History

Greenwich in London is known in every corner of the world, due to its British maritime history, and the role played in establishing the Prime Meridian Line of the world as the navigational 0º of Longitude. The Meridian Line which encircles the globe and precisely where the eastern and western hemispheres meet.

A bend in the river

Greenwich’s unique geographical position on the river Thames has ensured that since the Romans first established Londinium back in 57 AD, the crest of the hill on which the Royal Observatory sits today has been a key point of observation for Royal Astronomers looking to the heavens to navigate the oceans, and as a tactical vantage point for the many settlers who have left their mark here over the centuries.

From this bend in the river Thames where Greenwich meets the Isle of Dogs, and in previous incarnations before buildings obscured the view, you would have been able to see clearly all the way into London and all the way East out to the estuary of the river Thames into the North Sea. For this reason, Greenwich has been a base for Saxons, Vikings, Normans, Plantagenets and all the way up to the Tudors.

Royal Tudor Greenwich and the Palace of Placentia

This is where we pick up the story, as the Greenwich we know today is rooted in the events that were to follow. The construction of the Palace of Placentia saw Greenwich established as a royal residence. Completed in the 15^th century and subsequently the birthplace and sometime home to Tudors King Henry VIII and Queen Elizabeth I.

Henry VIII established a boat building yard in nearby Deptford that later became associated with the great Elizabethan explorers and mariners. Sir Francis Drake, who circumnavigated the globe on a single expedition and helped defeat the Spanish Armada, and the New World explorer Walter Raleigh, who also famously brought potatoes and tobacco to England. A statue of Walter Raleigh now sits outside the Old Royal Naval College Visitor Centre just beside Greenwich Tourist Information.

The Tudor Dynasty ended with the passing of Queen Elizabeth I in 1603 with no natural heir. The throne was inherited by James VI of Scotland, who become James I of England to usher in The House of Stuart. Favoured for the throne in to establish a union between the two countries, as well as his familial ties to the Tudors via his mother, Mary Queen of Scots.

The Queen’s House, built 1616-1635

James I marriage to Anne of Denmark was put under strain when he apparently lost his temper and swore at her, perhaps even understandably, as while out hunting deer she mistakenly shot the King’s favourite dog, Jewel!

In any case, it was not fitting for a king to behave in such a way and so as means of apology, he commissioned royal architect Inigo Jones to build what we now know as The Queen’s House. She never saw it completed though, as she sadly passed away a few years after the start of the build in 1619.

The building itself now stands as the oldest complete building within the UNESCO World Heritage Site boundary, and also happens to be the first neoclassical building in Britain, having recently celebrated the 400^th year since construction commenced.

Inside The Queen’s House, The Tulip Stairs cast in wrought iron are instantly recognisable to Instagrammers as an iconic bucket-list photo, but were also the first entirely self-supporting staircase in Britain. The Queen’s House is now a gallery to the art collection of Royal Museums Greenwich.

Greenwich Hospital and The Old Royal Naval College, built 1692 - 1714

James I successor to the throne, Charles I’s refusal to acknowledge the power of the courts of law over monarchy led to his untimely execution for high treason during the English Civil war. In the following years his son and heir, Charles II, remained in exile despite having been made king in his absence. During this time the Palace of Placentia was occupied by Oliver Cromwell’s army and fell into disrepair.

When Charles II eventually returned safely to England and welcomed as reigning monarch, the Palace of Placentia no longer fit with his grand plans. The Palace was demolished and swept into the Thames, and Charles II issued plans to replace the Palace with a new King’s House.

Charles II enlisted architect John Webb, who began work on the King Charles Building, but never got further than what we know today as the east wing of King Charles Court. The palace was never built during his reign and instead it fell to his successor, Queen Mary II, to get the build back on track.

Queen Mary II had been inspired by the sight of the wounded returning from the Battle of La Hogue to commission a hospital for sailors and decided to appoint the revered architects of St Paul’s Cathedral, Christopher Wren and his protégé, Nicholas Hawksmoor to remodel the King Charles building into the beginnings of Greenwich Hospital. Unfortunately, Christopher Wren didn’t live to see the completion of his masterpiece and the remainder of the build was overseen by architects Nicholas Hawksmoor and John Vanbrugh. The buildings we now know as the Old Royal Naval College were originally designed to provide a permanent residence for those sailors returning from service with the Royal Navy, to function in the same way that Royal Hospital Chelsea did for soldiers.

It may not have ended up becoming a palace but reflected the sentiments of a monarchy wanting to demonstrate Britain’s wealth, power and maritime dominance. The scale and design of Greenwich Hospital was equal to a palace and the magnificence of Christopher Wren’s beautiful baroque masterpiece continues to delight visitors from all over the world.

Royal Naval College, 1714 - 1869

The hospital was eventually closed in 1869 and was recommissioned as a Royal Navy training academy right up until the navy departed in 1998.

The Painted Hall, 1707-1726

Whilst the construction of Greenwich Hospital was underway, artist James Thornhill, who had previously worked with Christopher Wren on St Paul’s Cathedral, was commissioned to depict magnificent scenes of power, glory, heaven and earth on the vast walls and ceiling of the great dining room being built inside King Charles Court. This became known as The Painted Hall, and took Thornhill 19 years to complete, a long period of one man’s life, but still being analysed, documented and celebrated many centuries later.

The Painted Hall was designed to be the dining room for higher ranking naval officers, with everyone else sitting downstairs in the spectacular vaulted undercroft. Although in reality it was so grand that it wasn’t used as much as had been expected, and ended up as more of a ceremonial space, for very special occasions.

After naval hero Lord Horatio Nelson was fatally shot during his final victory at the Battle of Trafalgar, his body was laid in state for three days in the Painted Hall, and in that time over 15,000 people came to pay their respects.

The Old Royal Naval College

In 1998 the Royal Navy redeployed their training facilities to be absorbed into other sites around Britain and the charitable organisation, the Greenwich Foundation for the Old Royal Naval College, was established to preserve this incredible site and architectural and cultural monument for the education and delight of generations of future visitors.

Flamsteed House and The Royal Observatory, built 1675

When King Charles II commissioned John Flamsteed as the first Astronomer Royal, he also commissioned Christopher Wren to begin work on the first building of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich in 1675. John Flamsteed ceremoniously laid the first stone on site, but had to begin his astronomy commission up in the North East turret of the White Tower, in the Tower of London. This short-lived working arrangement was apparently exacerbated by having to share the tower with the resident nesting ravens, which were protected by the crown on the basis of superstition, as put into law by the very same King Charles II.

He then moved closer to the site, taking up temporary residence in The Queen’s House before the quick and successful build was completed and he began work in Flamsteed House in 1676.

Flamsteed House was the first building to be constructed on this site with a particular focus on the elegant Octagon Room, with soaring ceilings and 360º views out over the London skyline. This gave Flamsteed all the space he required for his larger telescopes and the optimum visibility in all directions so he could get to work on studying and charting the heavens without a raven in sight!

Flamsteed’s star charts were of critical importance to advancing the nation’s ability to navigate the oceans and this served the monarchy and Britain’s nautical endeavours in the race for power, glory and wealth. In truth, his work helped lay the foundation for perhaps the greatest achievement since the first commission of the Astronomer Royal and the Royal Observatory. This was the race to accurately map longitude.

It became the greatest scientific ambition of the era, and the government commissioned the Longitude Act, offering huge financial incentives for significant contributions to the advancement of the cause. Much of the difficulty arose from the inability to accurately keep time at sea over longer periods of time due to the constant and unpredictable movement of the ocean.

John Harrison successfully devised H1, a successful new oceanic chronometer that kept remarkably good time, specifically engineered to operate in spite of the constant and contradictory motion. In the following years he continued to refine and perfect his designs to produce H2, H3 and H4, and ended up being the highest paid by the commission at £23,000 which is equivalent to around £3,000,000 today!

This breakthrough led to the successful introduction of international standardised time zones, and eventually in 1884, Greenwich was nominated as the home of the Prime Meridian Line of the world, to which we still set our clocks.

If you want to see these phenomenal clocks, they are now on display in the Time and Longitude Gallery in Flamsteed House.

Greenwich Market

Greenwich Market today is a delightful, cobbled courtyard market with an opulent steel and glass roof that simultaneously protects visitors from the rain, while ensuring it’s always bright and charming – although this was not always the case.

Greenwich Market was originally commissioned to nearby Greenwich Hospital as “Royal Charter Market” in 1700 for the astonishingly long period of 1,000 years. It was situated beside the West Gate of the Old Royal Naval College at a time when the dark streets and alleys in the surrounding area were less than friendly to navigate and difficult to control due to poor design.

The market was eventually moved to its current location, where cobblestones were laid and the roof fitted, which is basically the format we know today. The move was part of a wider drive to clean up the area and improve the standard of building in the streets around Greenwich. The Regency fronted buildings that line College Approach by the West Gate today, were developed to align with neighbouring Royal Greenwich Hospital, which we know today as the Old Royal Naval College.

In 1831 the core of the market contained traders selling meat, fish, eggs, butter, poultry, fruit and vegetables with goods such as china, glass and earthenware found on stalls scattered around the periphery. You can still see some of the original pubs in business around the market today, such as the Admiral Hardy, which at one time housed a little theatre in the large room built in the new arch over the entrance to the market on College Approach.

If you happen to be in the market heading out of the College Approach entrance, look up and you’ll see an inscription that harkens back to the early days of the market on the arch that reads: “A false balance is an abomination to the Lord, but a just weight is his delight.”

The oldest food trader to have been operating at various premises around Greenwich Market are Goddard’s Pie & Mash, who were first opened by Albert Goddard in 1890. A contemporary dish of the day back then is still a beloved London tradition, and one that you can still enjoy here today at their restaurant!

Greenwich Market first appeared as we know it today, when they began renting stalls to arts and crafts traders, and letting the shops that surround the market to creators and makers all the way back in 1985, inspired by the new Camden Lock markets that were really taking off at the time.

Greenwich Park

The area we now know as Greenwich Park was once an open, green and hilly woodland and the incredible visibility from the top of the hill here holds the key to unlocking the fascinating history.

Greenwich has a unique geographical position which has meant that this site beside the river Thames has been the host to visitors and settlers since the Romans first established Londinium back in 57 AD. The crest of the hill on which the Royal Observatory sits today has been a key point of observation, not only for Royal Astronomers looking to the heavens to navigate the oceans, but also as a tactical vantage point for those who have left their mark here over the centuries.

From this bend in the river Thames, where Greenwich meets the Isle of Dogs, and in previous incarnations before buildings obscured the view, you would have been able to see clearly all the way into London and all the way East out to the estuary of the river Thames into the North Sea. For this reason, after the Romans were known to have settled here for up to 400 years, Greenwich has been the site of settlements for the Saxons, Vikings, Normans, Plantagenets and Tudors.

This was once the garden to the Tudor Palace of Placentia and effectively Henry VIII’s palace gardens. The Tudor monarch’s herd of wild deer used to roam freely and as a favourite sport of the royals, they would regularly hunt. There are still deer in Greenwich Park today, living in an enclosed corner of the park called The Wilderness. It’s very likely that the herd are descendents from the original deer that Henry VIII introduced here.

Greenwich Park is not only one of London’s loveliest parks, it’s also an area that has fascinating history packed into every square metre. One of eight Royal Parks in London, all 183 acres are set within the boundary of the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site that fortunately protects that legacy for the benefit of generations of future visitors.

Eltham Palace

From the 14th to the 16th century it was an important royal palace, where monarchs often stayed and hunted in the surrounding parks. After centuries of neglect, the palace at Eltham was leased to Stephen and Virginia Courtauld in 1933, who built an up-to-the-minute house here, incorporating the original great hall. The result was a unique marriage between a medieval Tudor palace and an extravagant Art Deco mansion.

Royal Residency

Set among 1300 acres of parkland, the site of Eltham Palace was first developed on Crown land by the Bishop of Durham, Antony Bek. He built a grand manor house in 1295, which was promptly handed back to King Edward II in 1305. As a reward, Bek was allowed to live out his remaining years in the house, although this was just 6 years later in 1311. This is the point at which Eltham first officially became known as a residential Royal Palace.

As we already mentioned, King Edward II (r.1307 – 1327), lived here adding improvements to the grounds and buildings. Richard II (r.1377 – 1399) created the first semblance of a dancing chamber, (a strong, running theme on which Eltham Palace continued to build), a walled garden and a new bathhouse as well as developing the surrounding parkland.

Henry IV (r.1461 – 1470) truly loved Eltham Palace and as well as continuing to develop the site, it was during his reign that the splendid Great Hall was built, which boasts a magnificent hammer beam roofed hall that has witnessed royal feasts for over 2000 people at a time.

Being set in 1300 acres of parkland, which were teeming with herds of deer, was a big draw for young Henry VIII (r.1509 -1547). He was an accomplished sportsman, and it was here that he could indulge his love of hunting. Henry VIII actually grew up in Eltham Palace and he continued to visit regularly until the 1530s when he started to spend more time at Greenwich and Hampton Court instead.

Henry was the last monarch to show any fondness toward Eltham Palace, and in any case this became academic, as it was sold by Oliver Cromwell during the English Civil War after the troops stationed here had left the palace in a state of decay.

Sold to republican Colonel Nathaniel Rich, sadly Eltham Palace suffered enormous indifference with the grounds being used as farmland for the 17^th and 18^th Century, with the Great Hall being used as its main working barn.

The 19^th Century saw a change in fortunes toward this fascinating site and on behalf of the Office of Works, architect Sir Robert Smirke embarked on major repairs to the Great Hall as well as further repairs and developments in the grounds and gardens. Parts of the Palace were rented out to help fund the continuing works and it is reported that the tenants were given access to use the great hall as an indoor tennis court, as well as continuing to be used for parties.

The Courtaulds

An unpredictable twist in the tale was the arrival of millionaire philanthropists, Stephen and Virginia Courtauld in the 1930s, who were full of inspiration, drive and ambition to simultaneously modernise and restore Eltham Palace. They built an entirely new house next to the medieval Great Hall and attempted to fuse the Medieval and Tudor aspects with the high glamour of Art Deco, employing architect Rolf Engströmer to help them bring their ideas to reality.

The Courtaulds moved into Eltham Palace with their pet lemur, Mah-Jongg, and completed the fusion by bringing every aspect of their modern lifestyle with them. They were big supporters of the arts and keen socialites, who happily entertained royalty, with a steady stream of famous faces passing through Eltham Palace during their time in residence.

Eltham Palace suffered extensive bomb damage during the Second World War which was the last straw for the Courtaulds who left in 1944, but not before the addition of a bomb shelter in the basement which you can still explore today.

After the Crown resumed control, the site went through a number of incarnations, ranging from becoming a Royal Army Educational Corps in 1955, to being The Royal Parks official Training School in 1975 before eventually coming into the care of English Heritage in 1995 when intentions were set on restoring the house to the Courtauld’s 1930’s design. Today, it is open to the public as an attraction with a fascinating history waiting for you to discover.

Charlton and Charlton House, 1607 - 1612

Head east from the Blackheath end of Greenwich Park and you’ll soon find yourself in Charlton Village. As you approach Charlton you’ll be greeted by the dominant presence of Charlton House, which is a beautifully proportioned Jacobean Manor built in 1607–12 to the design of architect John Thorpe on behalf of Sir Adam Newton.

Newton was posted here after acquiring the Manor of Charlton from James I. Newton had been given the land to house his royal charge, as the appointed the tutor of Prince Henry, elder brother to Charles I and eldest son of James I. Although the house was intended for the prince, he had died by the time it was completed in 1612.

There is a mulberry tree in front of Charlton House, planted in 1608 by order of King James in an effort to cultivate silkworms, that is recorded as the oldest mulberry tree of it’s species in Britain.

During World War I, Charlton House was the divisional headquarters of the Red Cross for Greenwich and Woolwich. At the end of the war, London's hospitals couldn't cope with the numbers of wounded, so the owners, Sir Spencer and Lady Maryon-Wilson, made the entire house available to the Red Cross to serve as an auxiliary hospital, which operated from 14 October 1918 to 30 April 1919, with around 70 beds.

Charlton Village sits on top of a hilly area which is regarded as one of the oldest known settlements in London. An Iron Age hill fort was excavated in Maryon Park in Charlton in the 1920s and it seems very likely that there were stone age inhabitants in the same area.

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