[2][3] It was a great refractor, a large refracting telescope with an achromatic doublet with an aperture of 61 cm (2 feet or 24 inches) and was completed in 1852 on Wandsworth Common and dismantled around 1857 (although the brick tower probably survived until 1870).

[2] Craig did not have the lens refigured and the telescope struggled to achieve his modest goals, which included observations of Earth's Moon and Saturn.

[3] The mounting was designed by William Gravatt, and featured a 19.5 meter tall brick tower with a 24.5 m long cigar shaped telescope tube (built by Messrs Rennie) slung from the side.

The largest telescope at the time was in Ireland, a 6-foot (183 cm) aperture metal mirror by William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse.

(see "Leviathan of Parsonstown") One of the goals for the telescope was to look for a possible moon of Venus and to confirm the third (Crepe) ring of Saturn.