Excerpt:
Brewing magnate and amateur astronomer William Lassell. designed and built the huge telescope from his Liverpool home. With its 24 inch metal mirror, it was the most powerful telescope in England when it was completed in 1845. Now, 150 years later, the project to rebuild the telescope is the result of a special collaboration between a private sector company, two Liverpool universities and National Museums & Galleries on Merseyside (NMGM).