May 2008

The Heritage Lottery Fund have announced a grant of £1.9 million towards ‘Discover Greenwich’, a new interpretation and education centre for the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site, situated at the Old Royal Naval College.  The Heritage Lottery Fund’s grant will ensure that the project will go ahead.  The Greenwich Foundation which is leading the project has raised £3.3 million of the total cost of £5.7 million, and with the HLF grant now needs a final £0.5 million to realise its plans in full.

Opening early 2009, the project will tell the story of Maritime Greenwich and the Old Royal Naval College from its origin as a Royal Palace to its development as a Hospital for Seamen, designed by Christopher Wren and other leading architects of the day. The exhibition will include evocative objects of the period, including objects found in the excavation of the Palace, and architect’s models and trial pieces from the design of the Hospital. The exhibition will include Greenwich armour from the Royal Armouries, and other original objects from the collections of the National Maritime Museum as well as the Museum of London. There will be a reconstruction of the East end of Henry VIII’s Royal Chapel with its tiled floor, discovered in 2005, together with finds from the Palace excavated over the previous thirty years.

Another part of the project is a new education suite, where school children will be able to participate in a range of specialist workshops run by the Foundation’s education team. A programme of activities will also be available to local people during the evenings and at weekends.  An important aspect of the new centre will be establishing an oral history archive, drawing on reminiscences of former and serving sailors of the Royal Navy who attended the Royal Naval College, and of local people who worked at or visited the College.

“Discover Greenwich” will be created in the Pepys Building, together with a new Tourist Information Centre run by the London Borough of Greenwich, a new café and shop. Together with the refurbished Cutty Sark and pier, this will create a new centre of gravity for visitors approaching the World Heritage Site from the north, ready for 2012 when Greenwich will host the equestrian Olympics.

David Starkey, historian and broadcaster, comments “Discover Greenwich will tell the story of a place which has witnessed some of the most important events in our national history in the last five hundred years, from Henry VIII’s marriage to Anne Boleyn to national mourning for the death of Nelson. I’m delighted that this important project will do justice to such an extraordinary place.”

Sue Bowers, HLF Manager in London comments:  ‘This award is recognition of the important role the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site plays in our national history and Discover Greenwich will be the final piece in the Greenwich landscape jigsaw.  We are confident it will inspire visitors to explore all the iconic sites of Greenwich including the Queen’s House, Royal Observatory, and National Maritime Museum, Cutty Sark and of course the Old Royal Naval College itself.’ 

Duncan Wilson, Chief Executive of the Greenwich Foundation for the Old Royal Naval College adds:  ‘The Foundation is delighted that the HLF is backing this project which is an important landmark in the interpretation for the whole Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site and will inspire local people and visitors to Greenwich from far and wide, children and adults alike.  It gives us the opportunity to tell the history of these wonderful buildings through the stories of the people who made them, and whose lives are bound up in them.’ 

For further information, photographs and interviews please contact Isabel Keim 020 8269 4763/  07890 314499 ikeim@greenwichfoundation.org.uk

Notes to editors:
HLF
HLF enables communities to celebrate, look after and learn more about our diverse heritage. From our great museums and historic buildings to local parks and beauty spots or recording and celebrating traditions, customs and history, HLF grants open up our nation’s heritage for everyone to enjoy. They have supported more than 26,000 projects, allocating almost £4billion across the UK.  This includes over £800 million in London alone.  

Brief history of the Old Royal Naval College
The Old Royal Naval College began life as Greenwich Hospital, which was established in 1694 by Royal Charter for the relief and support of seamen and their dependants and for the improvement of navigation. Sir Christopher Wren planned the site, described as "one of the most sublime sights English architecture affords", and, during the first half of the eighteenth century, various illustrious architects, such as Hawksmoor and Vanbrugh, completed Wren's grand design.

In June 1705, the first Pensioners arrived and, by 1814, a total of 2,710 lived there. They lived on a diet of bread, beer and boiled meat and smoked their clay pipes or ‘chalks’ in the Chalk Walk, now the Skittle Alley.  The Pensioners were given pocket money of 1s a week, which they supplemented by acting as caddies at Blackheath Golf Club and guides for visitors to Greenwich.

For three days in 1806, 5 – 7 January, Admiral Lord Nelson ‘lay-in-state’ in the Painted Hall.  The Upper Hall was draped in black and arrayed with symbols of state mourning: banners, armorial escutcheons and sconced candles whilst the Lower Hall windows were draped and barriers erected to channel the expected crowds.  Huge crowds were admitted (estimates range from 15,000 to 30,000) in a renewed outpouring of grief since the victory at Trafalgar.  On the morning of the 8 January Nelson’s coffin was borne to the River where it was taken in a huge procession up the river to St Paul’s Cathedral for his state funeral.

In 1869 the Hospital was closed, and in 1873 the complex of buildings became the Royal Naval College, where officers from all over the world came to train in the naval sciences.  The Navy moved out in 1998 to merge with the RAF and Army at a new Joint Services Staff College in Shrivenham.   

With the departure of the Royal Navy from Greenwich, responsibility for the Old Royal Naval College passed to the Greenwich Foundation. The Foundation is a registered charity established to look after, and interpret, the buildings and their grounds for the benefit of the nation.

Other major donors
Clore Duffield Foundation – education suite
(ARK)
Headley Trust
John Ellerman Foundation

Brief Site History

A Royal Palace once stood on the site of the Old Royal Naval College, of which only Inigo Jones’ Queen’s House remains. The Palace was the birthplace of Henry VIII and his daughters  Mary and Elizabeth. It was also reputedly Henry’s favourite residence, and the setting for many royal and state occasions

The current buildings began life as Greenwich Hospital, which was established in 1694 by Royal Charter for the relief and support of seamen and their dependants and for the improvement of navigation. Sir Christopher Wren planned the site, described as "one of the most sublime sights English architecture affords", and, during the first half of the eighteenth century, other illustrious architects, such as Hawksmoor and Vanbrugh, completed Wren's grand design.

In June 1705, the first Pensioners arrived and by 1814 a total of 2,710 lived at the Hospital. For three days in January 1806, Admiral Lord Nelson’s body lay-in-state in the Painted Hall.  In 1869 the Hospital was closed, and in 1873 the complex of buildings became the Royal Naval College, where officers from all over the world came to train in the naval sciences.  The Navy moved out in 1998 to merge its officer training with that of the RAF and Army at a new Joint Services Staff College in Shrivenham. With the departure of the Royal Navy from Greenwich, responsibility for the Old Royal Naval College passed to the Greenwich Foundation. The Foundation is a registered charity established to look after, interpret and provide public access to the buildings and their grounds for the benefit of the nation.

‘Discover Greenwich’

The project marks the next major step for the ORNC, following the refurbishment of the main buildings as a new campus, and the restoration of the grounds.  ‘Discover Greenwich’ is a new Interpretation and Learning centre developed by the Greenwich Foundation to inspire visitors to explore the rich history of the Old Royal Naval College and the entire Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site.  ‘Discover Greenwich’ will include a new exhibition hall, a learning suite, and a temporary exhibition space, all located in the Pepys Building (the current Visitor Centre).  The ‘Discover Greenwich’ project will extend and enrich the Greenwich Foundation’s existing interpretation and learning programmes for schools and the community – whilst adding value to every World Heritage Site visit.  It is planned to open at the end of 2009.

With the HLF’s contribution, the Foundation has raised £5.2m out of the £5.7m required. It therefore needs to raise another £0.5m to realise its plans in full.