Last Sunday my middle son Richard and I joined other members of our walking group for a visit to Greenwich. Richard lives in London and actually took part of his PGCE teaching qualification at the University of Greenwich but for many of us it was our first weekend in London since lockdown. Although transport for London are still asking people to wear masks on buses and the tube, life seems to be slowly returning to normal. I did find it strange not to see the usual crowds of tourists in central London.
Greenwich is about four miles down river from central London and has been important throughout British history. The park is probably the site of a Roman temple and Saxon burial mounds.
The oddly named Palace of Placentia, also known as Greenwich palace was a favourite of the Tudors. Henry VIII was born there as were his daughters Mary and Elizabeth. It was demolished by Charles II but there is still a lot for visitors to Greenwich to see.
Greenwich today
The royal London borough of Greenwich is now a world heritage site and one of the top places to visit in London. From world class museums to beautiful parks and bustling markets there is something for everyone. Some of the attractions form part of the Maritime Greenwich world heritage site and you can buy a day pass ticket that is valid for several attractions. We just enjoyed a five mile walk through the park and under the Thames but I do intend to come back for a better look. In the meantime I thought you might enjoy seeing some of my photos and discovering a bit more about some of the attractions
The Royal Naval College
The Old Naval College was designed by Sir Christopher Wren and Nicholas Hawksmoor. It is famous for the painted hall which is known as England’s Sistine Chapel. Originally part of the building was used as a hospital for sailors. Some of the building is now used by the University of Greenwich.
The National Maritime Museum
The National Maritime Museum which is free to enter was originally a school for seafarer’s children.
The Cutty Sark
The Cutty Sark is the only surviving tea clipper. Actually it nearly did not survive as it caught fire during restoration. It is now in dry dock and you can walk underneath the hull. It was designed to carry tea from China to Britain as fast as possible and for a time it was the fastest sailing ship on the route. The name comes from the Scots for a short petticoat and was used in the poem Tam O’ Shanter by Robert Burns.
The Royal observatory
The Royal Observatory was also designed by Sir Christopher Wren. It was founded in 1676 by Charles II. It houses a historic collection of clocks and telescopes. The red ball is dropped at 1 p.m. so ships on the Thames can set their clocks to Greenwich Mean Time.
The Prime Meridian
This is the line which separates the Eastern hemisphere from the Western Hemisphere like the equator splits the northern and southern hemispheres. It is where GMT starts. In 1884 Greenwich was chosen as the Prime Meridian of the world, zero degrees longitude.
The Greenwich Foot Tunnel
The Greenwich Foot Tunnel is a masterpiece of Victorian engineering which goes under the Thames linking Greenwich to the Isle of Dogs. It was opened in 1902 to make it easier for dockers to get to work. We walked through it to get a Canaletto’s view of Greenwich. Unfortunately the lifts weren’t working.
Greenwich Park
One of eight royal parks in London. It provides superb views over South London particularly Canary Wharf. Le Notre, the French landscape gardener who designed the gardens at Versailles was responsible for part of the original design of the park
Practicalities
The Greenwich Portal has details of hotels and restaurants in the area. Greenwich has very good transport links. You might want to catch a ferry boat. A cruise down the Thames is a good way to see more of London.
Some of the attractions are included on the London Explorer Pass.
21 responses to “A day out in Greenwich”
What a lovely part of the city. I’ve never been to England before and so I enjoyed your tour of Greenwich, especially the maritime museum. We have a seaport museum near us and enjoy dipping in to nautical history when we visit. Thank you for sharing this walk!
It is very interesting. One of our walkers even went to school there.
What fun, seeing another part of the world I haven’t seen before! Thank you for taking us on your outing — I enjoyed tagging along.
I love Greenwich! Especially if I can arrive by boat. Thanks for taking me there.
I have sailed past it but never landed there.
So fascinating! Love those photos. I was born in England, my dad was in the military stationed there. I think they lived in Peterborough and/or lackenheath. I know I was born in Lackenheath.
What a great tour! Thank you so much for sharing. This is so much fun, seeing different parts of the world.
I enjoyed all the walktober posts.
Love this area in London, thanks for sharing
Thank you so much for joining Walktober this year, Anne. This was a wonderful walk and visit to a place I once visited a little over 20 years ago. I enjoyed your images and your descriptions of some of the attractions in the area. 🙂
Thanks for the work you put in hosting. I enjoyed reading all the other posts. We had a great world tour.
What a bummer your ‘like’ button is not working for me right now.
I just wanted to tell you thank you for sharing your Walktober with us. It was a delightful excursion and has given me yet one more reason to visit London!
Hi Anne,
I don’t recall that we’ve met but I’m one of the long timers to this coffee share event, now somewhere in my 4th year.
Thanks for the great tour and visit to Greenwich. You really took us there.
I’m one of the story creators and tellers of the group. If you’re a short story reader, I hope you’ll stop by to check out my collection, but more important, I hope you will join us again next weekend sharing fun stuff.
Blessings.
I am very pleased to have found you and will certainly check out the other contributors.
Thanks for this tour Anne. I loved it. I have been to Greenwich, but that was a few years ago, when we were able to travel. It was a quick trip and I was only able to see the Maritime Museum and the Royal Observatory. Your post has made me think how great it would be to go back for a better look.
The ladies are thinking of going back for a proper look at Greenwich market.
This is a wonderful walk, Anne. I remembered visiting Greenwich some time ago during one of my visits to England. Thank you for sharing this tour and your beautiful photos with #WeekendCoffeeShare.
Thanks for the welcome. I had forgotten about the coffee share until I found your post on Thursday doors.
Thanks for the virtual tour! I hope to make it to London (and now, thanks to your post, Greenwich) someday.
Thank you for taking us on this tour, Anne. I’ve been to London several times before but never to Greenwich. I greatly enjoyed the visit.
Greenwich is certainly worth visiting. If you are in central London you can catch a ferry and see the London skyline.