Off to Greenwich to wander and photograph.
First Adventure of the day is figuring out public transportation to Greenwich. Tube, train…Hugh is a great guide, so we had no problems finding our way to the National Rail and getting on the right train to Greenwich.
Greenwich hosts many markets. The one below is a market with everything made in Greenwich. Lots of fun things to look at with some wonderful ceramics.
We wandered through a rather large Greenwich market which was established in the early 1800s. The market has gone through many stages of repair and renovation. It hosts about 120 stalls, Hugh enjoyed lots of the photography booths. My stomach growled from all the smell of food booths.
Left above: I love wandering the narrow streets and, of course, photographing them.
On th right above: Masts of the Cutty Sark, a historic sailing ship built in 1869. It was one of the fastest in its day. and originally built for the tea trade and was used for this purpose until 1877. The fastest ships commanded the highest prices for tea and until the mid 1870s this ship ruled. But by the mid-1970s the Suez canal was open to steamer that were transporting tea more quickly than the Cutty Sark. The sailing ship couldn’t use the canal because it relied on wind. After the tea trade ended for the sailing ship it had a bleak period of history with several either corrupt or incompetent captains. But in 1882 the ship was used for wool trade between England and Australia. The wool trade between Austrialia and England was the greatest financial success for the Cutty Sark. And it supplied England with Austrian wool until 1890s. During this period the ship’s Captain Woodget was also a photographer and recorded many images of the Sydney harbor and other wonders the ship came in contact with.
The ship was sold to a Portuguese firm in1895. In 1922 Wilfred Dowman purchased the ship and returned in to England and set about restoring the ship. Between 1922 and Dowman’s death in 1936 the ship was open to the public and many Royal Navy or Merchant Marine students trained on the Cutty Sark. Dowman’s widow gifted the ship to Thames Nautical Training College and was used in training until the early 1950s.
During the Festival of Britain celebrations in 1951 the ship was moved to London which spurred the creation of the Cutty Sark Society, determined to save the ship from demolishon. Renovation to return the ship to the appearance of her tea clipper days started in 1954, lasting three years. In 1957 Queen Elizabeth open the Cutty Sark to the public.
During renovations in 2007 the ship caught fire damaging three of her decks. An outpouring of global support insured the restoration of the ship. She was open to the public a second time by Queen Elizabeth in 2012.
Images above are from around the Naval College.
This was the site of the Palace of Placentia, also known as Greenwich Palace, was a royal residencce where Henry VIII and Elizabeth I were born. Built in 1443 with outlining building also being built including the Queen’s House, which still stands today, built in the 17th century. The palace was torn down after the Civil War in 1660.
