7/13/07 - Greenwich - royal roots

7/13/07

Greenwich - Royal roots

Greenwich is a small busy little town. No wonder, the town use to host a royal palace, the palace was the principle residence of Henry VII his son’s and Edmund Tudor was born there. Both Mary and Elizabeth where born at Greenwich and baptist at St. Alfege church. It became Elizabeth's favorite summer residence. For those of you have watched Shakespeare in Love, Gweniths’s character, Violet, is taken by Lord Wessex (Colin Firth) to be presented to Queen Elizabeth at Greenwich. In the movie you can see the National Maritime Museum, which is connected to the Queen’s House (the only original building still standing from the original palace).

Once we docked our tour guide took us to the center of town, they have a small little market where you can pick up anything you might need (food to clothing, old books and antiques). We walked around the center and made it to St. Alfege Church. The original church was build in April of 1012 but during a storm in 1710 the building collapsed. It was designed by Baroque architect Nicholas Hawksmoor in 1714, and was funded by the Commission for Building Fifty New Churches. It was completed in 1718.

Our next stop was the National Maritime Museum. The museum was established in 1934 in what was the former Royal Hospital School and included the Queen's House and the Royal Observatory, Greenwich.
Across the street from the Queen’s House is the Royal Naval College the site was formerly occupied by the pre-Tudor "Palace at Greenwich" – also known as the Palace of Placentia.

Pictures above:
1. Greenwich street, St. Alfege church at the end of the street
2. St. Alfege church - they still hold services
3. St. Alfege
4. National Maritime Museum (free admission) - my flatmate waving hello lol
5. Queen’s House (left of the Maritime Museum)