Dunecht Observatory, seen from the north-east. The building at right is the observatory library. This observatory was founded in 1871 by the Scottish astronomer James Ludovic Lindsay (1847-1913), the 26th Earl of Crawford. Lord Lindsay appointed David Gill (1843-1914) as the first director of the observatory. Observations were carried out here for almost 20 years until 1888, when Lord Lindsay donated the instruments to the Royal Observatory in Edinburgh, to help avert its threatened closure.