Greenwich

The Georgian House Hotel is a great place to stay if you are planning to visit Greenwich.  This famous area of London is based in the East and is easy to reach by underground.

Greenwich Royal Observatory

The Royal Observatory of Greenwich was founded on 22 June 1675. Erected in 1833, the Greenwich Time Ball was one of the world's first visual time signals. The ball, which drops daily at 1300, was used to check marine chronometers by sailors on the Thames. It was built specifically to do work which would help to solve the problem of finding longitude - one's exact position east and west - while at sea and out of sight of land.

GMT is sometimes called Greenwich Meridian Time because it is measured from the Greenwich Meridian Line at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich. Remember: Clocks Spring Forward & Fall Back (Fall = Autumn).

The Royal Observatory Greenwich is also the source of the Prime Meridian, longitude 0° 0' 0'.

Greenwich Prime Meridien

Until the 19th century, each country tended to keep its own zero meridian. The Prime Meridian for the world was adopted in 1884, at the International Meridian Conference in Washington DC. Twenty-five countries were represented and voted to adopt the Meridian at Greenwich as the Prime Meridian for the world. It was also agreed that longitude would be measured in two directions from the Prime Meridian, 'east longitude being plus and west longitude being minus.'

In 1960, shortly after the transfer of the Royal Greenwich Observatory to Herstmonceux (and, later, Cambridge), Flamsteed House was transferred to the National Maritime Museum's care and over the next ten years the remaining buildings on the site were also transferred. Here the collections of scientific, especially astronomical, instruments has continued to grow. Following the closure of the RGO at Cambridge in October 1998, the site is now known as the Royal Observatory Greenwich.

The Meridian Line is an imaginary line that runs from the North Pole to the South Pole. By international convention it runs through "the primary transit" instrument (main telescope) at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich.

It is known at Zero Longitude and it is the line from which all other lines of longitude are measured. This includes the line that runs 180° away from Greenwich also known as the International Date Line.
There have been many meridian lines during the course of history including 9 lines at Greenwich!

The Ordnance Survey maps started in England before the current meridian line was defined. New editions of the Explorer series maps do feature the Greenwich Meridian Line. The Ordnance Survey website has a description of the history of meridian lines.
For more infromation visit www.greenwich.gov.uk.

Georgian House Hotel is ideally situated in a very central location, so visiting sights all over London is quick and easy. Why not book Georgian House Hotel when you plan your trip to Greenwich? You can book online or email to make a reservation on reception@georgianhousehotel.co.uk, or telephone on 0044(0)207 834 1438