George Biddell Airy, seventh Astronomer Royal, commissioned the enormous telescope that still defines the Prime Meridian and is situated in the building ahead of you. Observations made here were used by cartographers, surveyors, navigators and . . . — — Map (db m117709) HM
To The Intrepid Young
Bellot
Of the French Navy
Who in the Endeavour to Rescue
Franklin
Shared the Fate and the Glory
Of that Illustrious Navigator
From His British Admirers
1853 — — Map (db m117744) HM
James Bradley, third Astronomer Royal, observed with improved accuracy using the telescope (purchased in 1749) that first defined this line in 1750. Owing to the unequal length of solar days, astronomers measure the time using distant stars. Stars . . . — — Map (db m117741) HM
A Brief History
of Britain's
Oldest Brewer
Records show that Faversham was first associated with brewing as early as 1147, when King Stephen founded the town's abbey which contained a brewhouse that produced ale for the monks.
Shepherd . . . — — Map (db m121704) HM
This is one of the two main anchors from Ark Royal, the Royal Navy's last conventional aircraft carrier. Updated during her life with the addition of steam catapults, mirror landing gear and an angled flight deck, she was able to operate . . . — — Map (db m117747) HM
The most noble King Charles II, greatest patron of the arts of Astronomy and Navigation, had this Observatory built to serve both arts. In the year of our Lord 1676, in the twenty-eighth year of his reign. Jonas Moore, Surveyor General of the . . . — — Map (db m117739) HM
Dial Square
Only the entrance front with its powerful archway remains of the former gun machining factory, built 1717-20, which with the other buildings covered a wide area and was originally known as the Great Pile.
In 1886 workers in Dial . . . — — Map (db m118513) HM
The Family Tombstone of Edmond Halley (1656-1742) 2nd Astronomer Royal, 1720-42
The tombstone was moved to the Observatory from the churchyard of St Margaret's in Lee when Halley's tomb was restored by the Lord Commissioners of the Admiralty in . . . — — Map (db m117738) HM
The building on the East side of Number 1 Street, which now houses The Firepower Museum, used to be the Paper Cartridge Factory and The Royal Laboratory Offices.
The exact charge of powder for a firearm was placed in a cartridge case or . . . — — Map (db m118530) HM
John Flamsteed, the first Astronomer Royal at Greenwich, used a 100-foot (30.5m) well on this site to accommodate a very long telescope. The astronomer sat at the bottom of the well and observed stars that passed directly overhead. It was hoped . . . — — Map (db m117705) HM
This tunnel constructed by the London County Council was opened in August 1902.
Sir John MacDougall chairman of the Council; Lord Monkswell vice chairman; Henry Clarke deputy chairman;
Col F. Sheffield chairman bridges comm; J. E. Sears vice . . . — — Map (db m68120) HM
The Greenwich Foot Tunnel is situated beneath the River Thames and connects Cutty Sark Gardens in the Royal Borough of Greenwich to the south, with Island Gardens in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets in the north. It is a listed building. . . . — — Map (db m121705) HM
This pillar was built in 1798 to help astronomers align the Observatory's meridian telescope in the building behind you. This telescope defined what was then the Greenwich Meridian established in 1750 and was kept accurately positioned by sighting . . . — — Map (db m117740) HM
Gun 2/46 Muzzle stamped 100, on the chase is a coronet with the letter "M" for the Duke of Marlborough. On the reinforce it states "GR" under a crown, referring to the Royal George ship on which it was once mounted and from whose hull it was . . . — — Map (db m118558) HM
Gun 2/75 On the chase the cypher of the Earl of Chatham, a peerage created in 1766 for William Pitt the Elder. On the first reinforce the cypher of George III. On the first reinforce ring the maker's name"J & H King" and the date 1809. On the . . . — — Map (db m118557) HM
Gun 2/86
On the base ring the maker's name and date of manufacture "S·Eccles 1854".
On the first reinforce a cypher of Queen Victoria with the words "Dieu et Mon Droit".
This translates as "God and My Rights" and was a motto of the . . . — — Map (db m118556) HM
Gun 2/90 On the base ring this gun shows the maker's name "F.M. Eardley-Wilmot".
On the first reinforce a cypher of Queen Victoria with the words "Dieu et Mon Droit".
This translates as "God and My Rights" and was a motto of the British . . . — — Map (db m118560) HM
Gun 2/91 On the base ring this gun shows the maker's name "F.M. Eardley-Wilmot".
On the first reinforce a cypher of Queen Victoria with the words "Dieu et Mon Droit".
This translates as "God and My Rights" and was a motto of the British . . . — — Map (db m118559) HM
Gun 28/10
The Gibraltar Gun is one of the largest and heaviest objects in the Royal Artillery's collection – a 38 foot long coastal defence artillery piece weighing 40 tonnes.
The 9.2 inch calibre gun is a rare surviving example . . . — — Map (db m118555) HM
Gun 3/39 Date 1785
36 pounder
Smooth Bore Muzzle loading
Manufactured in Falkirk Scotland by the Carron Company in 1785
This piece is mounted on a 42 pounder number 42 standing skeleton carriage. — — Map (db m118564) HM
The stockless anchor was developed to avoid the difficult and labour-intensive task of stowing Admiralty-pattern anchors.
Stockless anchors can be hauled right up into the hawse-pipe with the flukes close against the ship's side. Hall's patent . . . — — Map (db m117746) HM
James Clavell Square
This Square is named after James Clavell, the famous author, screenwriter film director and producer. His connection to Firepower, The Royal Artillery Museum and Woolwich is through his service in the Royal Artillery. In May . . . — — Map (db m118539) HM
This Monument
Is Erected
By The Surviving Officers
And Men
In The Memory Of Their Comrades
Who Fell In Action
In New Zealand
During The Years 1863-1864 — — Map (db m117748) WM
( plaque 1 )
Nike
(pronounced Neekay)
Ancient Greek Goddess of Victory
Spirit of the Games Sculptor,
Pavlos Angelos Kougionmtzis
( plaque 2 )
A gift from the people of Ancient
Olympia to the . . . — — Map (db m118511) HM
Ordnance Survey Bench Mark
The small plate (marked ‘G1692’) is an Ordnance Survey bench mark. Similar marks appear on walls and buildings across the country. The height of each above sea level has been measured and recorded. Dating from the . . . — — Map (db m117704) HM
Royal Regiment of Artillery
On 26 May 1716 the first two permanent companies of
Royal Artillery were formed by Royal Warrant in the Reign of George the 1st.
The two companies numbered 100 men each.
The warrant was signed on this site then . . . — — Map (db m118538) HM
To the Glory of God and the Grateful Memory of Those Employees of the South Metropolitan Gas Company Attached to the East Greenwich, Phoenix Wharf and Ordnance Wharf Works, Who in Response to the Call of Their King and Country Sacrificed Their . . . — — Map (db m118201) WM
Behind the window is the telescope which defines the Greenwich Meridian, the transit circle of 1850 designed by 7th Astronomer Royal, George Airy. It was the centre-line of this instrument which was adopted by an international conference in . . . — — Map (db m117742) HM
Institution of Mechanical Engineers
Engineering
Heritage Award
The Royal Arsenal
1671 to 1967
The Royal Arsenal produced much of the armaments required by this country during the growth of the British Empire and through two World Wars. Many . . . — — Map (db m118531) HM
Welcome to the Royal Observatory, the historic home of British astronomy, Greenwich Mean Time and the Prime Meridian of the world.
King Charles II signed a Royal Warrant in June 1675 to authorize building the Royal Observatory on the . . . — — Map (db m117707) HM
The Shepherd 24-hour Gate Clock
This is one of the earliest electrically driven public clocks and was installed here in 1852. The dial always shows Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). In summer Britain converts to British Summer Time (BST), which is . . . — — Map (db m117703) HM
The Royal Observatory is famous for supplying Greenwich Mean Time. From 1833, astronomers made a daily signal to mariners in the Thames at 1 p.m. (1300 hrs) by raising and dropping the time-ball on Flamsteed House. In 1852 electrical technology . . . — — Map (db m117708) HM
This Turkish bronze gun was cast in 1790-91 (AH1212), in the reign of the Ottoman Sultan Selim III. It weighs 5.2 tonnes, fired stone shot just over 56 kilos and is one of two taken by Admiral Sir John Duckworth from Kinali Island in the sea of . . . — — Map (db m117749) HM WM
Turkish Gun
A Turkish gun made around 1798. This model is called a Licorne and the Turkish emblem, a star ans crescent, is visible on the top of the gun. — — Map (db m118562) HM
Venetian Gun
A 15th Century Venetian gun made by the Albergetti family. This model is called a Falconet and has a calibre of 2.92 inches. — — Map (db m118563) HM
Wellington HQ/ Royal Laboratory
The Principal Officers of the Ordnance gave an estimate to the Treasury in 1694 for a new laboratory to be built, which was completed in 1696. It consisted of two ranges of buildings with a courtyard in . . . — — Map (db m118533) HM
This is the remaining section of a 40-foot (12m) reflecting telescope, built for the astronomer William Herschel, who became famous for his discovery of the planet Uranus in 1781. the telescope was the largest in the world and cost over £4000, . . . — — Map (db m117706) HM
On 12 April 1961 the Russian cosmonaut, Yuri Gargarin, became the first human being to travel into space. In 2011, to mark the 50th anniversary of Gagarin's flight, the Russian Space Agency, Roscosmos, presented this statue to the British Council. . . . — — Map (db m117743) HM
