Canterbury Astrolabe Quadrant

The Canterbury Astrolabe Quadrant is a medieval astrolabe believed to date from 1388, and which was found in an archaeological dig at the House of Agnes,[1] a bed and breakfast hotel in Canterbury, Kent, England, in 2005.

The Canterbury Astrolabe Quadrant is the only one of its kind known to have been definitely made in England.

[2] Astrolabes are calculation instruments that enable their users to tell the time and determine their geographical latitude using the position of the sun and stars.

[2] The British Museum was originally outbid in an auction in 2007 for the brass astrolabe, but succeeded in having an export ban imposed on the device,[4] one of only eight such instruments to have survived from the Middle Ages.

The British Museum eventually purchased it in 2008 with £175,000 from The British Museum Friends plus grants of £125,000 from the National Heritage Memorial Fund and £50,000 from The Art Fund.