The Royal borough of Greenwich officially received its name in 1965 when it was formed as a result of merging two old London boroughs – Greenwich and Woolwich. While a fine area and a nice place to live, the Royal Borough of Greenwich is perhaps known best for the fact that the Prime Meridian passes over it. It is also home of the popular Greenwich Observatory which was founded all the way back in 1675 when Charles II was king. The borough received further fame and popularity because of the fact that it was one of six London boroughs to host the summer Olympics in 2002. The O2 Arena which hosted the huge basketball and gymnastics events was located there. Since we are still discussing local sports – Charlton Athletic FC which once had plenty of Premier League experience is based in Greenwich. The borough has as number of pleasant towns and districts. Most of them are suburban as Greenwich is a desired location for many in terms of buying or renting a property to live.
Here are some of the more popular districts of Greenwich
Kidbrooke district’s comes from Kyd Brook which is a watercourse running between a number of settlements in the area and beyond it. The SE3 neighbourhood used to live in poverty as it was home of Ferrier Estate which was considered to be one of the biggest housing estates for deprived in London. During the 20s and 30s of the 20th century many houses were erected and this explains why the style of this suburb is predominantly from that time. Some of the important roads connecting Kidbrooke with the neighbouring areas are County of London Plan and London Ringways.
Maze Hill is perhaps better known for its history rather than what it is today. It is uncertain exactly where the name comes from but it is perhaps taken from the name of Sir Algernon May who used to live there during the 17th century. Later an architect named Sir John Vanbrugh designed his own house overlooking the village. This facility today is known as Vanbrugh Castle. Mottingham being a nearby area, has a lot more clarity regarding its name. It comes from Modingahema and it stands for Land of Moda’s people. In other words they say it means “the proud place”. Some of the landmarks there include the St. Andrews Church as well as Eltham College which is a private establishment.
Eltham has always been the more popular “brother”of New Eltham since the latter used to be a farmland. New Eltham, however, turned into a suburb after the construction of the railway station in 1878. The area started developing and many houses were built at that time. Nowadays New Eltham even has its own running club called the New Eltham Joggers. Footscray RUFC is the local rugby club.
A large Afro-Caribbean community lives in the district of Plumstead. The area is not among the most affluent ones in Greenwich and one of the landmarks there is actually a large bus garage which was built 35 years ago. This is mainly because Plumstead used to be mainly an industrial land.
Shooter’s Hill is in fact a real hill in Greenwich. Actually it happens to be the highest point in the Borough with its 433ft. This is also the name of a road passing nearby. The Victorian Gothic water tower is among the more distinguished landmarks in the district. We should also mention “The Bull” public house.
Westcombe Park is a suburb in Blackheath. The word combe basically means valley and this is where Westcombe Park is located. Woodlands House is perhaps the most popular landmark there and it is a four-storey building erected during the 18th centry. In that sense another famous place to visit is the St. George’s Church which is a little over a century old.
Woolwich is one of the larger settlements in the borough
Woolwich unlike many of the areas mentioned above is an actual town in Greenwich. It even has the potential to become one of the metropolitan centres of London. Even though Arsenal FC is known to be a North London club it was in fact founded here in 1886 by workers. The Woolwich Dockyard and the Royal Arsenal are among the historical heritage of the town.