Earl of Macclesfield
George Parker, the Earl of Macclesfield, had established an observatory at Shirburn Castle. Working for and with the Earl of Macclesfield, Bliss made meridian observations of a comet approaching the sun in 1744 at Shirburn Castle and at Greenwich. Bliss worked alongside James Bradley at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich and in June 1761, owing to the poor health of Bradley, he undertook the observations for the transit of Venus.