Greenwich

There was a series of lectures scheduled for today about Nicholas Hawkesmoor, the well-known church architect, in the Painted Hall in Greenwich, so I decided to go along and learn more about him.

The talk was given by a character actor dressed in the clothes of the period, and pretending to be Mr. Hawksmoor, an architect who was much involved in building churches etc at the time, but always had to play second fiddle to people like Sir Christopher Wren, which he rathe resented.

The Painted Hall, designed in 1698 by Sir Christopher Wren, (with a little help from Nicholas Hawkesmoor) was originally intended as a dining room for the invalid veterans, known as the Greenwich Pensioners, who lived in the Royal Hospital for Seamen.   As far as possible in concept from the sheltered housing and old people's homes of today, the Painted Hall is a magnificent building, built on a huge scale, with enormously high ceilings which would not look out of place in a palace.  

Almost the entire west wall was taken up by a painting, the work of Sir James Thornhill, who called it his "great laborous undertaking" - not an inapt description, considering it took him 19 years to complete.   At present, the original painting is hidden behind a screen, as it undergoes extensive restoration work, the first for fifty years, but a copy is on display, which gives a very good indication of the amount of work involved in producing it.

Chosen because, as an Englishman, he was cheaper than well-know Continental painters, James Thornhill was told to include as many references as possible of the importance of the Navy to Britain's position in the world.   The painting also portrayed the succession from William and Mary to George I, who had recently arrived from Hanover.    Above them, and painted just a little larger than the Royals, are figures representing the benefits that George, as King, would bring to life in Britain - peace, plenty, justice and stability.   Thornhill himself also appears in the painting, a large figure on the bottom right hand corner, with an open hand behind his bank, perhaps indicating that he felt he should have been paid more - not only was his fee lower than it should have been, but he was also paid late.

However, there were some compensations - he was the first British painter to be knighted.

The talk by Nicholas Hawkesmoor's representative started at 12 o'clock and only lasted about twenty minutes, but I had noticed that there was a guided tour of Greenwich at 2.00 p.m., so decided to get some lunch and then go on that.  

Greenwich is an unusual place.  Famous for the Cutty Sark and Gypsy Moth, it still retains its ancient character, with narrow streets and individual shops - no soulless shopping malls here, although I'm sure there are people eying up the possibilities.   One of its main attractions is the covered market, where you will find stalls selling everything from books, picture frames, souvenirs, shoes, health foods, etchings, jewellery, ceremic pots, vintage clothes, textiles, carvings, leather goods - in fact, you name it, and there's probably a stall selling it.    But the most memorable stalls are all the food stalls, selling takeaway food - the choice is endless, and half the people there seemed to be eating. out of paper cones or plastic or polystyrene pots.   The atmosphere is different to that of a market anywhere else.   There is also a much smaller outdoor market in Greenwich selling antiques and collectables, but that is pretty much the same as another other market selling that sort of thing.

I had lunch in a rather nice cafe cum restaurant called the Cutty Sark; they have a downstairs seating area, but also an upstairs one which you reach via a rather steep winding staircase.   I, of course, went upstairs - the view was better, and it had more character.   The Spanish omelette I ordered came with quite a nice salad, and was one of the best I have had for a long time, and the mug of tea was a good size - in fact I went back there late afternoon for another cup of tea and baklava with iceceam, which was delicious - the baklava was so sweet and full of honey.

The hour-long tour left from the Discover Greenwich Centre, and the first stop was facing Queen Anne's House, where a group was filming for a new film on a chap called Chavez - not the Venezuelan leader, but an American union representative in California.   Two policeman stood idly by, their hands in the pockets - I can't imagine their being needed in such a peaceful setting.    And of course, this being a film set, there were the usual provisions for refreshments - who ever saw a film set without a tea bar?  

The original palace on the site had been badly damaged by Cromwell, and when King Charles returned, it was in a dreadful state.   He started re-building, but didn't finish.    William and Mary wanted to build a hospital for the navy, and they got Sir Christopher Wren to design it.   He wanted to build a huge edifice around a courtyard, but was not allowed, as demolishing the old buildings has lead to there being an uninterupted view from the Queen's House (built by Queen Anne of Denmark) down to the river, whch William and Mary insisted had to stay.   So even today, if you stand on the embankment you can look directly up at the Queen's House, with the view only interupted by a statue, covered in winter in plastic to protect it from the elements, of George II.   Sculpted by Michael Rysbrack in 1735 from a single piece of stone taken from a French ship, it had originally been intended for a statue of Louis XIV.

From there we proceeded to the Painted Hall, which I had visited previously on my own.   Looking up at the dome at the entrance one can see the lists of names of people who contributed to the cost of building - not all out of their own pockets, it must be said, as some came from robbery and piracy.   John Evelyn acted as an unpaid treasurer of the building until he died.   Another benefactor was one Patience Ward, so named because, with six boys already, his father wanted a girl and decided the child would be called Patience, whatever it was.  It was another boy, but Patience as a name stayed in the family for several generations.

Looking up at the ceiling, one is struck by the magnificance of the painting, the central oval of which is usually called "The Triumph of Peace and Liberty over Tyranny" - one is left in no doubt where the peace and liberty lie and where there was tyranny, with the central figures of William and Mary, with Louis Xiv lying under William's foot.   But it also includes ancient greek heroes such as Apollo and his chariot, and the signs of the zodias around the edges.     Although the hall was designed as an eating space for disabled sailors, it was felt it was too grand for that, although the sailors could take visitors around, for a fee,

Next stop was the chapel, another magnificent piece of architecture, although of a later date, as the original was burned down in 1789 apart from the outside, beign rebuilt in neo-classical style instead of English Baroque.   It was noticeably cold in the entrance to the chapel - apparently it cna be freexing in winter.

The chapel was rebuilt by a man called James Stuart, who was called the Athenian because of his passion for all things Greek.   The high ceiling is in blue and gold, with classical patterns, and reminds many people of wedgewood.   The baroque organ was made by Samuel Green and is flanked on either side by pillars which look like marble, but are actually scagliolo.   Relief statues of apostles and evanglists look down from high up on the walls between the windows.   The pulpit came from Athens, and the pictures on its sides are of artificial stone made by Eleanor Code.   The picture above the altar is of Saint Paul in Milta, with the intended message of "Be grateful".   The font is a tiny one - not unsurprising, considering almost the entire congregation would have been elderly, disabled men.

Next stop was the Skittles Alley, which was reached though two locked doors - it is not open to the general public.   It was provided to occupy the minds and time of the men, who tended to get into mischief if they had nothing to do all day, and provded very popular.   All of us in the tour had a chance to try out hand at skittles - I'm afraid my skittle wandered off into the channel at the side at a very early stage.   A neat innovation was a mechanism for returning the used skittles - a gently sloping trough, which ran the whoel length of the alley.   The skittles alley was only used for its original purpose for a few years, as the Greenwich Hospital closed in 1869, but the Royal Naval College, who took over the buildings, made use of it from 1873 until 1997/

The tour ended, I returned to the Discover Greenwich Centre, to spend a pleasanthalf hour or so looking around the museum, which contains a fascinating collection of items from the town's history.  I also tried on the Admiral's hat - apart from being rather on the large side, it definitely didn't suit me anyway.   Just as well I never joined the Navy!