Borough of Greenwich

This London borough bordered by the River Thames on its northern edge is situated east of London’s centre and is known for its Royal influences especially with the Tudors.  King Henry VIII was born at Greenwich palace situated close to the River Thames.  He married two of his wives there and his two daughters, Elizabeth and Mary, were also born there.  As Henry VIII’s  interests in boats grew, he had docks  built at Woolwich and Deptford which serviced the expanding Royal Navy.  In the 1600s, King William and Mary founded the Naval Hospital in Greenwich which became the Royal Naval College in the mid-1800s.  Because of the naval influence in the area, the science of navigation also had strong roots with instruments measuring longitude and latitude being calibrated using the “Prime Meridian” located at the Royal Observatory.  Ships gave way to trains, and the first railway in London ran between London and Greenwich. With the trains came the need for a standardised way for the whole country to keep time.  This was first introduced into Parliament in 1845 but took another 35 years before Railway time was incorporated and another four years after that in 1884 before Greenwich Mean Time became the standard time for the whole country. Because of the Naval Shipyards, the area also was home to the Royal Ordnance Factory that built munitions to go on the ships. The area also later housed the Royal Arsenal, which was the largest ammunition factory and arms warehouse in Britain.  Workers in the Woolwich Arsenal Armaments Factory formed the football club and gave themselves the name “Woolwich Arsenal”.  Arsenal, the current football team and nicknamed the ‘Gunners’, no longer plays in Greenwich but traces its roots back to the area. Greenwich, being situated on the Prime Meridian, was the place where the new millennium officially started.  The Millennium Dome was built on reclaimed and cleansed gasworks factory land is now a venue called the O2 where concerts and exhibits are held.

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