I would like the County Council to consider the addition of the Latitude and Longitude stone at Waterville Cable Station to the list of protected structures.
Address: Waterville Cable Station, Waterville
Description: Longitude and Latitude Stone
Special Interest: Historical, Scientific and Technical
Appraisal:
This memorial stone was erected by Commercial Cable Company Waterville Cable Station to record the Latitude and Longitude of Waterville which was determined in 1892 as part of the great scientific endeveavour undertaken by McGill Observatory, Montreal and the Royal Observatory Greenwich to determine the longitude of Montreal directly from Greenwich. Waterville Cable station played an active part in this work which took advantage of the improved cable technology at the time. An accurate determination of Montreal was signficiant because McGill Observatory was the time base station for Canada. Not only that but the result of this work led to a more accurate longitude determination of Harvard. McGill also provided time signals for as far afield as Bermuda, Jamaica, Australia & the Azores so this work had an effect right across the globe!
The stone was lost for several decades but was restored to Waterville Cable Station in 2013 when it was unveiled by Jimmy Deenihan, Minister for Arts, Heritage and Gaeltacht and visited by Canadian Ambassador Loyola Hearn.