Discover Greenwich

A new interpretation and education centre
in the heart of the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site

Work is well under way on a new £5.8 million interpretation and education centre, Discover Greenwich, in the Pepys Building at the Old Royal Naval College, thanks to a recent grant of £700,000 from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

This grant was added to nearly £2 million from the Heritage Lottery Fund, and generous grants from trusts, foundations and individuals including the Clore Duffield Foundation.

Opening in early 2010, the Discover Greenwich Centre will inspire visitors to explore the rich history of the Old Royal Naval College and the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site. The centre will include an exhibition hall, a learning suite, and a temporary exhibition gallery.

In addition there will be a shop, a Tourist Information Centre and, in the adjacent former brewery for the Royal Hospital, the Meantime Brewery will open a new café, brasserie and bar with its own exhibition chartering the history of brewing in London and Greenwich.

Announcing the DCMS grant Barbara Follett, Culture and Tourism Minister said “I am glad that this marvellous project can now be completed. The Greenwich Foundation’s new interpretation and education centre will helps visitors navigate their way around the World Heritage Site, and encourage them to learn more about its rich history. There is a particular emphasis on meeting the needs of school parties with the creation of the Clore Duffield Learning Centre, and with the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games rapidly approaching, the Tourist Information Centre that is also part of the project could not be more timely.”

The Permanent Exhibition

The permanent exhibition will provide an overview of the architectural and social story of the Old Royal Naval College, from its origins as the site of Henry VIII's Tudor Palace, its naval past as the Royal Hospital for Seamen and Royal Naval College to its present day significance as a heritage visitor destination. It will feature historic artefacts, contemporary and replica artworks, interactive and hands-on activities, models, film footage and oral reminiscences.

The project team is therefore busy writing text for the exhibition’s display panels, sourcing images and developing a variety of interactive and architectural models. Exhibition contractors Scena have been appointed to work alongside the design company Real Studios. Examples of recent exhibitions they have created include the National Waterfront Museum in Swansea and the London Transport Museum. One of the first major new exhibits to get under way will be the glass model of the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site which will be the central orientation point for the whole centre.

Conservation work to a number of objects including a Coade stone lion, scagliola column and small artefacts from Greenwich Palace have now been completed. These will be on display alongside objects loaned from the Royal Armouries, National Maritime Museum and Museum of London.

There are also many special projects within the centre and one highlight is the re-construction of a Tudor window from Henry VIII’s Palace using original stonework from past archaeological excavations of Greenwich Palace. A number of expert advisors have been called in to help with assembly of the window and production of new stained glass.

The Clore Duffield Learning Centre

The Clore Duffield Learning Suite is designed to appeal to a wide range of audiences and will enable increasing numbers of school children and local people to participate in a range of specialist workshops run by the Greenwich Foundation’s education team.

In preparation for its opening, the education team has been working on two exciting school and community based projects. Thomas Tallis Secondary and Henwick Primary School have collaborated on an innovative project to create a set of hand-crafted cushions with digitised designs reflecting the College’s vibrant history for use in the new learning centre during storytelling and other educational sessions. When not used to seat young visitors, the cushions will be displayed on a wall of the centre making a decorative and practical sound buffer.

An oral history project has helped to connect Year 6 children from Woodhill Primary School in Woolwich with people who worked or studied at the Old Royal Naval College. As part of this project, Tony McTurk, the oral historian who delivered a similar project for the South Bank Centre, has led workshops at the school with elders being interviewed by the children. The collection of oral histories will be an ongoing activity and will be displayed in the exhibition in a memory book.

Meantime Café, Restaurant and Bar

The Meantime Brewing Company will operate the new café, restaurant and bar and it has already started brewing the specialist ale which will be one of the many served in the new centre. The beer will spend a year in 350 litre oak Syrah casks before being served.

The 1836 brewhouse building, which is on the same site as the original brewery built in 1717, supplied beer as vital sustenance to the pensioned sailors who occupied Sir Christopher Wren’s Royal Hospital for Seamen.

Once again Meantime will be brewing beer on the same site, and rather than retired sailors, they will be refreshing local residents and visitors to Greenwich.

If you would like further information about the Discover Greenwich project, please view the following files:

Discover Greenwich 2009 (753 KB)

Newsletter June 2009 (2.9 MB)

How can you support Discover Greenwich?

The Discover Greenwich appeal has now reached its final target of £5.8 million thanks to grants and donations from a variety of generous supporters.

We do still need support in order to deliver a number of additional works and this includes lighting, landscaping and a range of equipment for use in the learning programmes.

For further information on how to make a donation, visit Support Us