Greenwich Park - The complete guide

Greenwich Park is without doubt one of London's most beautiful open spaces, but it is also one of its most historical and interesting too, a fact that the United Nations considered when they made it a World Heritage Site. This extensive guide to the park with over 200 illustrations leaves no Blackheath pebble unturned in uncovering its fascinating story.

Find out about:

- Its special natural environment

- Roman, Anglo-Saxon and Viking inhabitants

- How it became a Royal Park

- The Tudor's love of Greenwich

- Queen's and their house

- Fascinating underground tunnels and reservoirs

- Why Greenwich is zero degrees longitude

- An outrageous fair

- The secrets of its trees

- Pioneering gardens

- The deer and other wildlife

Go on a journey through time starting before the last ice-age through to the modern day. Find out about the hills that give the park its amazing views and made it an ideal place for people to settle.

See who came to the park and how it became a favourite place for kings and queens, starting with King Alfred and ending with Charles II who left when he could not have the giant cascade he wanted.

Find out about how the Naval College used the park to collect water, the crazy Greenwich Fair and the foundation of the observatory.

Finally, learn about the trees, widllife and deer. Identify the main trees and understand their unique regimented structure, and also what the deer get up to and the special insects and plants attracted to the park.

Whatever your interest in the park, this guide will have something for you. It makes a great souvenir as well as a handy guide to understanding all its features.


How to Purchase

You should find copies at the shop in the Greenwich Visitor centre, Pepys House 2 Cutty Sark Gardens, London SE10 9LW

If not, you can order on-line at amazon




  On-line Guide
More Info
Tree Map

Lesnes Abbey

What was intended to be one of the great religious houses of London now lies in ruins on the outskirts of Greenwich. Fronting a beautiful woodland on the river escarpment the ruins have a fascinating history and offer a fabulous escape from the city.

- Who founded the abbey and why

- Why is a lady's heart still buried in a ruined chapel?

- Which saint brought pilgrims here?

- Where was the brewery?

- When was the abbey closed down?

- How did the abbey fall foul of the law?

Kings, murder, intrigue, inheritance and corruption all contribute to a fascinating tale.
How to Purchase

You should find copies at Chestnuts Coffee Shop at Lesnes Abbey and buying there supports the Friends of Lesnes Abbey and Woods

If not, you can order on-line at amazon



On-line Guide

Severndroog Castle and Shooter's Hill

A triangular tower in the form of a castle, hidden in woods, and with a very strange name.

Find out about the rich history of Severndroog Castle and those that were involved in its creation and survival over the last 250 years. Discover lots of interesting facts about Shooters Hill such as it's attractiveness to highwaymen and the production of mineral waters.

With a detailed account of the man and the battle it commemorates; its various uses during its life; a section on the surrounding area; plenty of illustrations and a map. This is a handy guide for any trip to Shooters Hill and possibly the best view point in South East London.


How to Purchase

You may find copies at local retailers, if not, order on-line at amazon



 

Fiction: Science Fiction Technological Thriller

COP26 is over and there is little sign that we will restrict Global Warming to 1.5 degrees. Too often the socio-economic and tipping-point issues related to increasing temperatures are ignored. It will not be the heat that causes the trouble, it will be what the heat does to our ecosystems, our planet's tectonics and the ice fields of the Antarctic.

Innovative technology is going to have to find solutions to these problems and many others, and this novel explores some of these, especially advanced artificial Intelligence, but by the time these are available, the warming is inevitable and has to be dealt with differently. There has to be one last chance for humanity.

Although disaster inevitably strikes, this is a story of hope, love and the fact that the survival is always possible, but not for everyone, and not in a new paradise. The Earth will be saved, but it will take three centuries.

Cloud Nine

An exciting read that takes you on a fast moving journey into a world that has paid the price of ignoring all the warnings about the seriousness of climate change. Engaging characters share the love, intrigue, politics, determination and good fortune of their lives as they help forge a master plan to save humanity funded by a reclusive billionaire.

"Not your typical science fiction book, feels very real, like it could all be happening tomorrow."

Mark Shepherd has fled to the depths of space trying to forget a personal nightmare forged in a world where men outnumber women three to one after a viral pandemic selectively killed women and skewed the birth ratio. As part of the Amos fleet he helps marshal the stream of carbon dioxide "bergs" to Mars, part of an effort to reduce global warming by the politically favoured direct extraction of the greenhouse gas from the Earth's atmosphere, but which is also viewed by many as an attempt to make Mars inhabitable.

Being an expert in Artificial Intelligence, he is unexpectedly called back to Earth to work on ways to speed up the process. Based on Cloud Nine, the first of the enormous floating platforms built by Atmenco that contain spaceports, casinos and manage the whole carbon dioxide extraction process, he finds himself working for the confident and successful Supriya Rai and she soon begins to help him rediscover himself.

Two mysterious disappearances draw Supriya, Mark and their friends into the very heart of an unexpected grand plan to save humanity initiated by the owner of Atmenco who has obtained information revealing that unexpected events in the Antarctic have brought the earth much closer to disaster than anyone had thought. Using advanced AI, robotic technology and global media in a race against time, they are on the cusp of success when things are brought to an abrupt halt by a rogue scientist who has exploited his position of trust in an attempt to gain power.

Cloud Nine explores humanity's current and future relationship with the Earth and the effects of global warming on Antarctica, London, San Francisco and many other places, while always aware that politics, commerce and people's personal feelings drive decisions, decisions that very rarely look far ahead and are rarely completely logical.

An accessible science fiction thriller that exposes the beauty, fragility and complexity of our planet through the eyes of ordinary people living their lives in a world different from ours and yet with the same human challenges. It explores some of the science and technology that might appear over the next decades to revolutionise transport, radically alter our relationship with computers and begin to repair our planet.

Places: Antarctica, London: Greenwich, San Francisco, New York, Atacama Desert, Easter Island, Russia/Japan: Kuril Islands.

Themes: Technology, Love, Exploration, Travel, Religion, Global Catastrophe.


How to Purchase

Available on Amazon as Kindle e-book or in print