The Lunar Society (1785)
Financial problems led Joseph Scoot to lease out Great Barr Hall from 1785 to Samuel Galton Junior, a Birmingham gunmaker and banker. Until 1797, when the Galton’s removed to a new residence at Warley Abbey, Smethwick, the Hall was a frequent venue for meetings of the Lunar Society. It is said by a contemporary to have been the favourite meeting place of the Lunar Society.”
They were known as the Lunar Society as meetings were held on the Monday closest to the new moon, to assist a safe journey home.
There are a set of carved sandstone memorials to the Lunar Society erected on the site of the Asda supermarket at Great Barr. Known as The Moonstones they were commissioned in 1999 by a partnership of Asda, the City of Birmingham and F J Architects. The sculptors were Michael Scheuermann and Malcolm Sier, who have workshops in the West Midlands. Incidentally, one of the stones is to William Murdock, who was never a member of the Lunar Society.
