Maritime Greenwich [antikvár]

MARITIME GREENWICH Frank G. G. Carr WHEN, after the Second World War Blackwall power station was built straddling the division between the eastern and the western hemispheres, this fact was permanently indicated on the brickwork by a verticai line of demarcation flanked by two words. At the opening ceremony, a puzzled small boy was overheard seeking an explanation from his father. 'What's that, Dad?' he asked. 'That?' came the answer, 'that's the builders name. Meridián of Greenwich, known all over the world.' In the beginning, however, the fame of Greenwich was not founded on the fact that all nations, east and west, chose its Mean Time as their universal standard. There was a much more fun-damental reason. Built along the south-ern margin of that river of liquid history, the Thames, a bare five miles below the moated Tower, mellow with age, and the city that it guards, the ancient borough of Greenwich stands like a janitor's lodge at the very threshold of London. For more than a thousand years, whether in a ship coming up from seaward, or travelling over Blackheath by the old Dover Road built by the Romans, he who would reach the metropolis by the shortest route from the Continent must pass Greenwich on his way. History books can be dull, but history never; and Greenwich will always be fascinating for those who, in the mind's eye, can gaze back into the past and see again the scenes that were enacted long ago. One can imagine the Danés arriving in their longships and leaving them in the river at Greenwich while they set off to raid Canterbury in 1012, return ing with Archbishop Alfege to murder him where his church now stands. They were back again four years later, in 1016, for their attack on London. In the lOth Century, Old Court and Combe were two separate manors, given by Princess Elstrudis, King Alfred's daughter, to the Abbey of St Peter at Ghent. In Domesday Book they appear as one, united by the name of 'East Greenwich'. In 1414, however, under Henry V, this reverted to the Crown as the 'Manor of Greenwich'. How many visitors from the United States know today that it was of this manor that the early settlers in Virginia, where James-town was founded in 1607, held their title from James I? The first king to have a house at Greenwich was probably Henry IV, who about 1400 seems to have built one for himself near where Morden College now stands. In 1415 Henry V returned in triumph from his victory at Agin-court, and it was at Blackheath that he was met by the mayor and aldermen of London. After his death, his brother, the 'good' Duke Humphrey of Glou-cester became regent. Realising the strategie importance of Greenwich and Blackheath for the defence of London, in 1427 he built a watch tower to guard the approaches where Flamsteed House now stands. He also built himself a country house by the river where the Royal Naval College is now, calling it 'Bella Court', making it a centre of learning for scholars and artists under his patronage, and forming a library which he bequeathed to Oxford, there to be known as 'Duke Humphrey's Library'. In 1433, Henry VI, his nephew, allowed him to enclose 200 acres for a park, making this the first of the enclosures known as the 'Royal Parks'. Continued on page 8 ? left: Under the Queen's House, the level is that of the old Deptford to Woolwich road. Here Sir Walter Ralegh is said to have laid his cloak on the ground before Queen Elizabeth I. facing page: It is interesting to contrast the modern viezo, looking towards the river from the Wolfe statue in Greenwich Park (above), with that painted in 1690, probably by Vorstermann (below). The Queen's House is unchanged, but colon-nades now mark where the main road ran, and no part of the Tudor Palace remains above ground.