The Greenwich Meridian

Currently viewing images from 21 Oct 2011

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The Marine path runs atop the Marine Embankment, which was built between February 1929 and June 1930 at a cost of about £27,000. The stainless steel strip marking the Meridian was added in 1933 by the Borough Surveyor Mr LW Pye. No information has come to light as to what prompted the marking. However, it is roughly contemporaneous with the temporary marking on the cliff top at Peacehaven on the South Coast prior to the erection of the permanent obelisk there in 1936.

In 1933, stainless steel was a new material whose non-corroding qualities had not been tested over time – but as the information board mounted alongside suggests, the strip’s condition bears testimony to its fine quality (and also belies its age). It was supplied by Hadfields Ltd of Sheffield whose name can be seen at its southern end. The site in Sheffield where it was made is now largely covered by the Meadowhall Shopping Centre.

The red brick cube (with concrete top) once carried a sundial. The information board mounted on it, which was already damaged in 2003, had lost a significant part of the text by March 2005. It was replaced with three new signs carrying slightly different wording. In 2013, an appeal was launched to raise funds for a granite globe to place on the plinth. Weighing two tons and costing around £4000 to make, the globe was erected on a new black brick plinth built on the site of the old redbrick cube and formally unveiled in November 2015.