A friend of mine just pointed this out to me. If anyone will be near this point some time in the future to get more accurate coordinates, this would make a great virtual cache. Brian Cluff Team Snaptek # From Peter Ilieve (1994-07-06): # # On 17 Jan 1994 the Independent, a UK quality newspaper, had a piece about # historical vistas along the Thames in west London. There was a photo # and a sketch map showing some of the sightlines involved. One paragraph # of the text said: # # `An old stone obelisk marking a forgotten terrestrial meridian stands # beside the river at Kew. In the 18th century, before time and longitude # was standardised by the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, scholars observed # this stone and the movement of stars from Kew Observatory nearby. They # made their calculations and set the time for the Horse Guards and Parliament, # but now the stone is obscured by scrubwood and can only be seen by walking # along the towpath within a few yards of it.' # # I have a one inch to one mile map of London and my estimate of the stone's # position is 51 deg. 28' 30" N, 0 deg. 18' 45" W. The longitude should # be within about +-2". The Ordnance Survey grid reference is TQ172761. # # [This yields GMTOFF = -0:01:15 for London LMT in the 18th century.]