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triangular shape closely resembling that of a map of India. The
resultant area is 18.32 square miles.
With the exception of the Kidbrooke/Shooters Hill region
which is mainly clay, the sub-soil of the greater portion of the
Borough consists of gravel and sand and, throughout the whole of
the area, the altitude varies from a few feet below high-water
mark on the Marshes up to 416 feet above sea level on Shooters Hill.
In the days of Caesar, Greenwich, which in Latin was
described as Grenovicum viridis sinus a viridariis and in Saxon,
Grenawic, i.e., the flourishing village in the pleasant green hollow,
was in the Roman province of Britannia Primo. All evidence
points to the fact that the present Royal Naval College stands on a
site where once stood handsome Roman villas and courts.
It is a steady climb at every point from the narrow strip of
low lying land adjacent to the Thames to the raised plateau of
Blackheath where extensive views of London and the river obtainable
from this escarpment are incomparable. This strip of land,
invaluable for defensive purposes, was the future site of Greenwich
and, undoubtedly, the significance of this topography was not lost
upon the Romans. When they cut and paved the Dover Road
through the forests of south-east England in a dead straight line
to London via Canterbury, the strategic importance of Greenwich
became more obvious, for here the two main arteries from the
Continent, viz., the road and the river, through which trade or
trouble could reach the capital, all but met at this point. Moreover,
the peculiar horse-shoe bend in the river gave shelter to the unloading
of the early primitive shipping.
Few residential districts near the City of London are so full
of historical associations as Greenwich, whose streets are among
the most interesting of any in the capital and whose wealth of
surviving buildings is unrivalled. History has played a large part
in determining the types of industries located within its boundary
with their consequent effects upon the social conditions of its community.
Its particularly favourable siting on the banks of the
Thames, its unique place in English history and its close connection
with Royalty through the ages gives it an air and a fascination
difficult to resist.
Notwithstanding that documented history of Greenwich
appears to begin only during King Alfred's reign when he was
Lord of the Manor, circa 900, there is evidence that Greenwich
has been inhabited for over 2,000 years—certainly Crooms Hill is
pre-Celtic whilst Maidenstone Hill and Shooters Hill along with
many other place names, are clearly of Celtic origin. Charlton is
a corruption of Ceorl-tun, the Romano-Celtic 'freeman's village'.
Recovered coins and fragments of pottery show an almost