Lost your bearings?

Straddling the Prime Meridian
at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich

Two weeks ago, Toot and I took two of our grandchildren to the Royal Observatory Greenwich.

We had a great day, travelling down the River Thames on a water taxi, walking past the Cutty Sark in dry dock, strolling by Christopher Wren's - Maritime Museum and Inigo Jones' - Queens House and then climbing the hill up to the Royal Observatory.

The Royal Observatory, Flamsteed House, was designed by Sir Christopher Wren.  It was commissioned by King Charles II and completed in 1676.  The City of London was founded on trade, the river and the port. London's and England's wealth was dependant on its maritime status.

In 1492, when Columbus crossed the Atlantic, a gifted mariner could, by taking sightings of the Pole Star and-or the Sun, calculate his ship's position in latitude.  Longitude, however was another matter and remained that way for nearly three hundred years.

The key to establishing longitude was the adoption of scientific method in the accurate measurement of;  time, the position of stars, the position of the Moon and the eclipses of the four Galilean moons orbiting Jupiter.  If you were the captain of a ship on the high seas and knew the time at Greenwich and your time at your current location, then you could calculate how many degrees, minutes and seconds of longitude you were east or west of Greenwich .  Every hour difference in time represents 15 degrees of longitude. (360 degrees divided by 24 hours = 15 degrees)

King Charles II realised that more accurate maps and navigation aids made available to British mariners would deliver increased national competitiveness, greater national wealth and increased revenues for the Crown.  He therefore invested in science, namely astronomy, which at that time largely involved accurate measurement of the position of stars and planetary bodies in the sky, and the invention and manufacture of optical equipment and clocks.  The construction of the Greenwich Observatory was therefore all about international competition, trade and supremacy at sea.  In fact even after the international agreement of the Greenwich Meridian as zero degrees longitude in 1884, the French continued to argue for the 'Prime Meridian' to run through Paris.

My grandchildren particularly enjoyed; the exhibition of clocks quadrants and sextants, the tour of the great dome housing the twenty-eight inch refracting telescope and the excellent 'Sky Tonight Live' presentation in the Peter Harrison Planetarium.  It goes without saying that they loved having one foot in the East and one in the West when straddling the line of the 'Prime Meridian'.

I always enjoy visiting the Observatory, it is quite wonderful to stand in rooms where once Sir Christopher Wren, Samuel Pepys, Sir John Flamsteed and Sir Edmund Halley, to name but four, would have walked, talked, wined and dined.  To spend time there is to witness the melding of the present with the past and to walk with the shakers and movers of  'Stuart' scientific society.

If you are in London and have an afternoon free why not visit the Greenwich Royal Observatory?  Even better why not spend longer and visit; Greenwich Market, The Maritime Museum, Queen's House (for my money the most beautiful building in London), The Cutty Sark, The Observatory and the Planetarium?  You can even cross under the Thames using the Victorian foot tunnel which was first opened in 1902.

Greenwich is a great place to visit so why not treat yourself?

http://www.rmg.co.uk/royal-observatory/

Credits Wikipedia