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Greenwich Park, London

The Tumuli

The area of Greenwich Park has been considered special for thousands of years. There was a Roman settlement here between 49AD and 350AD, and a Saxon settlement between 550AD and 750AD. There is evidence of a Roman shrine in the park, and visible remains of Saxon burial mounds, known as the Tumuli. It is interesting to ask why this sense of specialness should have been so marked through history. It could be to do with the strategic position of Greenwich Park on the only hill overlooking the Thames on the eastern approach to London. This position would explain defensive works.The Danes, for example, built defensive earthworks here. During the Second World War anti aircraft guns were sighted in the park to attack German planes following the Thames into London. The tops of many trees were lopped off to increase the field of fire, which explains strange tree shapes seen today. But this strategic position still does not really explain the sense of reverence that is apparent through long periods of history. The explanation could in fact, ironically, be related to poor soil quality. Just outside the enclosing wall of Greenwich Park is Blackheath, so named because of the dark, poor soil. Not suitable for crop growing the land has been available for less utilitarian purposes, such as use as a shrine, or burial place. The same thing happened at Sutton Hoo in Suffolk, where an area of poor soil became a major sacred site and burial place for Saxon kings. So ironically land of generally inferior quality is left available for special purposes above and beyond the mundane.

 

Queen Elizabeth Oak

After the Norman Conquest the area of Greenwich Park became a large manor. In 1427 the brother of Henry V Humphrey Duke of Gloucester, inherited the land, and he created an enclosed park in 1433. Greenwich thus became the first enclosed royal park. It was later inherited by the mother of Henry VI, before becoming a favourite royal retreat for the Tudors. Henry VII built a palace at the bottom of the park, and it was here that Henry VIII was born. Henry VIII's daughters Mary and Elizabeth were born at the palace, and his son Edward VI died here. Tudor times are recalled in the grounds of Greenwich Park by the Elizabeth Oak. This huge old hollow oak tree was the focus of much attention. Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn are supposed to have danced around it, and Elizabeth I is said to have taken refreshment while sitting in its protective hollow trunk. Whether these stories are true is unclear. What is clear, however, is that the oak tree is symbolic of England. The navy which spread England's, and then Britain's, power around the world was made of oak. So it makes sense for the Elizabeth Oak to become a kind of secular sacred symbol, around which monarchs dance, or which offer protection to picnicking queens. The ancient oak eventually blew down, and a new tree was planted beside the old one by the Duke of Edinburgh in 1992. The Elizabeth Oak can now take its place beside the Roman shrine and the Saxon Tumuli.

 

 

Formal avenue

In the early seventeenth century James I built the enclosing wall that we see today, replacing an earlier fence. James gave the park and its palace to his wife Anne. It was Anne who commissioned Inigo Jones to build Britain's first palladian style palace at the bottom of the hill. This building known as the Queen's House was actually finished after Anne's death, and given to the wife of Charles I, Henrietta Maria. When Charles II came to the throne in 1660 he set about transforming the park into the sort of formal garden he had seen during his years of continental exile following Parliament's victory in the Civil War. Traces of this garden can still be seen in formal avenues of chestnut trees, such as Blackheath Avenue, and in faint echoes of formal terraces cut into the hillside. Charles demolished the old Tudor palace, and ordered Christopher Wren to start building what was to become the Old Royal Naval College. Charles also called for the building of the Royal Observatory. By the nineteenth century Greenwich Park had become a carefully created "natural" landscape, one of many idealised refuges that were created during the Industrial Revolution.

 

 

 

 

Royal Observatory from the park

Royal interest in the park ended with James II . The palace site was given over to a hospital for sailors, and the park opened up to naval pensioners. Today, just as in Roman or Saxon times, Greenwich Park remains a special place. The fact that the land was not very useful has left a happy legacy. Greenwich Park is free from the tyranny of being useful. People can just relax here for a while.

There are refreshment facilities at the Pavilion Tea House near the Observatory, and at St Mary's Gate Cafe near the National Maritime Museum.

 

 

Opening Times: The park opens at 6am. Closing times vary throughout the year. Use contact details below.

Directions: The main entrance is just off Charlton Way, B219, Blackheath. The Docklands Light Railway has a stop at the Cutty Sark which is a short walk from the National Maritime Museum entrance to the park. Click here for an interactive map centred on the Royal Observatory in Greenwich Park.

Access: There are adapted toilet facilities at the main entrance at Blackheath. There are well maintained paths in the park, but some slopes are steep.

Contact: Greenwich Park Office

telephone: 020 8858 2608

web site: http://www.royalparks.org.uk/parks/greenwich_park/