Pilgrimage

This is St Michael's Church in Much Hoole near Preston. Jeremiah Horrocks was a young curate here as well as being something of a self-taught genius. He calculated a transit of Venus across the face of the Sun in 1639 and managed to observe it from a house located only a few hundred yards from the church. The house is now a private residence and shielded from the road by trees. The church has a commemorative stained glass panel and atop the tower is a gilded Sun with the positions of Venus as it would have appeared shown across its disc. You can just about see this on the photo. The sundial is interesting too!
Sadly Horrocks died at the age of 21 or 22 so his full genius was never fulfilled.