Introduction
Whenever you look at your watch, whenever a school bell rings indicating it’s time to get started, whenever you say: “We’d better hurry, or we’ll be late,” in short, whenever time is involved, you are coming under the influence of Greenwich (pronounced gren-itch), a little village to the east of the city. So perhaps now is the time, while you’re in London, for a pilgrimage to this shrine that has controlled so much of your life. If the word Greenwich sounds familiar to you, it is probably because all time zones in the Western world are determined from the Greenwich Meridian at the Old Royal Observatory—a tourist spot that you can easily visit. In Greenwich, the Western Hemisphere is officially divided from the Eastern. This village is worth a Saturday by itself—and will undoubtedly provide you a much richer experience than if you spent the day shopping on Portobello or just hanging out at the BYU Centre. Just a word of advice, get an early start.
#1 Start: Island Gardens Station
I recommend that you start your day at the Island Gardens station on the Docklands Light Rail (accessible from the Tower Hill), and walk the Greenwich Foot Tunnel, which will allow you to make your way into Greenwich under the Thames to the Cutty Sark.For those of you with a “been there, done that” agenda, it is always fun to go home and tell your friends (and later your children) that you have walked across the Thames from bank to bank under the water. The Greenwich Foot Tunnel was constructed in 1902 and is open 365 days a year, 24 hours a day. Walking it will bring you out near the Cutty Sark, one of the grand old ships of the nineteenth century, when Britannia did indeed “rule the waves.” For the price of admission, you can go on a guided tour of the ship. (Note that she dates to 1869—the same year that the transcontinental railroad was completed in Utah, linking east and west.) This was the heyday of the large clipper ships.The Cutty Sark, with a crew of twenty-eight men, was used to bring tea from China (1870–77) and wool from Australia (1883-95), establishing a sailing record of 363 miles in one day. Her last sail was in 1938 (the year World War II began for the Brits), and she was put on display in 1957. Don’t miss the much smaller Gipsy Moth IV, the vessel in which Sir Francis Chichester sailed around the world solo in 1966–67. When he returned from his “around-the-world-in-226-days” journey, he was knighted on board by Queen Elizabeth II.Before entering the Greenwich Foot Tunnel, look across the Thames for a magnificent view of the Royal Naval College. This facade is one of the best examples of the work of Christopher Wren, built on the site of the fifteenth-century palace of Henry VII (Palace of Placentia). The palace was the birthplace of Henry VIII and his two daughters, Mary I and Elizabeth I. It is also where his son Edward VI died. Here Henry VIII married two of his wives: Catherine of Aragon and Anne of Cleves. It was also here that his romance began with Anne Boleyn.During the Stuart reign, the palace was largely neglected and Charles II had it torn down, in order to build a grander structure for himself. The new palace was designed to be one building with a central dome, but the design was changed to the two-dome, two-structure format at the request of Henrietta Maria (the daughter-in-law of James I), because it would block her view of the Thames from her residence. Therefore, if you look between the two structures, you will see Queen’s House—with a clear shot at the river.When William and Mary came to the throne, the structure was converted into a hospital for seamen, and William and Mary took up residence at Hampton Court—probably because of William’s asthma, which had also led him to move inland from St. James to Kensington Palace. At that point, royalty’s connection to Greenwich ended. In 1869, the ailing seamen were moved to a more modest facility nearby, and the Royal Naval Collegemoved in and had its headquarters there until 1998. In 1988, the seamen’s hospital was closed.Currently, two parts of the Royal Naval College are open to the public: the painted hall and the chapel. The hall is used for the Royal Naval Officers’ (including Prince Andrew) dining and other public functions. This is where Lord Nelson’s body laid in state after his death at the battle of Trafalgar. The hall was completed in 1722, after nineteen years of work by Sir James Thornhill and his assistants, who were paid £3 per square yard for the ceiling and £1 per square yard for the walls. Thornhill, who painted the interior of the dome on St. Paul’s, as well as decorations at Hampton Court, painted himself into the picture of George I and his family on the far wall. Thornhill, is the father-in-law of William Hogarth. The chapel, rebuilt after a fire in 1779, is done in a Wedgewood blue, with an altar piece and statues of faith, hope, charity, and humility executed by Benjamin West, an expatriate American from Philadelphia. Public services are held here on Sundays. If you see nothing else at Greenwich, I recommend you visit the inside of these two buildings.
#2 Romney Road
When you leave the Cutty Sark, make your way along the Thames Path in front of the Royal Naval College to Park Row. Turn right onto Park Row and then right again onto Romney Road.You may want to visit the Royal Naval College while you are here. The chapel is under the dome of the structure farthest from the Cutty Sark (entered through the far side entrance), and the painted hall is in the closer domed structure, connected to the first by an underground passage.On Romney Road, you can visit the Queen’s House, and the National Maritime Museum; both are part of the Royal Museums Greenwich, along with the Cutty Sark and the Royal Observatory. The Queen’s House was designed by Inigo Jones, who also did the Whitehall Banqueting Hall (See Whitehall walk) in 1635. It was the first Palladian-style house created in England and is interesting for its cube-like structure. It was designed for the wife of James I, who died while it was being constructed, and was occupied by the wife of Charles I, Henrietta Maria. After the Civil War, it was given to her as a dowager home (the dowager queen is the widow of a previous king) but was only occupied for a brief season. After that, it was seldom used by royalty. It became a school for seamen’s children in 1806 and part of the National Maritime Museum in 1939. The Queen's House has recently undergone a restoration, completed in 2016.The National Maritime Museum (also refurbished) lays out the entire history of Britain’s glorious naval past. Interiors of all sorts of vessels from a submarine to a passenger liner of the 1930s are only a small part of this fascinating collection. Entire galleries in the museum are dedicated to the exploits of Captain James Cook in the South Pacific and the battles and triumphs of Lord Horatio Nelson, including the uniform he was wearing when he was shot.
#3 Royal Observatory
After leaving the Maritime Museum, I recommend that you climb up the Greenwich Park hill to the Royal Observatory. If you would rather wait, a small shuttle will take you from Romney Road to the observatory and bring you back.At the Royal Observatory (part of the Royal Museums Greenwich) you can see and have your picture taken astraddle the dividing line known as the Greenwich Meridian (or prime meridian) between the Eastern and Western Hemispheres. This line is projected at night by a laser beam across the Thames. This is the point from which all other lines of longitude (east to west) are drawn; it culminates at the north and south poles. In 1884, Greenwich Meridian Time (GMT) became the standard measurement of time throughout the world. In the entrance of the observatory, you can view a digital clock that projects time—supposedly accurate to 100th of a second. In its day, the most accurate of clocks; it has been superceded by atomic clocks that are even more accurate. Atop one of the turrets of the building is a ball on a rod that drops at 1:00 p.m. daily, as it has done since 1833, to give the ships on the Thames a visual representation of the time. When London began to produce too much light pollution in 1948, the Royal Observatory was moved to Cambridge, where it remained until 1998.The new Peter Harrison Planetarium (formerly the London Planetarium by Madame Tussard's) is located at the Observatory. There are many interesting exhibits, shows, and events to take advantage of; check online for the latest information.There are other tourist spots farther up the hill, including a deer park. Any of you who are familiar with Benjamin West’s painting the Death of General Wolfe may be interested in the Macartney House, Wolfe’s family residence. Wolfe is also honored by a statue near theRoyal Observatory and is buried in the vaults of St. Alfege. However, I suspect that most of you will want to go back down the hill and visit the Greenwich Market, an excellent arts and crafts open-air market (only on the weekend): Portobello in miniature.
#4 Nelson Road
When you leave the Royal Observatory, return down the hill on King William Walk to Romney Road and turn left onto Nelson Road.On your way down the hill you will pass a Fan Museum—the only one of its kind in the world. And farther along Nelson Road, on Greenwich Church Street, is one of Nicolas Hawksmoor’s churches, St. Alfege with St. Peter. (Alfege was an eleventh-century archbishop of Canterbury murdered by marauding Danes on this spot in 1012. Earlier, in the Wall walk, we visited Hawksmoor’s Christ’s Church in Spitalfields.) Although it is quite shabby on its exterior, it is an interesting church inside, and the church in which Henry VIII was baptized.The Millennium Dome, visible from the eastern end of Greenwich, was built in 2000 at the cost of one-billion Pounds Stirling, which the Brits hoped would vie with the 1851 Crystal Palace in popularity, but it turned out to be an almost total failure when it came to attracting crowds. It was soon closed, due in large measure to its staggering maintenance costs. Now renamed The O2, it has since been sold and re-purposed, hosting events ranging from a Bon Jovi rock concert in 2007 to the 2012 Summer Olympics and Paralympics. It's also technically in Greenwich on the Greenwich Peninsula, but some distance to the north.
#5 Docklands Light Rail, the Cutty Sark, Canary Wharf
If you got an early enough start in the day, when you finish, you may want to make your way back to the Docklands Light Rail (an elevated railroad that provides a superb aerial view of the area) at the Cutty Sark, and take a tour of the docklands, or take the tube to Canary Wharf, one of the most posh (read rich) sections of east London.As the term docklands suggests, this is the area where most of the ships used to arrive with their wares. During World War II, the docks became a major target of German bombing attacks, and the area was heavily damaged. The area, known as the London Docklands has been renovated with upscale housing, businesses, and a museum at Canary Wharf detailing the growth of the area through history. Canary Wharf Tower (a.k.a.One Canada Square) is one of many examples of modern architecture in the area and the second tallest building in London at a height of 235 metres (771 feet).
#6 The End: Return to the BYU Centre
You may also want to catch a boat home to central London and experience the Thames somewhat like royalty used to travel. If that is above your budget, enquire for other alternatives at the Docklands Light Rail (DLR) station.
