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The town of Greenwich is on the south bank of the River Thames, five miles downstream from London.

The Roman road, Watling Street, on the high ground on Blackheath on it’s way from Dover to London, passed by the site of Greenwich. There are the remains of a Roman Temple there.

In 1011, the Danes captured Aelfheah, the Archbishop of Canterbury and demanded money from his safe return. Although, after 7 months, the money was raised, Aelfheah refused that it be used to pay for his freedom. The Danes killed Aelfheah (or Alfeghe as he usually now known). He became venerated as a Christian martyr and buried at Canterbury Cathedral. However the site of his martyrdom became the place where the Church of St. Alfege’s stands, the parish church of old Greenwich.

In Domesday, the town was called Greenviz, which began the medieval period as a quiet riverside village, with fishing, ferrying and boat repair, etc. and later had a Franciscan Friary.

Greenwich began to take off in 1417 when the then Duke of Gloucester acquired the Manor and built a Palace he called Bella Court. After his death, it became the residence of Margaret Anjou, wife of Henry VI. For successive Sovereigns of England, it became a principal Palace, undergoing rebuilds, refurbishments and additions. By then it was known as the Palace of Placentia, (meaning pleasant place). Henry VIII loved it and used it for lavish entertainments especially when Diplomats and Envoys visited. King Henry VIII, Queen Mary I and Queen Elizabeth I were all born at Greenwich.

By the time of the Restoration of the Monarchy in 1660, the old medieval palace was neglected and in ruins. The building of the Queen’s House, designed by Inigo Jones, was the beginning of the construction at Greenwich of a stunning series of buildings, by the greatest architects of their day. King Charles Block was started by John Webb in 1664 and finished by Sir Christopher Wren, who began his work in 1696. Wren planned the three other blocks to match the first with the assistance of Nicolas Hawksmoor. The project was completed in 1753 by Sir John Vanburgh, as Wren had died thirty years earlier. This stunning quartet of buildings was used as the Royal Naval Hospital, housing the invalids of that service. (From 1873 it housed the Royal Naval College). The other main building that completes the stunning vista from the Thames is the Royal Observatory of 1675, of Wren design.

Meanwhile royalty had lost interest in Greenwich as a residence, preferring to stay in London and palaces further west. Hawksmoor designed a replacement parish church for old St. Alphege’s, which had fallen down in a storm during 1710. The Observatory was beginning to map the sky and with the development of the world’s first successful Chronometer by John Harrison in 1763, the problem of Longitude was solved. The Greenwich Meridian, zero degrees longitude, is the perpetual memorial to this success.

In the 19th Century, Greenwich became fashionable for Whitebait suppers and Greenwich Park was the site for fairs and festivities, some of which became notorious. The fairs were stopped in 1857 and they moved on up to Blackheath. The first railway into London opened in 1838 and ran it’s course over a series of viaducts which march across the South Eastern suburbs into the City from Greenwich.

In the 1930’s, Greenwich became the home of the National Maritime Museum. Record breaking Tea Clipper, the Cutty Sark, was found a permanent site on the riverside in 1954. (The hull of this precious ship was damaged by fire in 2007 during a refurbishment and we hope she can be successfully restored). Cutty Sark was joined by lone round-the-world yachtsman, Sir Francis Chichester’s 54 foot ketch, Gypsy Moth IV. The Dome, love it or loath it, is the latest of the famous buildings of Greenwich. After the initial millenium exhibition finished, the dome remained closed for some years. However, the Millenium Dome has re-opened, is now known as "The O2" and stages concerts and contains a cinema with the biggest screen in London.