Where time stands still

The clipper Cutty Sark dominates the Thames riverfront in Greenwich. Photo by Pam Jones
The clipper Cutty Sark dominates the Thames riverfront in Greenwich. Photo by Pam Jones
Tourists are photographed standing in both the eastern and western hemispheres, with a foot on...
Tourists are photographed standing in both the eastern and western hemispheres, with a foot on either side of the Prime Meridian at the Greenwich Observatory.
The 24-hour dial Shepherd Gate Clock records time outside the Greenwich Observatory.
The 24-hour dial Shepherd Gate Clock records time outside the Greenwich Observatory.

A visit to Greenwich village is completely charming, Pam Jones discovers, as she goes back in time to revisit a nautical milestone. 

You had to feel sorry for them. Scurvy-ridden sailors charting new lands were earnest in their exploration, but had something of a problem: without a way to measure longitude, they kept getting lost.

Sailing blind under the command of old-world kings and captains, shipwrecks and disappearing vessels were common.

When it came to finding new worlds, the issue of longitude was holding sailors back, unless they could work out a solution to the problem: how to tell the time at sea.

Latitude could be measured from the sun, but to calculate longitude, sailors needed to know what time it was on board, and what time it was where they left.

Trouble was, pendulum clocks had become accurate and common on land, but they didn't work on boats.

Enter the British government, which in 1714 offered a 20,000 reward (worth millions of dollars today) for successful methods of finding longitude at sea.

Other countries had already unsuccessfully offered prizes for solutions to the problem, and for decades many had pursued the rewards, but in the 1760s two methods cracked it: one using a timekeeper, the other using astronomical means (both were used on the circumnavigations of Captain James Cook).

The story of the longitude quest and the later establishment of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) is told engagingly at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, which honours the history of timekeeping and the observatory itself, founded in 1675 on the grounds of the old Greenwich Castle.

A multitude of astronomers royal were posted there over the centuries and, while modern astronomy now uses mountaintop observatories, super-sized telescopes and photos taken in space, Greenwich's hilltop observatory still inspires and informs of discoveries about the universe.

A visit there includes a stroll past the ''stand in both hemispheres'' experience, where visitors can place a foot either side of the Prime Meridian to be standing in both the eastern and western hemispheres.

Telescopes outside the observatory allow close-up viewing of Greenwich Village, which is completely charming, full of olde worlde shops, authentic English pubs, historic buildings and artisan markets.

(There's more than the odd squirrel too. Watch out for them in Greenwich Park as you walk up to the observatory.)

Many travel to Greenwich by boat along the Thames (the trip from central London takes about half an hour) and, riverside, you can then explore the towering Cutty Sark, a British tea clipper which sailed also under the Portuguese flag and is now mounted on land with a glass surround.

The National Maritime Museum is another feast of nautical history, filled with stories of exploration and endeavour at sea.

Greenwich has many traditional English pubs and for lunch we dig into roast beef and yorkshire pudding, sliced ham and eggs and beer-battered cod with chips and mushy peas at The Spanish Galleon.

Other pubs are advertising such delicacies as jellied eels, but I look for something sweet to follow instead, delving into bespoke chocolate truffles and Jamaican sweets from the ''Coopie-Coco'' stall at the fantastic Greenwich Market (established 1737).

The owner's grandmother's ''Christmas cake'' is more caramelised nut ball than cake and features slivered almonds and threads of coconut bound in brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla.

It's an unexpected tropical-style treat, but more Anglicised delights appear further around the village, with more markets, old church graveyards and cute English shops seeming to appear around every corner.

We round off the day with another pint, enjoying ale, dark beer, cider and lemon squash before we leave Greenwich for bigger central London attractions.

But the village-style appeal of Greenwich has been undeniable, allowing an easy wander through history on an English summer's day.

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