Old Royal Observatory Garden

The Old Royal Observatory Garden was reintegrated into Greenwich Park and formally opened to the public by Queen Elizabeth II during her visit to Flamsteed House in 1960.

This image of Pluto, released on 23 July 2015, clearly shows the now familiar heart-shaped region nicknamed Tombaugh Regio.

The photo is actually a combination of observations from the main camera on New Horizons (called LORRI) and the probe’s visible/infrared imager (known as Ralph) which provided data for the colours in the view. The enhanced colours allow scientists to identify differences in the composition and texture of Pluto’s surface, according to a NASA image description.
Credit: User unknown/public domain

Originally known as the Lower Garden, this part of the Observatory grounds is now generally referred to as the Observatory Garden, though it has also been known as the Kitchen Garden, the Royal Observatory Garden, and the Astronomers’ Garden.

The Lower Garden was enclosed from Greenwich Park in four stages: two small enclosures in 1675/6 and c.1749 and two much larger ones – one in 1814, the other in 1837. The garden sits in a south-west facing semicircular hollow and until the final enclosure of 1837 was overlooked from the public areas of the Park along Blackheath Avenue.

The part of the garden which dates back to Flamsteed’s time is in the north-west corner and bounded by the retaining wall of the Upper Garden to the north, and the west wall of Flamsteed’s Garden House (the site of the later stables (now a plant room)) to the east. Today this section is neither enclosed within the garden, nor within the curtilage of the Observatory.

Main source:	The Royal Observatory Greenwich - where east meets west: The Royal Observatory, Greenwich: Home of the Greenwich Meridian and Gr
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LATEST LONDON-WIDE CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE PROJECT

Tony Whipple Frank Whipple Place, E14 Added: 16 Apr 2024 21:35 GMT	Frank Whipple Place, E14 Frank was my great-uncle, I’d often be ’babysat’ by Peggy while Nan and Dad went to the pub. Peggy was a marvel, so full of life. My Dad and Frank didn’t agree on most politics but everyone in the family is proud of him. A genuinely nice, knowledgable bloke. One of a kind. Reply
Theresa Penney Whites Row, E1 Added: 16 Apr 2024 18:08 GMT	1 Whites Row My 2 x great grandparents and his family lived here according to the 1841 census. They were Dutch Ashkenazi Jews born in Amsterdam at the beginning of the 19th century but all their children were born in Spitalfields. Reply
Wendy The Polygon Added: 22 Mar 2024 15:33 GMT	Polygon Buildings Following the demolition of the Polygon, and prior to the construction of Oakshott Court in 1974, 4 tenement type blocks of flats were built on the site at Clarendon Sq/Phoenix Rd called Polygon Buildings. These were primarily for people working for the Midland Railway and subsequently British Rail. My family lived for 5 years in Block C in the 1950s. It seems that very few photos exist of these buildings. Reply
Steve Charleville Circus, SE26 Added: 19 Mar 2024 08:42 GMT	Road construction and houses completed New Charleville Circus road layout shown on Stanford’s Library Map Of London And Its Suburbs 1879 with access via West Hill only. Plans showing street numbering were recorded in 1888 so we can concluded the houses in Charleville Circus were built by this date. Source: Charleville Circus, Sydenham, London Reply
Steve Charleville Circus, SE26 Added: 19 Mar 2024 08:04 GMT	Charleville Circus, Sydenham: One Place Study (OPS) One Place Study’s (OPS) are a recent innovation to research and record historical facts/events/people focused on a single place �’ building, street, town etc. I have created an open access OPS of Charleville Circus on WikiTree that has over a million members across the globe working on a single family tree for everyone to enjoy, for free, forever. Source: Charleville Circus, Sydenham, London Reply
Charles Hornsey Rise, N19 Added: 8 Mar 2024 20:45 GMT	My House I want to know who lived in my house in the 1860’s. Reply
NH Woodgrange Road, E7 Added: 7 Mar 2024 11:41 GMT	Telephone House Donald Hunter House, formerly Telephone House, was the BT Offices closed in 2000 Reply
Paul Cox Aldine Street, W12 Added: 5 Mar 2024 22:18 GMT	War damage reinstatement plans of No’s 11 & 13 Aldine Street Whilst clearing my elderly Mothers house of general detritus, I’ve come across original plans (one on acetate) of No’s 11 & 13 Aldine Street. Might they be of interest or should I just dispose of them? There are 4 copies seemingly from the one single acetate example. Seems a shame to just junk them as the level of detail is exquisite. No worries if of no interest, but thought I’d put it out there. Reply

LOCAL PHOTOS

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The Greenwich Foot Tunnel in May 2018 Credit: Wiki Commons/Mlanni98 TUM image id: 1620394934 Licence:	Russell Croman took this detailed photo of the waxing Moon. Credit: Russell Croman TUM image id: 1621874487 Licence:	Saturn and its rings, as seen from above the planet by the Cassini spacecraft Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute TUM image id: 1620648753 Licence:	Expedition 44 off to the International Space Station launched on Soyuz TMA-17M from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan Credit: Roscosmos TUM image id: 1620402649 Licence:	The establishment of a Royal Observatory in Greenwich, London was proposed in 1674 by Sir Jonas Moore who, in his role as Surveyor-General of the Ordnance, persuaded King Charles II to create the observatory, with John Flamsteed installed as its director. Royal Observatory, Greenwich (ROG) played a major role in the history of astronomy and navigation, and because the Prime Meridian passes through it, it gave its name to Greenwich Mean Time, the precursor to today’s Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). The ROG has the IAU observatory code of 000, the first in the list. Credit: Kjetil Bjørnsrud TUM image id: 1621597663 Licence:
The Statue of Yuri Gagarin in Greenwich, London, is a zinc statue depicting the cosmonaut wearing a spacesuit and standing on top of a globe. Credit: Anatoly Novikov TUM image id: 1621892426 Licence:	The foothills of the Andes Mountains near the southern coast of Peru were captured by the Kompsat-2 satellite. The Andes stretch from Venezuela down South America’s west coast to the top of Argentina. The mountain rage is the result of the Nazca and Antarctic tectonic plates moving under the South American plate—a geological process called subduction. This process is also responsible for the Andes range’s volcanic activity. Credit: KARI TUM image id: 1621890979 Licence:	Star Dunes in Algeria. The image was acquired by the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) on NASA’s Terra satellite on October 27, 2012. It was made from a combination of near-infrared and visible light. In this type of false-color image, sand is tan and shadows are black or gray. The blue-tinted areas are likely mineral-rich evaporites. The image is centered at 29.8°north latitude, 7.9°east longitude, near the town of Gadamis. As is common with star dunes, some of the dunes have long interlacing arms connecting to nearby dunes. Credit: NASA/GSFC/METI/ERSDAC/JAROS/ASTER Science Team TUM image id: 1621679144 Licence:	Crooms Hill (1937) TUM image id: 1657290361 Licence: CC BY 2.0	Gloucester Circus (1960s) TUM image id: 1657291606 Licence: CC BY 2.0
Tram in Greenwich Church Street. TUM image id: 1657290753 Licence: CC BY 2.0	Maze Hill SE10 Credit: GoArt/The Underground Map TUM image id: 1584890270 Licence:	The Royal Standard (still) stands at the corner of Pelton Road and Christchurch Way in Greenwich. Old London postcard TUM image id: 1610552253 Licence:	The summit of Mount Everest is marine limestone created 40 million years ago when the Indian subcontinent began a slow-motion collision with Asia. Credit: NASA Earth Observatory image by Jesse Allen and Robert Simmon, using EO-1 ALI data TUM image id: 1621873745 Licence:	The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) was launched into orbit on 24 April 1990. Viewed from the HST, the Horsehead Nebula is located just next to Orion’s belt. This cloud of dust and gas is a region where stars are forming. When viewed in visible light the Horsehead appears dark, a cosmic chess piece silhouetted against pink and red glowing gas. In infrared light, as in this image, the dust becomes visible, delicate billows of clouds surrounding baby stars just getting their start in the Universe. Credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA) TUM image id: 1621889002 Licence:

In the neighbourhood...

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Saturn and its rings, as seen from above the planet by the Cassini spacecraft
Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute
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Expedition 44 off to the International Space Station launched on Soyuz TMA-17M from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan
Credit: Roscosmos
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The establishment of a Royal Observatory in Greenwich, London was proposed in 1674 by Sir Jonas Moore who, in his role as Surveyor-General of the Ordnance, persuaded King Charles II to create the observatory, with John Flamsteed installed as its director. Royal Observatory, Greenwich (ROG) played a major role in the history of astronomy and navigation, and because the Prime Meridian passes through it, it gave its name to Greenwich Mean Time, the precursor to today’s Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). The ROG has the IAU observatory code of 000, the first in the list.
Credit: Kjetil Bjørnsrud
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The Statue of Yuri Gagarin in Greenwich, London, is a zinc statue depicting the cosmonaut wearing a spacesuit and standing on top of a globe.
Credit: Anatoly Novikov
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Star Dunes in Algeria. The image was acquired by the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) on NASA’s Terra satellite on October 27, 2012. It was made from a combination of near-infrared and visible light. In this type of false-color image, sand is tan and shadows are black or gray. The blue-tinted areas are likely mineral-rich evaporites. The image is centered at 29.8°north latitude, 7.9°east longitude, near the town of Gadamis. As is common with star dunes, some of the dunes have long interlacing arms connecting to nearby dunes.
Credit: NASA/GSFC/METI/ERSDAC/JAROS/ASTER Science Team
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Crooms Hill (1937)
Licence: CC BY 2.0

Maze Hill SE10
Credit: GoArt/The Underground Map
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Arktika-M spacecraft entering high elliptical orbit after a launch of the Soyuz-2.1b carrier rocket with the Fregat upper stage on 28 February 2021. When flight tests are finished, we will have new ability to observe the Arctic region and ocean from space. Photo:
Credit: Roscosmos
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Our Solar System to scale
Credit: Robert Zicher
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The corner of Feathers Place (mid 1900s) Feathers Place is situated to the east of Greenwich town centre in an attractive area north of Greenwich Park. The photo shows where this road intersects with Park Vista. "F.C.Sharp" is long gone.
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