Longwood is a settlement and a

district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...

of the British island of

Saint Helena Saint Helena () is a British overseas territory located in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is a remote volcanic tropical island west of the coast of south-western Africa, and east of Rio de Janeiro in South America. It is one of three constitu ...

in the South Atlantic Ocean.

Description

In 2021, Longwood had a population of 765, compared with a population of 960 in 1998. The area of the district is . The district is second only in size to Blue Hill, and includes the settlement of Hutt's Gate, with its St Matthew's church. The district also contains the island's only

golf course A golf course is the grounds on which the sport of golf is played. It consists of a series of holes, each consisting of a tee box, a fairway, the rough and other hazards, and a green with a cylindrical hole in the ground, known as a "cup". Th ...

. The district contains Prosperous Bay Plain, which is where

Saint Helena Airport Saint Helena Airport is an international airport on Saint Helena, a remote island in the south Atlantic Ocean, in the British Overseas Territory of Saint Helena, Ascension, and Tristan da Cunha. The construction of the runway was finishe ...

and the Millennium Forest is located. There is a weather recording station in the Longwood district. Readings of temperature, air pressure and visibility are automatically taken and communicated every three hours.

History

Observatories

On leaving the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

, in 1676,

Edmond Halley Edmond (or Edmund) Halley (; – ) was an English astronomer, mathematician and physicist. He was the second Astronomer Royal in Britain, succeeding John Flamsteed in 1720. From an observatory he constructed on Saint Helena in 1676–77, H ...

visited Saint Helena and set up an observatory with a

aerial telescope An aerial telescope is a type of very long focal length refracting telescope, built in the second half of the 17th century, that did not use a tube. Instead, the objective was mounted on a pole, tree, tower, building or other structure on a swivel ...

with the intention of studying

star A star is an astronomical object comprising a luminous spheroid of plasma (physics), plasma held together by its gravity. The List of nearest stars and brown dwarfs, nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked ...

s from the Southern Hemisphere. The site of this telescope is near St Matthew's church in the district. The hill there is named for him and is called Halley's Mount. Halley's Observatory was in use from 1677–1678. Having returned to England in 1678, Halley published ''Catalogus Stellarum Australium'' in 1679, which included details of 341 southern stars. These additions to present-day star maps earned him comparison to

Tycho Brahe Tycho Brahe ( ; born Tyge Ottesen Brahe; generally called Tycho (14 December 154624 October 1601) was a Danish astronomer, known for his comprehensive astronomical observations, generally considered to be the most accurate of his time. He was k ...

. Halley was subsequently awarded his Master's from Oxford and Fellowship of the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

. In 1686, Halley published the second part of the results from his Helenian expedition, being a paper and chart on

trade winds The trade winds or easterlies are the permanent east-to-west prevailing winds that flow in the Earth's equatorial region. The trade winds blow mainly from the northeast in the Northern Hemisphere and from the southeast in the Southern Hemisph ...

and

monsoon A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annual latitudinal oscil ...

s. In this, he identified solar heating as the cause of

atmospheric An atmosphere () is a layer of gas or layers of gases that envelop a planet, and is held in place by the gravity of the planetary body. A planet retains an atmosphere when the gravity is great and the temperature of the atmosphere is low. A s ...

motions. He also established the relationship between

barometric pressure Atmospheric pressure, also known as barometric pressure (after the barometer), is the pressure within the atmosphere of Earth. The standard atmosphere (symbol: atm) is a unit of pressure defined as , which is equivalent to 1013.25 millibars, 7 ...

and height

above sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as ''orthometric heights''. The comb ...

. His charts were an important contribution to the emerging field of

information visualisation Data and information visualization (data viz or info viz) is an interdisciplinary field that deals with the graphic representation of data and information. It is a particularly efficient way of communicating when the data or information is nu ...

. Future Astronomer

Nevil Maskelyne Nevil Maskelyne (; 6 October 1732 – 9 February 1811) was the fifth British Astronomer Royal. He held the office from 1765 to 1811. He was the first person to scientifically measure the mass of the planet Earth. He created the ''British Nau ...

visited Saint Helena in 1761 to observe a transit of Venus and built an observatory near the site of Halley's from the previous century. In the 19th/early 20th centuries, an observatory (in use 1840–1849) was situated in Longwood village and two further observatories were erected in the Hutt's Gate area: one in use from 1892–1924 and the second in use from 1925–1975.

Napoleon

Longwood was the location of

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

's second exile, from 1815 until his death on 5 May 1821. France owns Briars Pavilion, Napoleon's initial exile residence,

Longwood House Longwood House is a mansion in St. Helena and the final residence of Napoleon Bonaparte, the former Emperor of the French, during his exile on the island of Saint Helena, from 10 December 1815 until his death on 5 May 1821. History Longwoo ...

and its properties, where he lived during most of his time on the island, and his original grave, but the United Kingdom retains ultimate

sovereignty Sovereignty is the defining authority within individual consciousness, social construct, or territory. Sovereignty entails hierarchy within the state, as well as external autonomy for states. In any state, sovereignty is assigned to the perso ...

over these properties. Napoleon's main physician,

Barry O'Meara Barry Edward O'Meara (1786–1836), born in Newtown House, Newtown-on-Sea (now known as Blackrock), Dublin, was an Irish surgeon and founding member of the Reform Club, who accompanied Napoleon to Saint Helena and became his physician, having bee ...

, wrote letters describing the issues of Napoleon and his entourage while in captivity, and sent them clandestinely to a friend at the Admiralty in London. Visite, pg417 Distanz view of Longwood, St. Helena.jpg, Landscape around Longwood House MELLISS(1875) THE ROOM IN WICH NAPOLEON DIED AT LONGWOOD.jpg, The room in which Napoleon died NETSCHER(1838) p027 HET HUIS TE LONGWOOD.jpg, Longwood House in 1837 LOCKWOOD(1840) p049.jpg, Night view of Napoleon's exhumation in October 1837

Geography and climate

As opposed to the hot and arid Jamestown being near sea level, Longwood is located about 500 metres above sea level. Being one of the island's highest settlements, Longwood experiences a cooler variation of the

warm-summer mediterranean climate A Mediterranean climate (also called a dry summer temperate climate ''Cs'') is a temperate climate sub-type, generally characterized by warm, dry summers and mild, fairly wet winters; these weather conditions are typically experienced in the ...

(

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...

: Csb), bordering on a

subtropical highland climate An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate, is the humid temperate climate sub-type in Köppen classification ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of continents, generally featuring cool summers and mild winters ( ...

(

: Cfb) due to its persistent mild temperatures and consistent precipitation levels. Due to its elevated geography, the town has abundant vegetation.

References

External links

* {{coord, 15, 56, S, 5, 40, W, type:adm3rd_region:SH, display=title Districts of Saint Helena Populated places in Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha History of Saint Helena