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History of East Greenwich Pleasaunce

 
The naval cemetery in East Greenwich Pleasaunce was established to address the problem of the Royal Hospital's burial site in central Greenwich becoming full.

Royal Hospital Greenwich

The Royal Hospital Greenwich (also known as Greenwich Hospital) was founded in 1694. It opened to naval pensioners - many of them elderly and infirm - in 1705.

Death was a regular feature and a place for burials nearby was essential. At first, the hospital used land in what is now a northern corner of Greenwich Park. In 1749, a new and larger area piece of land known as Goddard’s Garden came into use. This is now King William Walk.

Overcrowded

By the early 1800s Goddard's Garden was becoming full. In 1847, Dr John Liddell, Director General of the Medical Department, Royal Navy (who is buried in East Greenwich Pleasaunce) recommended the site be closed.

He feared that "the effluvia of the graveyard might endanger the health and safety of all" as it was "crowded beyond parallel".

The search for new grounds

The authorities searched fruitlessly for some suitable land for years. They had to ask the Home Secretary for several periods of extension in order to keep searching.

At last, in 1856, some acceptable land – an orchard to the south of what is now the Woolwich Road – was found. In 1857, the Admiralty secured the purchase from the trustees of the late Sir Gregory Page Turner.

The new burial site was to be called The Royal Hospital Cemetery. It is now part of East Greenwich Pleasaunce.

Three thousand remains moved

Even after the hospital itself closed in 1869, The Royal Hospital Cemetery remained in use: there was still a need to bury those with connections to the Royal Hospital School or the Royal Naval College.

In 1875, some three thousand bodies from central Greenwich were moved to the Royal Hospital Cemetery. This was to make way for construction of a railway tunnel under the old Goddard's Garden graveyard. The work was part of a railway extension from Greenwich to the east Kent coast.

There is memorial tablet dedicated to the memory of the 3,000 pensioners.

More about the East Greenwich Pleasaunce cemetery

Public park

In 1926, the Admiralty sold the Royal Hospital Cemetery to the Metropolitan Borough of Greenwich (a predecessor of Greenwich Council) but reserved the rights for further burials. The last burial took place in 1981.

Greenwich Council landscaped part of the ground and opened the park as East Greenwich Pleasaunce.

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