. In 1981 the facility was returned to the Crown Estate Commissioners and reverted to its original name, "King’s Observatory". In 1985
1881-491: A secondary role, providing a high-current short-circuit path to rapidly blow fuses and render a damaged device safe, rather than have an ungrounded device with damaged insulation become "electrically live" via the grid power supply, and hazardous to touch. Each transformer in an alternating current distribution grid segments the grounding system into a new separate circuit loop. These separate grids must also be grounded on one side to prevent charge buildup within them relative to
1980-557: A single document, the National Planning Policy Framework . A consultation draft of this was published on 25 July 2011 and the final version on 27 March 2012. This became a material consideration in planning matters on publication. It has since been revised in 2018, 2019 and 2021. The Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission in England and Cadw in Wales list buildings under three grades, with Grade I being
2079-437: A speciality of the observatory until its closure. For high-altitude measurements, kites were once used, and weather balloons or aerostats are still used, to lift experimental equipment into the air. Early experimenters even went aloft themselves in hot-air balloons . Hoffert (1888) identified individual lightning downward strokes using early cameras. Elster and Geitel , who also worked on thermionic emission , proposed
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#17327728930192178-410: A theory to explain thunderstorms' electrical structure (1885) and, later, discovered atmospheric radioactivity (1899) from the existence of positive and negative ions in the atmosphere. Pockels (1897) estimated lightning current intensity by analyzing lightning flashes in basalt (c. 1900) and studying the left-over magnetic fields caused by lightning. Discoveries about the electrification of
2277-618: A wide variety of forms and types, ranging from telephone boxes and road signs, to castles. Historic England has created twenty broad categories of structures, and published selection guides for each one to aid with assessing buildings and structures. These include historical overviews and describe the special considerations for listing each category. However, in 2020, the Supreme Court ruled in Dill v Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government and another that buildings in
2376-802: Is a power devolved to the Scottish Parliament and the Scottish Government . The authority for listing rests with Historic Environment Scotland (formerly Historic Scotland ), an executive agency of the Scottish Government, which inherited this role from the Scottish Development Department in 1991. The listing system is administered by Historic Environment Scotland on behalf of the Scottish Ministers. Listed building consent must be obtained from local authorities before any alteration to
2475-463: Is always present, and during fine weather away from thunderstorms, the air above the surface of Earth is positively charged, while the Earth's surface charge is negative. This can be understood in terms of a difference of potential between a point of the Earth's surface, and a point somewhere in the air above it. Because the atmospheric electric field is negatively directed in fair weather, the convention
2574-427: Is an electrical phenomenon in which luminous plasma is created by a coronal discharge originating from a grounded object . Ball lightning is often erroneously identified as St. Elmo's Fire, whereas they are separate and distinct phenomena. Although referred to as "fire", St. Elmo's Fire is, in fact, plasma , and is observed, usually during a thunderstorm , at the tops of trees, spires or other tall objects, or on
2673-469: Is due to the space between the surface of the Earth and the conductive ionosphere acting as a waveguide . The limited dimensions of the earth cause this waveguide to act as a resonant cavity for electromagnetic waves. The cavity is naturally excited by energy from lightning strikes. Atmospheric charges can cause undesirable, dangerous, and potentially lethal charge potential buildup in suspended electric wire power distribution systems. Bare wires suspended in
2772-399: Is not a simple matter of dielectric breakdown, and the ambient electric fields required for lightning leader propagation can be a few orders of magnitude less than dielectric breakdown strength. Further, the potential gradient inside a well-developed return-stroke channel is on the order of hundreds of volts per meter or less due to intense channel ionization, resulting in a true power output on
2871-415: Is not publicly accessible, and obscuring woodlands mean that it cannot be viewed from outside the golf course, which is not open to the general public. The observatory is sometimes open to the public. The observatory was completed in 1769, in time for King George III's observation of the transit of Venus that occurred on 3 June in that year. It was located close to Richmond Lodge , the country residence of
2970-441: Is not unusual for historic sites, particularly large sites, to contain buildings with multiple, sometimes varying, designations. For example, Derwent Valley Mills , a World Heritage Site contains 838 listed buildings, made up of 16 listed at Grade I, 42 at Grade II* and 780 at Grade II. A further nine structures are Scheduled monuments . Many councils, for example, Birmingham City Council and Crawley Borough Council , maintain
3069-552: Is possible but is rare. One example is Anmer Hall in Norfolk, which was listed in 1984 and de-listed in 1988. In an emergency, the local planning authority can serve a temporary " Building Preservation Notice " (BPN), if a building is in danger of demolition or alteration in such a way that might affect its historic character. This remains in force for six months until the Secretary of State decides whether or not to formally list
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3168-413: Is to refer to the potential gradient, which has the opposite sign and is about 100 V/m at the surface, away from thunderstorms. There is a weak conduction current of atmospheric ions moving in the atmospheric electric field, about 2 picoamperes per square meter, and the air is weakly conductive due to the presence of these atmospheric ions. Global daily cycles in the atmospheric electric field, with
3267-540: The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) to deliver the government policy on the protection to historic buildings and other heritage assets. The decision about whether or not to list a building is made by the Secretary of State, although the process is administered in England by Historic England . The listed building system in Wales formerly also operated under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990, as in England, until this
3366-440: The Kew Observatory , where the first extended and comprehensive dataset of electrical and associated meteorological parameters was created. He also supplied his equipment to other facilities around the world with the goal of delineating atmospheric electricity on a global scale. Kelvin 's new water dropper collector and divided-ring electrometer were introduced at Kew Observatory in the 1860s, and atmospheric electricity remained
3465-558: The Republic of Ireland , where buildings are protected under the Planning and Development Act 2000, although the statutory term in Ireland is " protected structure ". A listed building may not be demolished, extended, or altered without permission from the local planning authority, which typically consults the relevant central government agency. In England and Wales , a national amenity society must be notified of any work to be done on
3564-701: The Royal Institute of British Architects and the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings were dispatched to prepare the list under the supervision of the Inspectorate of Ancient Monuments, with funding from the Treasury. The listings were used as a means to determine whether a particular building should be rebuilt if it was damaged by bombing, with varying degrees of success. In Scotland,
3663-634: The Solar System . This radiation interacts with atoms in the atmosphere to create an air shower of secondary ionising radiation, including X-rays , muons , protons , alpha particles , pions , and electrons . Ionization from this secondary radiation ensures that the atmosphere is weakly conductive, and the slight current flow from these ions over the Earth's surface balances the current flow from thunderstorms. Ions have characteristic parameters such as mobility , lifetime, and generation rate that vary with altitude . The potential difference between
3762-932: The United Kingdom , a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England , Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland , Cadw in Wales , and the Historic Environment Division of the Department for Communities in Northern Ireland . The classification schemes differ between England and Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland (see sections below). The term has also been used in
3861-472: The University of Oxford ) and his elder sister. The picture, painted when they were aged four and seven, shows them in a park landscape with the observatory (where their father was observer) in the background. Although described here as Richmond Park , topographical considerations make it more likely that the park portrayed is Old Deer Park, where the observatory is situated. Listed building In
3960-428: The electrical charges in the Earth's atmosphere (or that of another planet ). The movement of charge between the Earth's surface, the atmosphere, and the ionosphere is known as the global atmospheric electrical circuit . Atmospheric electricity is an interdisciplinary topic with a long history, involving concepts from electrostatics , atmospheric physics , meteorology and Earth science . Thunderstorms act as
4059-459: The electrometer . Saussure found that the atmospheric electrification under clear weather conditions had an annual variation, and that it also varied with height. In 1785, Coulomb discovered the electrical conductivity of air. His discovery was contrary to the prevailing thought at the time, that the atmospheric gases were insulators (which they are to some extent, or at least not very good conductors when not ionized ). Erman (1804) theorized that
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4158-524: The ionosphere and the Earth is maintained by thunderstorms , with lightning strikes delivering negative charges from the atmosphere to the ground. Collisions between ice and soft hail (graupel) inside cumulonimbus clouds causes separation of positive and negative charges within the cloud, essential for the generation of lightning. How lightning initially forms is still a matter of debate: Scientists have studied root causes ranging from atmospheric perturbations (wind, humidity, and atmospheric pressure ) to
4257-558: The 2008 draft legislation was abandoned, Historic England (then part of English Heritage) published a single list of all designated heritage assets within England in 2011. The National Heritage List for England is an online searchable database which includes 400,000 English Listings, this includes individual listed buildings, groups of multiple listed buildings which share the same listing, scheduled monuments, registered parks and gardens, protected historic wrecks and registered battlefields and World Heritage Sites in one place. The 400,000 in
4356-763: The DCLG published Planning Policy Statement 5 , "Planning for the Historic Environment". This replaced PPG15 and set out the government's national policies on the conservation of the historic environment in England. PPS5 was supported by a Practice Guide, endorsed by the DCLG, the DCMS, and English Heritage, which explained how to apply the policies stated in PPS5. In December 2010, the Department for Communities and Local Government announced that in England all PPSs and Planning Policy Guidance Notes would be replaced by
4455-419: The Earth was negatively charged, and Peltier (1842) tested and confirmed Erman's idea. Several researchers contributed to the growing body of knowledge about atmospheric electrical phenomena. Francis Ronalds began observing the potential gradient and air-earth currents around 1810, including making continuous automated recordings . He resumed his research in the 1840s as the inaugural Honorary Director of
4554-665: The Firestone demolition, the Secretary of State for the Environment , Michael Heseltine , also initiated a complete re-survey of buildings to ensure that everything that merited preservation was on the lists. In England, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) works with Historic England (an agency of the DCMS), and other government departments, e.g. Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) and
4653-519: The Government's Heritage Protection Reform (HPR) report in July 2003 by the DCMS, entitled "Protecting our historic environment: Making the system work better", asked questions about how the current designation systems could be improved. The HPR decision report "Review of Heritage Protection: The Way Forward", a green paper published in June 2004 by the DCMS, committed the UK government and English Heritage to
4752-466: The Met Office to assist in understanding the weather was equipped with his cameras – some of these remained in use at Kew until the observatory's closure in 1980. Ronalds also established a sophisticated atmospheric electricity observing system at Kew with a long copper rod protruding through the dome of the observatory and a suite of novel electrometers and electrographs to manually record
4851-696: The UK's architectural heritage; England alone has 14,500 listed places of worship (4,000 Grade I, 4,500 Grade II* and 6,000 Grade II) and 45% of all Grade I listed buildings are places of worship. Some of the listed churches are no longer in use; between 1969 and 2010, some 1,795 churches were closed by the Church of England , equalling roughly 11% of the stock, with about a third listed as Grade I or Grade II. The criteria for listing include architectural interest, historic interest and close historical associations with significant people or events. Buildings not individually noteworthy may still be listed if they form part of
4950-404: The actual performance of the movement. A movement with a Bulletin de Marche from an observatory became known as an Observatory Chronometer , and was issued a chronometer reference number by the observatory. The role of the observatories in assessing the accuracy of mechanical timepieces was instrumental in driving the mechanical watchmaking industry toward higher and higher levels of accuracy. As
5049-409: The air spanning many kilometers and isolated from the ground can collect very large stored charges at high voltage, even when there is no thunderstorm or lightning occurring. This charge will seek to discharge itself through the path of least insulation, which can occur when a person reaches out to activate a power switch or to use an electric device. To dissipate atmospheric charge buildup, one side of
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#17327728930195148-549: The architectural and historic interest. The Secretary of State, who may seek additional advice from others, then decides whether to list or delist the building. In England, the authority for listing is granted to the Secretary of State by the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 . Listed buildings in danger of decay are listed on the Historic England 'Heritage at Risk' Register . In 1980, there
5247-537: The atmosphere is never quite neutral. Sparks drawn from electrical machines and from Leyden jars suggested to early experimenters Hauksbee , Newton , Wall, Nollet , and Gray that lightning was caused by electric discharges. In 1708, Dr. William Wall was one of the first to observe that spark discharges resembled miniature lightning, after observing the sparks from a charged piece of amber . Benjamin Franklin 's experiments showed that electrical phenomena of
5346-443: The atmosphere via sensitive electrical instruments and ideas on how the Earth's negative charge is maintained were developed mainly in the 20th century, with CTR Wilson playing an important part. Current research on atmospheric electricity focuses mainly on lightning, particularly high-energy particles and transient luminous events, and the role of non-thunderstorm electrical processes in weather and climate. Atmospheric electricity
5445-480: The atmosphere were not fundamentally different from those produced in the laboratory , by listing many similarities between electricity and lightning. By 1749, Franklin observed lightning to possess almost all the properties observable in electrical machines. In July 1750, Franklin hypothesized that electricity could be taken from clouds via a tall metal aerial with a sharp point. Before Franklin could carry out his experiment, in 1752 Thomas-François Dalibard erected
5544-403: The atmosphere, and its diurnal variation. Beccaria (1775) confirmed Lemonnier's diurnal variation data and determined that the atmosphere's charge polarity was positive in fair weather. Saussure (1779) recorded data relating to a conductor's induced charge in the atmosphere. Saussure's instrument (which contained two small spheres suspended in parallel with two thin wires) was a precursor to
5643-504: The atmospheric electrical conductivity is diminished. The atmospheric potential gradient leads to an ion flow from the positively charged atmosphere to the negatively charged earth surface. Over a flat field on a day with clear skies, the atmospheric potential gradient is approximately 120 V/m. Objects protruding these fields, e.g. flowers and trees, can increase the electric field strength to several kilovolts per meter. These near-surface electrostatic forces are detected by organisms such as
5742-557: The building. Until the passing of the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013 an application for a Certificate of Immunity from Listing (CoI) could only be made if planning permission was being sought or had been obtained in England. However, the changes brought about by the Act means that now anyone can ask the Secretary of State to issue a Certificate of Immunity in respect of a particular building at any time. In England and Wales,
5841-449: The bumblebee to navigate to flowers and the spider to initiate dispersal by ballooning . The atmospheric potential gradient is also thought to affect sub-surface electro-chemistry and microbial processes. On the other hand, swarming insects and birds can be a source of biogenic charge in the atmosphere, likely contributing to a source of electrical variability in the atmosphere. The electrosphere layer (from tens of kilometers above
5940-625: The closure of the Observatory. These measurements, which complement those of the Kelvin electrograph, were made on fine days at 1500 GMT. Beyond their applications in atmospheric electricity, the electrograph and Wilson apparatus have been shown to be useful for reconstructing past air pollution changes. In the early 1850s, the facility began performing a role in assessing and rating barometers , thermometers , chronometers , watches, sextants and other scientific instruments for accuracy; this duty
6039-600: The data. He supplied this equipment to facilities in England, Spain, France, Italy, India ( Colaba and Trivandrum ) and the Arctic with the goal of delineating atmospheric electricity on a global scale. At Kew, two-hourly data was recorded in the Reports of the British Association between 1844 and 1847. An entirely new system, providing continuous automatic recording, was installed by Lord Kelvin personally in
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#17327728930196138-407: The decision to list a building may be made on the basis of the architectural or historic interest of one small part of the building, the listing protection nevertheless applies to the whole building. Listing applies not just to the exterior fabric of the building itself, but also to the interior, fixtures, fittings, and objects within the curtilage of the building even if they are not fixed. De-listing
6237-543: The early 1860s. This device, based on Kelvin's water dropper potential equaliser with photographic recording, was known as the Kew electrograph. It provided the backbone of a long and almost continuous series of potential gradient measurements which finished in 1980. A secondary system of measurement, operating on different principles, was designed and implemented by the Nobel laureate CTR Wilson , from which records begin in 1906 until
6336-490: The electrical distribution system is connected to the earth at many points throughout the distribution system, as often as on every support pole . The one earth-connected wire is commonly referred to as the "protective earth", and provides path for the charge potential to dissipate without causing damage, and provides redundancy in case any one of the ground paths is poor due to corrosion or poor ground conductivity. The additional electric grounding wire that carries no power serves
6435-426: The ground. The voltage tears apart the air molecules and the gas begins to glow. The nitrogen and oxygen in the Earth's atmosphere causes St. Elmo's Fire to fluoresce with blue or violet light; this is similar to the mechanism that causes neon signs to glow. The Schumann resonances are a set of spectrum peaks in the extremely low frequency (ELF) portion of the Earth's electromagnetic field spectrum. Schumann resonance
6534-756: The grounds of the Royal Mid-Surrey Golf Club , which is part of the Old Deer Park of the former Richmond Palace in Richmond , historically in Surrey and now in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames . The former royal manor of Kew lies to the immediate north. The observatory grounds overlie to the south the site of the former Sheen Priory , the Carthusian monastery established by King Henry V in 1414. The observatory
6633-440: The heads of animals, as a brush or star of light. Corona is caused by the electric field around the object in question ionizing the air molecules, producing a faint glow easily visible in low-light conditions. Approximately 1,000 – 30,000 volts per centimeter is required to induce St. Elmo's Fire; however, this is dependent on the geometry of the object in question. Sharp points tend to require lower voltage levels to produce
6732-602: The highest grade, as follows: There was formerly a non-statutory Grade III , which was abolished in 1970. Additionally, Grades A, B and C were used mainly for Anglican churches in active use, loosely corresponding to Grades I, II and III. These grades were used mainly before 1977, although a few buildings are still listed using these grades. In 2010, listed buildings accounted for about 2% of English building stock. In March 2010, there were about 374,000 list entries, of which 92% were Grade II, 5.5% were Grade II* and 2.5% were Grade I. Places of worship are an important part of
6831-548: The impact of solar wind and energetic particles. An average bolt of lightning carries a negative electric current of 40 kiloamperes (kA) (although some bolts can be up to 120 kA), and transfers a charge of five coulombs and energy of 500 MJ , or enough energy to power a 100-watt lightbulb for just under two months. The voltage depends on the length of the bolt, with the dielectric breakdown of air being three million volts per meter, and lightning bolts often being several hundred meters long. However, lightning leader development
6930-410: The listing should not be confused with the actual number of listed buildings, which will be much larger than the listing, because a listing can include more than one building that share the same listing number. The legislative frameworks for each type of historic asset remains unchanged. A photographic library of English listed buildings was started in 1999 as a snapshot of buildings listed at the turn of
7029-536: The management of listed buildings is the responsibility of local planning authorities and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (i.e., not DCMS, which originally listed the building). There is a general principle that listed buildings are put to 'appropriate and viable use' and recognition that this may involve the re-use and modification of the building. However, listed buildings cannot be modified without first obtaining Listed Building Consent through
7128-516: The millennium. This is not an up-to-date record of all listed buildings in England – the listing status and descriptions are only correct as at February 2001. The photographs were taken between 1999 and 2008. It is maintained by the Historic England archive at the Images of England project website. The National Heritage List for England contains the up-to-date list of listed buildings. Atmospheric electricity Atmospheric electricity describes
7227-458: The observatory was refurbished and transformed into commercial offices; new brick buildings were added. From 1986 to 2011 it was used by Autoglass (now Belron ) as their UK head office. Since 1989 the lease has been held by Robbie Brothers of Kew Holdings Limited. In 2014 Richmond upon Thames London Borough Council granted planning permission for the observatory to be used as a private single family dwelling. In 1999, landscape architect Kim Wilkie
7326-704: The observatory, says: "His Majesty the King who made his observation with a Shorts reflecting telescope, magnifying Diameters 170 Times, was the first to view the Penumbra of Venus touching the Edge of the Sun's Disk. The exact mean time (according to civil Reckoning) was attended to by Stephen Demainbray, appointed to take exact time by Shelton's Regulator, previously regulated by several astronomical observations." Francis Ronalds invented many meteorological, magnetic and electrical instruments at Kew, which saw long-term use around
7425-499: The order of megawatts per meter for a vigorous return-stroke current of 100 kA . If the quantity of water that is condensed in and subsequently precipitated from a cloud is known, then the total energy of a thunderstorm can be calculated. In an average thunderstorm, the energy released amounts to about 10,000,000 kilowatt-hours (3.6 × 10 joule ), which is equivalent to a 20-kiloton nuclear warhead . A large, severe thunderstorm might be 10 to 100 times more energetic. St. Elmo's Fire
7524-671: The owners are often required to use specific materials or techniques. Although most sites appearing on the lists are buildings, other structures such as bridges, monuments, sculptures, war memorials, milestones and mileposts , and the Abbey Road zebra crossing made famous by the Beatles , are also listed. Ancient, military, and uninhabited structures, such as Stonehenge , are sometimes instead classified as scheduled monuments and are protected by separate legislation. Cultural landscapes such as parks and gardens are currently "listed" on
7623-417: The owners collection of Japanese ceramics and has an upper gallery installed by the Met Office with an Art Deco balustrade. The library octagon retains the octagonal Autoglass board table with a model of the site before restoration. The two side rooms have lost original features apart from their windows. The lounge has been restored as a Georgian room with two large portraits of George III and Queen Charlotte and
7722-577: The process slightly predated the war with the Marquess of Bute (in his connections to the National Trust for Scotland ) commissioning the architect Ian Lindsay in September 1936 to survey 103 towns and villages based on an Amsterdam model using three categories (A, B and C). The basis of the current more comprehensive listing process was developed from the wartime system. It was enacted by
7821-539: The relevant local planning authority. In Wales, applications are made using a form obtained from the relevant local authority. There is no provision for consent to be granted in outline. When a local authority is disposed to grant listed building consent, it must first notify the Welsh Parliament ( i.e. Cadw ) of the application. If the planning authority decides to refuse consent, it may do so without any reference to Cadw. Carrying out unauthorised works to
7920-571: The responsibility for the listing process rests with the Historic Environment Division of the Department for Communities , which took over the built heritage functions of the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (formerly the Environment and Heritage Service) following the break up of the Department of the Environment. Following the introduction of listing, an initial survey of Northern Ireland's building stock
8019-579: The rest of the UK: the first provision for listing was contained in the Planning (Northern Ireland) Order 1972; and the current legislative basis for listing is the Planning (Northern Ireland) Order 1991. Under Article 42 of the Order, the relevant Department of the Northern Ireland Executive is required to compile lists of buildings of "special architectural or historic interest". Since 2016,
8118-698: The royal family between 1764 and 1771. In 1842, the by then empty building was taken on by the British Association for the Advancement of Science and became widely known as the Kew Observatory. Francis Ronalds was the inaugural Honorary Director for the next decade and founded the observatory's enduring reputation. Responsibility for the facility was transferred to the Royal Society in 1871. The National Physical Laboratory
8217-408: The same result because electric fields are more concentrated in areas of high curvature, thus discharges are more intense at the end of pointed objects. St. Elmo's Fire and normal sparks both can appear when high electrical voltage affects a gas. St. Elmo's fire is seen during thunderstorms when the ground below the storm is electrically charged, and there is high voltage in the air between the cloud and
8316-456: The scheme must meet certain criteria – "a three-fold test which involved considering size, permanence and degree of physical attachment" – referred to as the Skerritts test in reference to a previous legal case in England. Both Historic Environment Scotland and Cadw produce guidance for owners. In England, to have a building considered for listing or delisting, the process is to apply to
8415-413: The secretary of state; this can be done by submitting an application form online to Historic England . The applicant does not need to be the owner of the building to apply for it to be listed. Full information including application form guidance notes are on the Historic England website. Historic England assesses buildings put forward for listing or delisting and provides advice to the Secretary of State on
8514-648: The surface of the Earth to the ionosphere) has a high electrical conductivity and is essentially at a constant electric potential. The ionosphere is the inner edge of the magnetosphere and is the part of the atmosphere that is ionized by solar radiation. ( Photoionization is a physical process in which a photon is incident on an atom, ion or molecule, resulting in the ejection of one or more electrons.) The Earth, and almost all living things on it, are constantly bombarded by radiation from outer space. This radiation primarily consists of positively charged ions from protons to iron and larger nuclei derived sources outside
8613-432: The surface of the Earth, the magnitude of the field is on average around 100 V/m, oriented such that it drives positive charges down. Atmospheric electricity involves both thunderstorms , which create lightning bolts to rapidly discharge huge amounts of atmospheric charge stored in storm clouds, and the continual electrification of the air due to ionization from cosmic rays and natural radioactivity , which ensure that
8712-595: The time of the NPL. The Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology in Oxford has a portrait, Peter Rigaud and Mary Anne Rigaud , by the 18th-century painter John Francis Rigaud . His portrait of his nephew and niece, exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1778, shows Stephen Peter Rigaud (1774–1839) (who became a mathematical historian and astronomer, and Savilian Chair of Geometry and Savilian Professor of Astronomy at
8811-506: The world. These included the first successful cameras in 1845 to record the variations of parameters such as atmospheric pressure , temperature, humidity , atmospheric electricity and geomagnetism through the day and night. His photo- barograph was used by Robert Fitzroy from 1862 in making the UK's first official weather forecasts at the Meteorological Office . The network of observing stations set-up in 1867 by
8910-564: Was begun in 1974. By the time of the completion of this First Survey in 1994, the listing process had developed considerably, and it was therefore decided to embark upon a Second Survey, which is still ongoing, to update and cross-check the original information. Information gathered during this survey, relating to both listed and unlisted buildings, is entered into the publicly accessible Northern Ireland Buildings Database. A range of listing criteria, which aim to define architectural and historic interest, are used to determine whether or not to list
9009-418: Was commissioned to prepare a master plan linking the observatory's Grade I landscape to Kew Gardens , Syon Park and Richmond . These proposals were accepted by Kew Holdings Limited. The basement and first floors are now family rooms, bedrooms and kitchen. The two octagon rooms retain their original cabinets. The entrance octagon room originally would have housed George III's scientific instruments but displays
9108-528: Was established there in 1900 and from 1910 it housed the Meteorological Office . The Met Office closed the observatory in 1980. The geomagnetic instruments had already been relocated to Eskdalemuir Observatory in Dumfries and Galloway , Scotland in 1908 after the advent of electrification in London led to interference with their operations. A contemporary report by Stephen Demainbray , the superintendent of
9207-490: Was public outcry at the sudden destruction of the art deco Firestone Tyre Factory ( Wallis, Gilbert and Partners , 1928–29). It was demolished over the August bank holiday weekend by its owners Trafalgar House , who had been told that it was likely to be 'spot-listed' a few days later. In response, the government undertook to review arrangements for listing buildings in order to protect worthy ones from such demolition. After
9306-410: Was repeated by Romas, who drew from a metallic string sparks 9 feet (2.7 m) long, and by Cavallo , who made many important observations on atmospheric electricity. Lemonnier (1752) also reproduced Franklin's experiment with an aerial, but substituted the ground wire with some dust particles (testing attraction). He went on to document the fair weather condition , the clear-day electrification of
9405-507: Was replaced in 2024 with Wales-specific heritage legislation. In Wales, the authority for listing is granted to the Welsh Ministers by section 76 of the Historic Environment (Wales) Act 2023, although the listing system is in practice administered by Cadw . There have been several attempts to simplify the heritage planning process for listed buildings in England. As of 2021, few changes had been implemented. The review process
9504-572: Was started in February 2000 by Alan Howarth , then minister at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). The outcome was the paper "Power of Place" in December 2000, followed by the subsequent policy document "The Historic Environment: A Force for Our Future", published by the DCMS and the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions (DTLR) in December 2001. The launch of
9603-415: Was tested in five positions and two temperatures, in ten series of four or five days each. The tolerances for error were much finer than any other standard, including the modern COSC standard. Movements that passed the stringent tests were issued a certification from the observatory called a Bulletin de Marche, signed by the directeur of the observatory. The Bulletin de Marche stated the testing criteria and
9702-696: Was that the existing registers of buildings, parks and gardens, archaeology and battlefields, maritime wrecks, and World Heritage Sites be merged into a single online register that will "explain what is special and why". English Heritage would become directly responsible for identifying historic assets in England and there would be wider consultation with the public and asset owners, and new rights of appeal. There would have been streamlined systems for granting consent for work on historic assets. After several years of consultation with heritage groups, charities, local planning authorities, and English Heritage, in March 2010,
9801-723: Was transferred to the National Physical Laboratory in 1910. An instrument which passed the tests was awarded a "Kew Certificate", a hallmark of excellence. As marine navigation adopted the use of mechanical timepieces, their accuracy became more important. The need for precision resulted in the development of a testing regime involving various astronomical observatories. In Europe, Neuchâtel Observatory , Geneva Observatory , Besançon Astronomical Observatory and Kew were examples of prominent observatories that tested timepiece movements for accuracy. The testing process lasted for many days, typically 45. Each movement
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