Naval College

Part of the complex of buildings that is the Old Royal Naval College, Greenwich, London which I passed when heading towards the riverside.  Designed and built by Christopher Wren it was also added to by later architects, its most iconic view of its buildings and domes is from the across the river

Described by UNESCO as the "finest and dramatically sited architectural landscape ensemble in the British Isles" unfortunately this is the clearest view I took when departing by river boat.  The reason.  It was just a few days before the Saharan Sand/Dust was going to give London its first smog of the year on the 31st March.

The preceding days (before the full impact of the dust storm) resulted in hazy views such as this taken from Observatory Hill in Greenwich Park of the Naval College and London skyline.

But here is one half of the building domes taken from the Greenwich Park side and as a school crocodile passed on its way to the National Maritime Museum

Where, as threatened in my post for F for Fourth Plinth in this round of ABC Wednesday, here is a photo of where Yinka Shonibare's Nelson's Ship in a Bottle found its permanent home.

As can be imagined Greenwich's naval past is everywhere but the site was originally a palace of the Tudor monarchs (which fell into ruins after the English Civil War). 

An appropriate place to find a statue of Sir Walter Raleigh who was a favourite of Queen Elizabeth and schoolchildren everywhere who enjoy swashbuckling history so no wonder he featured in the BBC's poll of the 100 Greatest Britons. Originally this statue was in Whitehall and was relocated here outside Pepys House.

All the Christopher Wren designed buildings were constructed from 1696-1702 to serve as a Royal Hospital for Seamen, this closed in 1865 and between 1873 to 1998 the buildings were used as the Royal Naval College for training in the naval sciences. Today some buildings are occupied by the University of Greenwich, the National Maritime Museum and are owned by a charitable trust for all to enjoy their architecture.

An entry to ABC Wednesday, a journey through the alphabet, this week sojourning at N here