The Greenwich Meridian

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The current marking at this site dates from 2015. Prior to that, the Meridian was marked with one of over 60 similar marks that were installed in the London Borough of Waltham Forest as part of the millennium celebrations. Taking the form of a compass rose; they were supplied as preformed thermoplastic sheets and sited with the aid of a detailed map provided by the Borough Engineer. The relative orientation of the concentric circles within each marking varies slightly from one location to the next. Crudely aligned to the Meridian with the aid of a compass, the compass roses were fused to the ground by the application of heat from a gas burner. By the end of the marking process, virtually every road in the Borough crossed by the Meridian had either one of the new marks or one of the earlier specially designed paving slabs. Of these there were eight, four dating from 1963 and four from 1984. Just two roads were marked (probably in error) with both a slab and a compass rose.

Originally intended to remain in place for the millennium year only, the compass roses were never formally removed. Their current condition varies considerably from mark to mark. By 2017, roughly 40% of them were no longer in existence. Of the remainder, none were complete, but one or two showed only small signs of wear. At the other extreme, some were so heavily worn that they consisted of little more than a smudge of yellow and blue.

In 2015, all the compass rose markings (and former markings), from Forest Road southwards, to Chestnut Avenue North were replaced by a circular inscribed iron plate (diameter about 50 cm) and a row of white stone studs. Most are in the Wood Street Ward of the Borough (bounded by the centre of Forest Road to the north and of Lea Bridge Road to the south). The only new marking outside the ward boundary was the one in Forest Road itself, which was on the opposite side of the road. In addition to these seven replacement markings, an additional marking was placed alongside the existing 1963 marking in Wood Street (at the centre of the ward). On the last two of the eight roads to be marked, (Waverley Road and Upper Walthamstow Road), the iron discs, were placed in the centre of the line of studs. On the others, they were placed to one side – sometimes to the east and sometimes to the west.