Greenwich
Greenwich | |
---|---|
Location within Greater London | |
Population | 30,578 (Peninsula and Greenwich West wards 2011) |
OS grid reference | TQ395775 |
• Charing Cross | 5.5 mi (8.9 km) WNW |
London borough | |
Ceremonial county | Greater London |
Region | |
Country | England |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Post town | LONDON |
Postcode district | SE10 |
Dialling code | 020 |
Police | Metropolitan |
Fire | London |
Ambulance | London |
UK Parliament | |
London Assembly | |
Greenwich (/ˈɡrɛnɪtʃ/ ⓘ GREN-itch, /-ɪdʒ/ -ij, /ˈɡrɪn-/ GRIN-[1][2]) is a town in south-east London, England, within the ceremonial county of Greater London. It is situated 5.5 miles (8.9 km) east-south-east of Charing Cross.
Greenwich is notable for its
The town became a popular resort in the 18th century and many grand houses were built there, such as
Historically an
History
Toponymy
The place-name 'Greenwich' is first attested in an
The settlement later became known as East Greenwich to distinguish it from West Greenwich or Deptford Strond, the part of
East Greenwich, gateway to the Blackwall Tunnel, remains solidly working class, the manpower for one eighth of London's heavy industry. West Greenwich is a hybrid: the spirit of Nelson, the Cutty Sark, the Maritime Museum, an industrial waterfront and a number of elegant houses, ripe for development.
Manor of East Greenwich
Early settlement
The
Viking
During the reign of
Norman
The
Plantagenet
Subsequent monarchs were regular visitors, with
Ultimately it was because the palace and its grounds were a royal possession (with a useful hill) that it was chosen as the site for
Tudor
The palace was the principal residence of
The palace of Placentia, in turn, became Elizabeth's favourite summer residence.[19] Both she and her sister Mary used the palace extensively, and Elizabeth's Council planned the Spanish Armada campaign there in 1588.
Stuart
James I carried out the final remodelling work on Greenwich Palace, granting the manor to his wife Queen Anne of Denmark. In 1616 Anne commissioned Inigo Jones to design and build the surviving Queen's House as the final addition to the palace.
By the time of the
Prince James (later King
Hanoverian
George I landed at Greenwich from Hanover on his accession in 1714. His successor George II granted the Royal Hospital for Seamen the forfeited estates of the Jacobite Earl of Derwentwater, which allowed the building to be completed by 1751.
In 1805,
Victorian and Edwardian
In 1838 the
In 1853 the local Scottish Presbyterian community built a church, St Mark's, nearby which was extended twice in the 1860s during the ministry of Adolph Saphir, eventually accommodating 1,000 worshippers.[21][22]
In 1864 opposite the railway terminus, theatrical entrepreneur Sefton Parry built the thousand seater New Greenwich Theatre.[23] William Morton was one of its more successful managers. The theatre was demolished in 1937 to make way for a new Town Hall, now a listed building under new ownership and renamed Meridian House.[24]
Greenwich Station is at the northern apex of the Ashburnham Triangle, a residential estate developed by the Ashburnham family, mainly between 1830 and 1870, on land previously developed as market gardens. It is now a designated conservation area.
The meridian was established in 1851.
Modern and the present
George V and Queen Mary both supported the creation of the National Maritime Museum, and Mary presented the museum with many items.
The Prince Albert, Duke of York (later George VI), laid the foundation stone of the new Royal Hospital School when it moved out to Holbrook, Suffolk. In 1937 his first public act as king (three weeks before coronation) was to open the National Maritime Museum in the buildings vacated by the school. The king was accompanied by his mother Queen Mary, his wife Queen Elizabeth (later Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother) and the Princess Elizabeth (later Elizabeth II.)
Princess Elizabeth and her consort
During the
To mark the
Governance
Greenwich is covered by the Greenwich West and Peninsula wards of the London Borough of Greenwich, which was formed in 1965 by merging the former
Geography
Geography of Greenwich
The town of Greenwich is built on a broad platform to the south of the outside of a broad meander in the River Thames, with a safe deep water anchorage lying in the river. To the south, the land rises steeply, 100 feet (30 m) through Greenwich Park to the town of Blackheath. The higher areas consist of a sedimentary layer of gravelly soils, known as the Blackheath Beds, that spread through much of the south-east over a chalk outcrop—with sands, loam and seams of clay at the lower levels by the river.
Greenwich is bordered by
Nearby areas
- Blackheath
- Charlton
- Deptford
- Greenwich Peninsula
- Eltham
- Kidbrooke
- Lewisham
- New Cross
- Plumstead
- Shooters Hill
- Surrey Quays
- Thamesmead
- Westcombe Park
- Woolwich
- Welling
- Falconwood
- Abbey Wood
Climate
This data was collected between 2005 and 2015 at the weather station in Greenwich:
Historically, the record high is 100 °F (38 °C) on 9 August 1911. This was the record for London until 2003, though it was disregarded due to non-standard instruments.[30]
Greenwich has an oceanic climate (Köppen: Cfb) with warm summers and cool winters.
Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Record high °C (°F) | 16.8 (62.2) |
19.7 (67.5) |
23.3 (73.9) |
25.3 (77.5) |
29.0 (84.2) |
34.5 (94.1) |
35.3 (95.5) |
37.5 (99.5) |
30.2 (86.4) |
26.1 (79.0) |
18.9 (66.0) |
16.4 (61.5) |
37.5 (99.5) |
Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 8.5 (47.3) |
9.2 (48.6) |
12.1 (53.8) |
15.4 (59.7) |
18.6 (65.5) |
21.4 (70.5) |
23.8 (74.8) |
23.3 (73.9) |
20.3 (68.5) |
15.8 (60.4) |
11.6 (52.9) |
8.9 (48.0) |
15.8 (60.4) |
Daily mean °C (°F) | 5.9 (42.6) |
6.2 (43.2) |
8.4 (47.1) |
10.7 (51.3) |
13.8 (56.8) |
16.7 (62.1) |
18.8 (65.8) |
18.7 (65.7) |
15.9 (60.6) |
12.4 (54.3) |
8.8 (47.8) |
6.3 (43.3) |
11.9 (53.4) |
Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 3.4 (38.1) |
3.2 (37.8) |
4.7 (40.5) |
6.0 (42.8) |
9.1 (48.4) |
12.0 (53.6) |
13.9 (57.0) |
14.1 (57.4) |
11.6 (52.9) |
9.0 (48.2) |
6.1 (43.0) |
3.8 (38.8) |
8.1 (46.6) |
Record low °C (°F) | −12.7 (9.1) |
−9.4 (15.1) |
−6.7 (19.9) |
−4.8 (23.4) |
−1.0 (30.2) |
1.1 (34.0) |
5.0 (41.0) |
5.3 (41.5) |
1.1 (34.0) |
−2.1 (28.2) |
−8.0 (17.6) |
−10.5 (13.1) |
−12.7 (9.1) |
Average precipitation mm (inches) | 43.9 (1.73) |
39.9 (1.57) |
36.5 (1.44) |
38.6 (1.52) |
44.0 (1.73) |
49.3 (1.94) |
36.3 (1.43) |
53.0 (2.09) |
52.4 (2.06) |
58.3 (2.30) |
59.9 (2.36) |
50.7 (2.00) |
562.9 (22.16) |
Average precipitation days (≥ 1.0 mm) | 10.5 | 9.2 | 7.9 | 8.1 | 7.9 | 7.8 | 7.1 | 8.2 | 7.9 | 10.3 | 10.6 | 10.2 | 105.6 |
Mean monthly sunshine hours | 44.4 | 66.1 | 109.7 | 152.9 | 198.7 | 198.6 | 209.2 | 198.0 | 140.6 | 99.7 | 58.5 | 50.1 | 1,526.4 |
Source 1: Met Office[31][32][33] | |||||||||||||
Source 2: Starlings Roost Weather[34][35] |
Sites of interest
Riverfront
The Cutty Sark (a clipper ship) has been preserved in a dry dock by the river. A major fire in May 2007 destroyed a part of the ship, although much had already been removed for restoration. Nearby for many years was also displayed Gipsy Moth IV, the 54 feet (16.5 m) yacht sailed by Sir Francis Chichester in his single-handed, 226-day circumnavigation of the globe during 1966–67. In 2004, Gipsy Moth IV was removed from Greenwich, and after restoration work completed a second circumnavigation in May 2007. On the riverside in front of the north-west corner of the hospital is an obelisk erected in memory of Arctic explorer Joseph René Bellot.
Near the Cutty Sark site, a circular building contains the entrance to the
Rowing has been part of life on the river at Greenwich for hundreds of years and the first Greenwich Regatta was held in 1785. The annual Great River Race along the Thames Tideway finishes at the Cutty Sark. The nearby Trafalgar Rowing Centre in Crane Street is home to Curlew and Globe rowing clubs.
The
To the east of the Naval College is the
Greenwich Park
South of the former Naval College is the
The park rises towards
Greenwich Mean Time was at one time based on the time observations made at the Royal Greenwich Observatory, before being superseded by the closely related Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). While there is no longer a working astronomical observatory at Greenwich, a ball still drops daily to mark the exact moment of 1 p.m., and there is a museum of astronomical and navigational tools, particularly John Harrison's marine chronometers.[43]
The Ranger's House lies at the Blackheath end of the park and houses the Wernher Collection of art,[44] and many fine houses, including Vanbrugh's house lie on Maze Hill, on the western edge of the park.
Town centre
Around the covered Greenwich Market, Georgian and Victorian architecture dominates in the town centre which spreads to the west of the park and Royal Naval College. Up the hill from the centre, there are many streets of Georgian houses, including the Fan Museum, on Croom's Hill. Nearby, at the junction of Croom's Hill with Nevada Street, is Greenwich Theatre; at the eastern end of Nevada Street is the Greenwich Tavern. To the west, the arthouse Greenwich Cinema is on Greenwich High Road, while the nearby Greenwich Playhouse closed in 2012.
Market
There has been a market at Greenwich since the 14th century, but the history of the present market dates from 1700 when a charter to run two markets, on Wednesdays and Saturdays, was assigned by Lord Romney (Henry, Earl of Romney)[19] to the Commissioners of Greenwich Hospital for 1000 years.[45]
The market is part of "the island site", bounded by College Approach, Greenwich Church Street,
A market roof was added in 1902–1908 (and replaced in 2016). Later significant development occurred in 1958–1960 and during the 1980s.The landowner, Greenwich Hospital, enhanced the market between 2014 and early 2016. Following the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 the rents for several of the market stalls were increased by up to 60% as Greenwich Hospital's managing agent Knight Frank said it was losing money with fewer stalls operating and only four days of trading a week.[48]
Millennium Leisure Park
About 1.0 mile (1.6 km) east of Greenwich town centre, the Millennium Leisure Park is an out-of-town retail park on Bugsby's Way in east Greenwich. It consists of retail outlets (IKEA and B&Q), restaurants and an Odeon cinema. The IKEA store here opened in 2019 as the retailer's fourth main store in London,[49] following stores in Wembley (1988), Croydon (1992) and Tottenham (2005); the Greenwich store is the first in Inner London.[50]
Greenwich Shopping Park is about 0.5 miles (0.8 km) further east, in Charlton.
Greenwich Mean Time
Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) is a term originally referring to
As the United Kingdom grew into an advanced maritime nation, British mariners kept at least one chronometer on GMT in order to calculate their longitude from the Greenwich meridian, which was by convention considered to have longitude zero degrees (this convention was internationally adopted in the International Meridian Conference of 1884).[note 1] The synchronization of the chronometer on GMT did not affect shipboard time itself, which was still solar time. But this practice, combined with mariners from other nations drawing from Nevil Maskelyne's method of lunar distances based on observations at Greenwich, eventually led to GMT being used worldwide as a reference time independent of location. Most time zones were based upon this reference as a number of hours and half-hours "ahead of GMT" or "behind GMT".
In recognition of the suburb's astronomical links, Asteroid 2830 has been named 'Greenwich'.[53]
World Heritage Site
UNESCO World Heritage Site | |
---|---|
Location | United Kingdom |
Criteria | Cultural: i, ii, iv, vi |
Reference | 795 |
Inscription | 1997 (21st Session) |
Extensions | 2008 |
Area | 109.5 hectares (271 acres) |
Buffer zone | 174.85 hectares (432.1 acres) |
Website | whc |
Coordinates | 51°29′1″N 0°0′21″W / 51.48361°N 0.00583°W |
In 1997 Maritime Greenwich was added to the list of World Heritage Sites, for the concentration and quality of buildings of historic and architectural interest. These can be divided into the group of buildings along the riverfront, Greenwich Park and the Georgian and Victorian town centre.
Discover Greenwich Visitor Centre
The Discover Greenwich Visitor Centre provides an introduction to the history and attractions in the Greenwich
The Centre explains the history of Greenwich as a royal residence and a maritime centre. Exhibits include:
- The history of the Palace of Placentia.
- Models of Greenwich Hospital.
- Six of the carved heads originally intended to decorate the exterior of the college's Painted Hall.
- Exhibition displays about Maritime Greenwich and its connections with the sea and exploration.
- "By Wisdom as much as War" – an exhibition about the history of the Royal Naval College during the years it occupied Greenwich Hospital (1873–1998).
Education
The
Secondary schools in the area include The John Roan School, founded 1677, and St Ursula's Convent School, established 1850.
Transport
National Rail
Greenwich is served by
London Underground
The area is also served by
DLR
Greenwich is served by the
Buses
Greenwich is served by many London Buses routes.
- 129 to Lewisham Shopping Centre or North Greenwich
- Elephant & Castle and Waterloo
- 199 to Bellingham via Lewisham & Catfordor to Canada Water
- Eltham
- 386to Blackheath or to Woolwich
- via Elephant & Castle and Waterloo or to Thamesmead via Woolwich (Night Bus)
- N199 to St Mary Cray via Lewisham, Catford, Bromley and Orpington and to Trafalgar Square via Canada Water and London Bridge(Night Bus)
Boat
There are a number of river boat services running from
Pedestrian and cycle routes
The
The National Cycle Network Route 1 includes the foot tunnel, though cycling is not permitted in the tunnel itself.[58]
Sports
Rowing
Greenwich is home to a variety of amateur sports clubs. Its location on the tidal Thames makes it a good location for rowing; the Trafalgar Rowing Centre in Crane Street is the clubhouse of the Curlew and Globe rowing clubs.[59][60] The Globe has senior and junior squads, the latter renowned for its achievements at national and international level.[61]
Running
The Thames Path and Greenwich Park are popular with runners. The 'red start' for the London Marathon is situated south of the park on Charlton Way (other starts are nearby in St John's Park, and on Shooter's Hill Road).[62] After heading east through Charlton and Woolwich, the marathon route then turns west towards Greenwich; as runners reach the 10 km mark (6.2-mile), they pass the Old Royal Naval College and then loop around the prow of the Cutty Sark before continuing west towards Deptford.[62]
Golf
The Greenwich Peninsula Golf Range at North Greenwich is a riverside golf driving range with 60 bays, a mini 18-hole adventure course, golf academy, golf shop and restaurant.[63]
Twin towns
The
- Maribor, Lower Styria, Slovenia
- Reinickendorf, Berlin, Germany
- Tema, Greater Accra, Ghana
- Hangzhou, China[65]
Literature
Edward Lear makes reference to Greenwich in More Nonsense Pictures, Rhymes, Botany, etc:[66]
There was a young lady of Greenwich,
Whose garments were bordered with Spinach;
But a large spotty calf
Bit her shawl quite in half,
Which alarmed that young lady of Greenwich.
See also
- Greenwich Cablevision
- List of people from Greenwich
- List of World Heritage Sites of the United Kingdom
Notes
References
- ^ "Greenwich". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
- ^ Roach, Peter; Setter, Jane; Esling, John, eds. (2011). Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary (David Jones) (18th ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- ^ Eilert Ekwall, The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place-names, p. 204.
- ^ a b "Parishes: Greenwich". british-history.ac.uk.
- ^ "Greenwich-the instant village", Brandon Green, The Times, 13 October 1967; p. 11.
- ^ Colonial Charters, Grants and Related Documents Archived 4 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine.
- ISBN 978-0195393736.
- ^ Manor of East Greenwich Archived 5 September 2015 at the Wayback Machine.
- ^ National Archives, Great Domesday Archived 29 September 2015 at the Wayback Machine.
- ^ Words used in The First Charter of Virginia; 10 April 1606 Archived 1 November 2011 at the Wayback Machine "...To BE HOLDEN of Us, [King James I] our heirs and Successors, as of our Manor at East-Greenwich, in the County of Kent, in free and common Soccage only, and not in Capite."
- ^ Words used in Charter for the Province of Pennsylvania-1681 Archived 28 April 2011 at the Wayback Machine "...to bee holden of Us [King Charles II], Our heires and Successors, Kings of England, as of Our Castle of Windsor in Our County of Berks, in free and comon Socage, by fealty only for all Services, and not in Capite or by Knights Service."
- ^ "N.N." On the Tenure of the Manor of East Greenwich Archived 20 November 2017 at the Wayback Machine.
- ^ Edward P. Cheyney, The Manor of East Greenwich, American Historical Review, Volume 11, 1 October 1905.
- ^ Flamsteed House – designed and built by Sir Christopher Wren in 1675–76, was the home of the first Astronomer Royal, John Flamsteed, and the heart of Charles II's new Royal Observatory.
- ^ "Roman remains". Royal Parks. Retrieved 24 July 2015.
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: Cite journal requires|journal=
(help) - ^ "Greenwich London". Time Team. Channel 4. 2 February 2003. Retrieved 13 June 2011.
- ISBN 0-9508406-2-9.
- ^ Open Domesday Online: Greenwich Archived 10 February 2017 at the Wayback Machine.
- ^ a b c d 'Greenwich', The Environs of London: volume 4: Counties of Herts, Essex & Kent (1796), pp. 426–93 Archived 7 June 2007 at the Wayback Machine, accessed: 26 May 2007.
- ^ a b "Greenwich Greyfriars". Historic England Research Records. Heritage Gateway. Retrieved 19 March 2023.
- ^ "Dictionary of National Biography 1850-1900 Adolph Saphir". 1897.
- ^ Carlyle, Edward Irving (1897). Saphir, Adolph (DNB00). Vol. 50.
- ^ The Era, 29 May 1864, p. 10, New Greenwich Theatre.
- ^ Historic England. "The Borough Hall and Meridian House (former Greenwich Town Hall) (1213855)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 24 April 2020.
- ^ Report on Ashburnham triangle by Conservation Team, Development Town Planning First Floor, Peggy Middleton House 50 Woolwich New Road, London SE18 6HQ.
- ^ "Greenwich – Our Ladye Star of the Sea". Taking Stock: Catholic Churches of England and Wales. Retrieved 13 March 2023.
- Royal Borough.
- ^ "Greenwich to become Royal Borough". Greenwich London Borough Council. 5 January 2010. Archived from the original on 8 January 2010. Retrieved 5 January 2010.
- ^ "ukpollingreport.co.uk » Greenwich and Woolwich". ukpollingreport.co.uk. Retrieved 24 September 2009.
- ^ "1911 Weather Report". Met Office. 1 January 1912. Retrieved 24 July 2019.
- ^ "Greenwich 1991–2020 averages". Met Office. Retrieved 20 November 2018.
- ^ "Hot Spell - August 2003". Met Office. Retrieved 17 December 2018.
- ^ "Record Breaking Heat and Sunshine - July 2006". Met Office. Retrieved 17 December 2018.
- ^ "Monthly Extreme Maximum Temperature". Starlings Roost Weather. Retrieved 3 February 2023.
- ^ "Monthly Extreme Minimum Temperature". Starlings Roost Weather. Retrieved 3 February 2023.
- ^ The Foot Tunnel (Greenwich Guide) Archived 4 June 2014 at the Wayback Machine accessed 10 December 2007
- ^ Just another source of neutrons? R.J.S. Lockwood and Prof. P.A. Beeley (Nuclear Dept., HMS Sultan, Gosport, 2001) Archived 30 October 2012 at the Wayback Machine accessed 29 December 2007
- ^ Trinity Hospital (LB Greenwich) Archived 30 December 2009 at the UK Web Archive accessed 10 December 2007
- ^ Greenwich Power Station (Powering the City) Archived 19 November 2022 at the Wayback Machine accessed 10 December 2007
- ^ East Greenwich Gasworks (Powering the City) Archived 27 May 2013 at the Wayback Machine accessed 10 December 2007. The Greenwich Peninsula gas works, being themselves notable, as being the subject of an IRA bomb attack in the 1970s, in which one gasometer – and its contents – were spectacularly destroyed.
- ISBN 0-948667-55-9
- ^ General Wolfe Statue (Greenwich Guide) Archived 27 July 2013 at the Wayback Machine accessed 10 December 2007
- ^ Howse 1997
- ^ The Wernher Collection (Ranger's House) Archived 18 November 2007 at the Wayback Machine (English Heritage) accessed 10 December 2007
- ^ History of Greenwich Market Archived 12 January 2012 at the Wayback Machine at Greenwich Hospital
- ^ "Maritime Greenwich: World Heritage Site – Management plan" (PDF). Visit Greenwich. Royal Borough of Greenwich. Retrieved 26 September 2016.
- ^ "Historic Regeneration Schemes". The Greenwich Phantom. Retrieved 26 September 2016.
- ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 19 August 2020.
- ^ Noble, Will (7 January 2019). "Ikea Greenwich is About to Open: Here's What You Need to Know". Londonist.
- ^ Best, Chloe (6 February 2019). "IKEA Greenwich: All you need to know about the first inner-London superstore". Hello!.
- ^ "What is GMT?". BBC World Service. 7 December 2007. Archived from the original on 18 March 2009. Retrieved 18 September 2009.
- ^ Howse 1997, pp. 12, 137
- ISBN 3-540-00238-3
- ^ "Discover Greenwich Visitor Centre". Old Royal Naval College. Retrieved 25 March 2015.
- ^ "Greenwich Council – Local travel services – Thames Clippers". www.greenwich.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 13 August 2009. Retrieved 24 September 2009.
- ^ "Greenwich Council – Local travel services – River boat cruises". www.greenwich.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 14 April 2009. Retrieved 24 September 2009.
- ^ "The Thames Path – Greenwich to the London Eye". www.thames-path.org.uk. Retrieved 24 September 2009.
- ^ "National Cycle Network in London". Sustrans. Archived from the original on 11 March 2010. Retrieved 24 September 2009.
- ^ "Trafalgar Rowing Centre". Curlew Rowing Club. Retrieved 21 March 2018.
- ^ "Globe Rowing Club". www.globerowingclub.co.uk. Retrieved 20 March 2018.
- ^ "Team announced for 2017 J16 GB v France Match - British Rowing". British Rowing. 10 July 2017. Retrieved 20 March 2018.
- ^ a b "Interactive Marathon Map". BBC News. 23 April 2009. Retrieved 13 May 2009.
- ^ Norum, Ben (29 April 2015). "Greenwich Peninsula Driving Range: state-of-the-art riverside golf". Evening Standard. Retrieved 22 December 2022.
- ^ "Sister cities of Greenwich (London borough)". Sister Cities of the World.
- ^ Borsuk, By Ken. "Greenwich to welcome a new sister city: Hangzhou, China". Greenwich Time.
- ^ Lear, Edward (1872). More Nonsense. Pictures, Rhymes, Botany, Etc. London: Robert J. Bush.
- Howse, Derek (1997). Greenwich Time and the Longitude. Phillip Wilson. ISBN 0-85667-468-0.
External links
- Greenwich World Heritage Site
- All Things Greenwich – a guide to local shops, services, restaurants, bars & pubs in Greenwich, South East London.
- Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. XI (9th ed.). 1880. pp. 173–174. .
- Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 12 (11th ed.). 1911. pp. 553–554. .
- . . 1914.