Greenwich

Greenwich is a town, now part of the south-eastern urban sprawl of London, England, on the south bank of the River Thames in the London Borough of Greenwich. It is best known for its maritime history and as the location of Greenwich Mean Time. The Royal Greenwich Observatory is located in Greenwich and the Prime Meridian passes through the building. 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Mean Time was at one time based on the time observations made at the Royal Greenwich Observatory, before being superseded by Coordinated Universal Time.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 Greenwich no longer hosts a working astronomical observatory, a ball still drops daily to mark the exact moment of 1 pm, and there is a museum of astronomical and navigational tools, particularly John Harrison's marine chronometers. The observatory is situated in Greenwich Park, which used to be the grounds of 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. The Old Royal Naval College is Sir Christopher Wren's domed masterpiece at the centre of the heritage site. The site is administered by the Greenwich Foundation who open it daily, free of charge, to visitors. Several of the buildings are let to The University of Greenwich and one, the King Charles block, to Trinity College of Music. The Painted Hall, was painted by James Thornhill, and the Chapel of St Peter and St Paul's Chapel interior designed by James Athenian Stuart, both buildings are open to the public as is the Visitor Centre from which guided tours run daily 7 days a week. Greenwich also features the world's only museum dedicated to fans, the Fan Museum, in a Georgian townhouse at 10-12 Croom's Hill (fee payable). Also on Croom's Hill, on the corner of the junction with Nevada Street is Greenwich Theatre, formerly Crowder's Music Hall - one of two Greenwich theatres, the other being Greenwich Playhouse. 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. Its future has yet to be decided. Nearby for many years was also displayed Gipsy Moth IV, the 54ft yacht sailed by Sir Francis Chichester in his single-handed, 226-day circumnavigation of the globe during 1966-67. In 2004, Gypsy 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 Rene Bellot. Near the remains of the Cutty Sark, a circular building contains the entrance to the Greenwich foot tunnel. This connects Greenwich to the Isle of Dogs on the northern side of the River Thames. The north exit of the tunnel is at 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 on the Greenwich Peninsula. It is next to North Greenwich tube station, about three miles east from the Greenwich town centre, northwest of Charlton. The Greenwich Millennium Village is a new urban regeneration development to the south of the Dome. The town centre features Greenwich Market, a covered market popular with tourists at the weekends which is under threat of closure by the owners Greenwich Hospital who want to redevelop the site for flats. Source wikipedia

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