NavList:

My first post here, and ironically not directly related to celestial navigation.

The Admiralty Compass Observatory ultimately found its way into what became the Admiralty Research Establishment.

During 1990 - 1991 I was a civilian contractor/consultant involved in commercializing the operations of the ARE and the establishment of its successor, the Defence Research Agency, which ultimately was merged with the equivalents from other branches of service to form the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency in 1995.  It was the vision of the government of the time that the services provided should be put on a commercial footing and ultimately had the potential to be sold off to private enterprise - as happened in part.  In addition to my work with ARE I also spent time at Farnborough (Royal Aerospace Establishment) and at Malvern (Royal Radar Establishment).  Most of my time with the ARE was at Postdown Hill and my office had a beautiful view over the harbour (Postmouth) and the Solent.  I cannot add any information about the Admiralty Compass Observatory - the successor of which was at a different site which I think had closed by the time of my involvement. 

30 years later, and having lived in the U.S. for more than half that time, it is funny how this project still comes up in my life from time to time.