The Greenwich Meridian

Currently viewing images from c. 1934

Click to choose image set

The town of Peacehaven was created in a somewhat controversial manner by the land agent Charles Neville, who started buying up agricultural land in late 1915. Neville had few of the worthy principles of his contemporary Ebenezer Howard whose ideas influenced the new Garden Cities at Letchworh and Welwyn. His approach was altogether more cavalier and depended for its success upon his undoubted ability to generate publicity and his willingness to take on his detractors in court. In the 1930s, it was Neville’s flair for publicity that brought the Meridian and the notion of marking it, to the attention of a wider public.

In or around 1933, one of the town’s residents, Commander WS Davenport, mentioned that the Meridian passed though the town. Realising he could turn this to his advantage, Neville asked Davenport to organise a public appeal to raise money for an obelisk complete with drinking fountain that would both mark the Meridian, and at the same time, commemorate the forthcoming Silver Jubilee of King George V.

‘A broad white strip of stonework some fifty yards long, with a groove running down the middle’ was laid along the Meridian from the Promenade right up to the cliff edge. Soon after, this temporary wooden structure with four fingerposts and details of the appeal was erected astride it. It became known locally as OTMOP (On the Meridian of Peacehaven). The obelisk itself was unveiled in 1936 (see next mark north).