Facts about Greenwich
Greenwich History
The place-name “Greenwich” is first attested in a Saxon charter of 918, where it appears as Gronewic. It is recorded as Grenewic in 964, and as Grenawic in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for 1013. It is Grenviz in the Domesday Book of 1086, and Grenewych in the Taxatio Ecclesiastica of 1291. The name means ‘green wic’.
The settlement later became known as East Greenwich to distinguish it from West Greenwich or Deptford Strond, the part of Deptford adjacent to the River Thames, but the use of East Greenwich to mean the whole of the town of Greenwich died out in the 19th century. However, Greenwich was divided into the registration subdistricts of Greenwich East and Greenwich West from the beginning of civil registration in 1837.
General Info
Greenwich is an area of South East London, England, centered 5.5 miles east-southeast of Charing Cross. It is within the Royal Borough of Greenwich, to which it lends its name. Historically it was in the county of Kent for hundreds of years, then the County of London from 1889 to 1965.
Greenwich is notable for its maritime history and for giving its name to the Greenwich Meridian and Greenwich Mean Time. The town became the site of a royal palace, the Palace of Placentia from the 15th century, and was the birthplace of many Tudors, including Henry VIII and Elizabeth I.
