The camera obscura building
The view of
Aberystwyth harbor from the hill
The
view down the cliff railway |
A camera obscura was located at Aberystwyth Castle in about
1880 and rebuilt on Constitution Hill, above the harbor in around 1896.
It had disappeared by the 1920s.The present camera obscura, opened in 1985,
is located in a two-story octagonal tower near the site of the Victorian
building.
We learned about the modern camera obscura at Aberystwyth on the Internet
and were really excited about our first visit to Wales. Because of travel
arrangements our time in Wales was very tight and there was no room for
problems. Of course we had problems. We arrived in the late afternoon
on one day, spent the night in a hotel, planned to spend the following
day at the camera obscura, then take a late afternoon train to make connections
for our flight the morning after to the Isle of Man. Because of the TT
motorcycle races we had no flexibility in our plane schedule so it was
important that everything happen with clockwork precision.
We arrived on an overcast but dry day and walked along the beach front
to the ruined castle. We did not know the location of the camera obscura
but planned to ask at our hotel. Walking back down the front away from
the castle we looked up and there it was! Above a small, almost perpendicular
railway high on the cliff top we could see the camera obscura building.
At the Victorian station and ticket office for the cliff railway we learned
the hour it began operation in the morning and were there well before
starting time. The ride up the cliff was a bit scary but interesting
as we were pulled up the steep incline to the top which we found covered
in a thick mist. We had coffee in the lunch room at the top and waited
for the mist to clear.
Time passed and things did not get much clearer so we paid our admission
and went into the camera obscura and were allowed to turn on the lights
so we could photograph the table and apparatus. The view on the table
was of soft white fuzz. We thought we could see a little brighter area
that might be sky but it could have been an illusion. We spent some time
in the upper levels of the building which had observation decks (nothing
to see except the inside of the clouds all around) and an exhibition
on camera obscuras (much faded by time) and in talking to the very friendly
young man in the gift shop. He suggested that we might go back down the
cliff and have lunch in town and come back in the afternoon when the
heavy mist had cleared. After checking the schedule of the train we found
that we would have a very small window of opportunity to get back up,
spend about 30 minutes in the camera obscura and get back down the hill
to make it to the station for our train. We again were impressed by the
helpfulness of the Welsh people when the man in the railway office offered
to give us free passes for our return trip and call a taxi to meet us
when we came back down. We had a nice lunch and returned to find that
the mist was indeed gone and we could see the cliff top clearly.
Success, we thought, but no, when we returned we found the view on
the table just as soft and misty as it had been. *Read
update below* Why?
The seal on the lens assembly was not good at that time and when the
weather was very
damp it got inside and condensation formed on the lens.We were told that
someone was blowing on the lens with a hair dryer and hoped to clear
it. We waited as long as we could but had to give up and go back down
the incline railroad to catch our train. This was the greatest disappointment
of the trip!
*Important Update* We
later received an e-mail from the manager of the Aberystwyth camera obscura
telling
us that the lens had been repaired and the faded pictures in the exhibition
have been replaced. This is welcome news and increases our eagerness
to return to Wales for a visit. We liked Wales and the Welsh people we
met very much and hope to go back to spend more time and see the view
from the camera obscura on Constitution Hill. |
