ABSTRACT
In June 1693 Jeremiah Horrocks, a young curate of Hoole and a self taught astronomer visited his old friend William Crabtree a draper at Broughton, near Manchester and acquired a copy of Galileo’s Astronomical Dialogues. He had predicted the Transit of Venus across the Sun for November 24th and told Crabtree about it. Horrocks might never have made his world renowned observation, had not Crabtree corrected his outdated tables of calculation and kept watch on that cold winter Sunday while Horrocks was on duty in Church, until the Transit occurred at 3.30 pm, conveniently between Matins and Evensong.
