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Greenwich

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Greenwich

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Greenwich (pronounced 'Grenitch') is a town, now part of the southeastern suburbs of London in the postcode district SE10, on the south bank of the river Thames in the London Borough of Greenwich.

Sites of interest

The Royal Greenwich Observatory, originally built as a workplace for the Astronomer Royal, is located on a hill in Greenwich Park in Greenwich, London, overlooking the River Thames. The Prime Meridian, to which longitude refers, goes through the observatory. It is marked by a brass strip in the courtyard and, since 2000, a powerful green laser shining north across London and Essex.

The observatory was commissioned in 1675 by King Charles II. Flamsteed House (1675-76), the original part of the Observatory, was designed by Sir Christopher Wren and was the first purpose-built scientific research facility in Britain.

Greenwich Mean Time was at one time based on the time observations made at the Royal Greenwich Observatory, before being superseded by Coordinated Universal Time. While the Royal Greenwich Observatory no longer hosts a working astronomical observatory, it remains centre of excellence for modern astronomy.

A time ball still drops daily to mark the exact moment of 1pm (13:00) - this was installed by Astronomer Royal John Pond in 1833. There is a good museum of astronomical and navigational tools, notably including John Harrison's prize-winning longitude chronometer, H4.

The Royal Greenwich Observatory is now called the Royal Observatory Greenwich, and is part of the National Maritime Museum. The observatory is situated in Greenwich Park, which used to be the grounds the Royal Palace of Placentia. At the bottom of the park is the National Maritime Museum which also includes the Queen's House, designed by Inigo Jones. It is free to visit all these buildings. Greenwich also features the world's only museum dedicated to fans, in a Georgian townhouse at 10-12 Croom's Hill (fee payable).

The Cutty Sark (a clipper ship) is moored in a dry dock by the river, as is the "Gypsy Moth IV", the small sailing boat used by Sir Francis Chichester for his single-handed, 226-day circumnavigation of the globe during 1966-67.

By the Cutty Sark, there is a pedestrian tunnel, the Greenwich foot tunnel, to the Isle of Dogs. This comes out in Island Gardens, from where the famous view of Greenwich Hospital painted by Canaletto can be seen.

The Millennium Dome was built on a disused British Gas site here. It is next to North Greenwich tube station, about three miles from Greenwich town centre, north of Charlton.

The University of Greenwich and the Trinity College of Music are now based in the Greenwich Hospital (formerly the Royal Naval College) buildings between Greenwich Park and the river. These buildings were designed by Sir Christopher Wren and include the Painted Hall, painted by James Thornhill and St Paul's Chapel. These are also open to the public for free.

The church dominating the western side of the town centre is St Alfege's Church, designed by Nicholas Hawksmoor in 1714, and marks the place where Archbishop of Canterbury Alfege (also spelt 'Alphege') was murdered in 1012.

The town centre features a covered market popular with tourists at the weekends.

In 1997 maritime Greenwich was added to the list of World Heritage Sites.

Famous residents

  • Astronomer Royal Sir George Airy lived in the White House, Croom's Hill
  • artist Sir James Thornhill was said to have lived in Park Hall on Croom's Hill (originally designed for architect John James who never actually occupied the house).
  • Dr Samuel Johnson, compiler of the first English dictionary, lived in Greenwich Church Street when he first came to London in 1736
  • Poet Cecil Day-Lewis lived at 6 Croom's Hill
  • comedian Dan Leno rented accommodation at the Spreadeagle tavern, Stockwell Street in 1902
  • Architect Sir John Vanbrugh lived at 121 Maze Hill in a house of his own design overlooking Greenwich Park
  • Benjamin Waugh, founder of the UK charity the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children lived in Croom's Hill.
  • General James Wolfe lived in McCartney House in Croom's Hill, and was buried in St Alfege's Church