A large format two dimensional photon counting detector has been evaluated as a detector for astronomical spectroscopy. The design comprises an 320 photocathode, a tandem MCP gain stage and a circular arc terminated resisitive anode to provide pOSitional coordinates of detected events. The system is run from an LSI 11/23 computer operating under FORTH control. The micro-channel plate operating characteristics and the detector's resolution, quantum efficiency and imaging performance have been studied. The principal areas requiring design improvement are found to be the micro-channel plate gain, processing and photocathode quality. electronic signal The detector has been employed in a observing program on a 0.5 m telescope. Spectra of IAU faint radial velocity standards and the eclipsing binary system s-l Cam have been obtained and analysed to assess the system's performance.