History Bite: Greenwich Park

If you are in the Northern Hemisphere too, you are probably heading into the heart of summer. It’s the time of year when we try to get outside and enjoy the weather before it turns too hot and exhausting. And along with summer comes parks! Green spaces are rather important to us in the twenty-first century, as they should be. And parks have been prized spaces for centuries, it isn’t a new concept. Today I’m going to look at the history of Greenwich Park, one of eight royal parks!

Admission: I didn’t believe that I was in London when we were in Greenwich because it felt that different to me (in a good way). 

The Early History of Greenwich Park

There have been settlements on this space since at least the Roman period. By the medieval period, the park-lands were owned by the Abbey of St. Peter at Ghent. However, they reverted to the crown in 1427, and King Henry VI gifted them to his uncle, Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester. Humphrey built a castle, Greenwich Castle, on the hill (where you can find the Observatory now), as well as a house on the river, Bella Court, and a tower. Most of the park remained hunting grounds during Humphrey’s life. 

Royals at Greenwich

Greenwich has been popular with the royal family(ies) for centuries. In the fifteenth century, it was a favourite spot for the royal sport of hawking. And Henry VIII of course left his mark, introducing deer into the park for hunting. 

You can still see the Queen’s House at Greenwich, a Stuart mansion built for Queen Anne of Denmark and Queen Henrietta-Maria of France. And both Mary I and Elizabeth I were born at the Palace of Placentia, the Tudor palace at Greenwich. 

Visiting Greenwich Park

While anyone can visit Greenwich Park now, it didn’t open to the public until the eighteenth century. (It was the first enclosed royal park, and obviously stayed that way for centuries.) If you are interested in visiting now, you can visit from 6:00am to 6:00-9:30pm (depending on the time of year). 

If you want more Greenwich, you can find my posts here: 

5 Reasons to Visit Queen’s House, Greenwich

History Bite: Royal Observatory, Greenwich

History Bite: The Tulip Stairs

Did you know the history of Greenwich Park? Have you visited yourself? 

Cheers,
The Historian
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