I couldn't very well leave 2023 on an odd number of World Heritage Sites, so I took my car out for a two and a half hour drive today to the nearest World Heritage Site I had yet to visit: Jodrell Bank Observatory. The United Kingdom is replete with astronomical-associated World Heritage Sites, with perhaps the most complete range across history of any country, from Stonehenge and Avebury in the Neolithic, to Maritime Greenwich's Royal Observatory in the 18th and 19th centuries, to Jodrell Bank Observatory covering the mid to late 20th century. But the history of the site has been well-documented in other reviews, so I won't repeat it here. What's new is the visitor center, which opened in 2022, so I'll speak to that.

The First Light Pavilion is a low grassy dome, meant to represent the parabolic dish of the Lovell telescope, though it also seemed to evoke the passage tombs of Maeshowe in Neolithic Orkney and Newgrange in Brú na Bóinne. A thin glass window on the front wall of the pavilion serves as a sort of sun dial, given the day is sunny. It was not. The window is also aligned with Polaris, which was evident in a long-exposure night shot of the sky above the pavilion on display in the Space Pavilion closer to the telescope.

Within the First Light Pavilion there is a movie theater and an exhibition hall, as well as a cafe and an interactive kid's area. I started off in the theater with a short free film about Jodrell Bank, which was visually appealing, but low on content. I followed up with one of the 30-minute paid movies displayed on the curved ceiling; the film was better suited for children, and, while pleasant, was rather forgettable.

The highlight for me was the exhibition hall, which was full of excellent interactive displays explaining radio astronomy, as well as why Bernard Lovell chose to set up his research in the countryside beyond Manchester. I spent a lot of time going through the displays, and gained a decent understanding of who Lovell was, the challenges he faced in keeping his research economically solvent, and the importance of Jodrell Bank for the Space Race during the Cold War. The exhibits included audio clips by Lovell about his time at the site, and video clips by Jodrell bank astronomers about their research into galaxies and pulsars, amongst other subjects. I was particularly amused by the exhibit on Jodrell Bank in popular culture, since it included video footage of the 2019 World Heritage Committee meeting in which Jodrell Bank was inscribed -- that's the first time I can recall such footage on display at a World Heritage Site! There were a lot of families wandering through the exhibition hall, which made it a bit of a wait to see some of the exhibits, but the interactive displays were worth the wait, and well thought out to appeal to all ages.

As Squiffy noted in his excellent review, the First Light Pavilion is outside the core zone of the World Heritage Site, but it is well ensconced in Jodrell Bank's enormous buffer zone. After visiting the pavilion, I strolled over to the core zone for a close-up view of the Lovell telescope, but I don't think I have anything new to add that hasn't been better stated below. In general, I'm pleased this site was inscribed, since I enjoy astronomy, and Jodrell Bank has played a significant role in the development of radio astronomy. It's also good to see 20th century scientific achievements recognized, and I still hope for future World Heritage Sites covering early aviation and the Space Race. All in all, my visit to Jodrell Bank made for an enjoyable way to end 2023.

Logistics: Unless you can find a way to chaperone a school group, you'll likely need to find private transportation to get to Jodrell Bank. The £4 parking fee is still in effect, but the price of a general admission ticket as of 2023 is now £12. Since this is a working site, visitors are strongly advised to put their cell phones on airplane mode or to turn them off, to avoid interference with the research.