Page 248 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - London

246  L ONDON AREA B Y AREA

7 Old Royal Naval
College
King William Walk SE10. Map 23 C2. Tel
020 8269 4799. 1 Cutty Sark DLR,
Greenwich DLR. 3 Greenwich, Maze
Hill. Chapel, Hall and Discover
Greenwich visitor centre: Open
10am–5pm daily (Aug & early Sep until
6pm). Closed 24–26 Dec & some Sat.
Grounds: Open 8am–11pm daily.
Chapel: 5 6:30pm Mon, 1.05pm Wed,
11am Sun. 8 talks in Painted Hall
11:45am, 12:45pm, 2:45pm & 3:45pm
daily, guided walks daily from visitor
centre. 7 0 - = ∑ ornc.org
These ambitious buildings by
Christopher Wren were built on
the site of the old 15th­century
royal palace, where Henry VIII,
Mary I and Elizabeth I were born.
The west front was completed
by Vanbrugh. The Painted Hall, Thornhill’s painting of King William III in the Painted Hall of the Old Royal Naval College
Chapel, Discover Greenwich
Visitor Centre – with displays on became established, along 9 Royal Observatory
the history of the area and its with other waterside inns in Greenwich
buildings – and grounds are Greenwich, as a venue for
open to the public. “whitebait dinners”. Govern ment Greenwich Park SE10. Map 23 C3.
Wren’s Chapel was destroyed ministers, legal luminaries and Tel 020 8858 4422. 1 Cutty Sark DLR.
by fire in 1779. The present Greek the like would arrive from 3 Greenwich. Open 10am–5pm
daily (late Jul–Aug until 6pm; last adm:
Revival interior, by James Stuart, Westminster and Charing 30 min before closing). Closed 24–26
is light and airy. The Painted Hall Cross by water on celebratory Dec. & for Flamsteed House and
was opulently decorated by Sir occasions and feast on the tiny Plane tarium shows (last show 4pm).
James Thornhill in the early 18th fish. The last such meeting was 9 ^ 7 = ∑ rmg.co.uk
century. The huge ceiling held here in 1885. Whitebait still
painting is the largest figurative features on the pub restaurant’s The meridian (0° longitude) that
painting in the country. menu, when in season, although divides the Earth’s eastern and
they are no longer fished from western hemispheres passes
8 Trafalgar Tavern the Thames. through here, and millions of
This was another of Charles
visitors have been photographed
Park Row SE10. Map 23 C1. Tel 020 Dickens’s haunts. He drank standing with a foot on either
8858 2909. 1 Cutty Sark DLR, Green­ here with one of the best­ side of it. In 1884, Greenwich
wich DLR. Open noon–11pm Mon–Thu, known illustrators of his works, Mean Time became the basis of
noon–midnight Fri, 10am–midnight Sat, George Cruickshank. time measurement for most
10am–11pm Sun. 7 See Pubs and Bars In 1915, the pub became an of the world. Here you can
pp312–15. ∑ trafalgartavern.co.uk institution for old merchant journey through the history of
seamen. It was restored in 1965 time, explore how scientists first
This charming panelled pub after a spell of being used as a mapped the stars and see world­
was built in 1837 and quickly social club for working men. changing inventions, including
the UK’s largest refracting tele­
scope. Visitors can even touch a
4.5 billion­year­old asteroid.
The original building,
Flamsteed House, was designed
by Christopher Wren and it
contains a display of original
instruments belonging to several
Astronomers Royal, such as
Edmond Halley. John Flamsteed
was the first Astronomer Royal,
appointed by Charles II, and
this was the official government
observatory from 1675 until 1948,
Trafalgar Tavern viewed from the Thames when the lights of London

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