Maritime Greenwich

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The Old Royal Naval College
The Royal Greenwich Observatory

Maritime Greenwich is the historic heart of Greenwich, on the south shore of the River Thames in Kent.

Though Greenwich has swollen beyond recognition and merged on all sides into the unbroken metropolitan conurbation, the old heart of the town remains quite distinctive and redolent of the glorious age of sail and naval superiority. Because of its many historic buildings which each contributed to the creation of the modern world, this historic heart of the town has, under the name 'Maritime Greenwich', been enrolled as a World Heritage Site.

The centrepiece of the World Heritage Site is the Old Royal Naval College, a spawl of gorgeous buildings designed by Sir Christopher Wren, and the Queen's House looking through its midst, housing part of the National Maritime Museum.

The Cutty Sark is preserved in dry dock by the riverside, now a museum to the great age of tea clippers.

Within Greenwich Park stands the Royal Greenwich Observatory.

The town gathers contentedly around its monuments, between the vast park and the riverside, with innumerable old pubs and establishments, and a covered market.

The Old Naval College from the Thames

References


Royal Museums Greenwich, in Kent

The Cutty Sark • National Maritime Museum • Queen's House • Royal Observatory, Greenwich

World Heritage Sites in the United Kingdom

Bath • Blaenavon Industrial Landscape • Blenheim Palace • Canterbury Cathedral, St Augustine's Abbey & St. Martin's Church • Castles and Town Walls of King Edward I • Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape • Derwent Valley Mills • Durham Castle & Cathedral • Edinburgh Old Town & New Town • Flow Country • Forth Bridge • Frontiers of the Roman Empire: Antonine Wall & Hadrian's Wall • Giant's Causeway • Ironbridge Gorge • Jodrell Bank • Jurassic Coast • Kew Gardens • Lake District • Maritime Greenwich • New Lanark • Heart of Neolithic Orkney • Pontcysyllte Aqueduct • St Kilda • Saltaire • Slate Landscape • Stonehenge, Avebury & Associated Sites • Studley Royal Park & Fountains Abbey • Tower of London • Palace of Westminster, Westminster Abbey & St Margaret's Church