Greenwich is located in the Royal Borough of Greenwich and situated 5.5 miles (8.9 km) east south-east of Charing Cross.
Greenwich is famous for its maritime history and gives its name to the Greenwich Meridian (0° longitude) and Greenwich Mean Time.
Greenwich became the site of a royal palace, the Palace of Placentia from the 15th century, and was the birthplace of many Tudors, including Henry VIII and Elizabeth I.
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| Palace of Placentia |
The Greenwich Meridian was established by Sir George Airy in 1851. By 1884, over two-thirds of all ships used it as the reference meridian on their charts and maps. In October of that year, at the behest of U.S. President Chester A. Arthur, 41 delegates from 25 nations met in Washington, D.C., USA, for the International Meridian Conference. This conference selected the meridian passing through Greenwich as the official prime meridian due to its popularity.
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| One foot in the East, and one foot in the West |
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| First Shop in the World? |
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| Well here's the confirmation |
Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) originally referred to the mean solar time at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, London, and later became adopted as a global time standard. It is a term commonly used in the United Kingdom and countries of the Commonwealth, including Australia, South Africa, India, Pakistan and Malaysia, and many other countries in the Eastern Hemisphere.
Before the introduction of UTC on 1 January 1972, Greenwich Mean Time (also known as Zulu time) was the same as Universal Time (UT), a standard astronomical concept used in many technical fields.
The Royal Observatory, Greenwich in London played a major role in the history of astronomy and navigation, and is best known as the location of the prime meridian. It is situated on a hill in Greenwich Park, overlooking the River Thames.
The observatory was commissioned in 1675 by King Charles II, with the foundation stone being laid on 10 August. At that time the king also created the position of Astronomer Royal, to serve as the director of the observatory. John Flamsteed was appointed as the first AR.
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| Royal Observatory |
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| Most Unusual Weather Vane? |
The Cutty Sark is a British clipper ship. Built on the Clyde in 1869 for the Jock Willis Shipping Line, she was one of the last tea clippers to be built and one of the fastest, coming at the end of a long period of design development which halted as sailing ships gave way to steam propulsion.
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| Cutty Sark - Above Ground |
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| Cutty Sark - Below Ground |
Other Pictures of Interest
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| William IV |
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| The Meridian is in fact a huge Sundial |
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| Millennium Dome - You may have seen this in some recent films. |
