National Maritime Museum

Conservation Plan

A Final Draft for Consultation

Maritime Greenwich is a special place, combining a spectacular palace and park landscape with a vibrant historic town centre. Commanding the great southern loop of the Thames, five miles east of central London, historic Greenwich has long been known world-wide as the 'home of Time' and the Greenwich Meridian, longitude 0°. It has a fascinating history dating back to pre-historic times, a royal history since 1414 and long associations with the Royal Navy. In the last 70 years its seafaring and educational associations have immeasurably and beneficially broadened, with the arrival of the National Maritime Museum in the 1930s, the Cutty Sark in the 1950s, and the repurposing of the Old Royal Naval College in the 1990s as a modern university campus.

This mixture, in which a unique ensemble of historic buildings and the ideas they embody have been turned to new public benefits, draws an ever-increasing number of people from round the world, both for leisure and learning. It is also the basis of the 'universal global value', which in 1998 earned 'Maritime Greenwich' inscription as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, a status which has engendered an active and ongoing local partnership between all those responsible for its care and development.

The Trustees and staff of the National Maritime Museum take great pride in their role as stewards of central parts of the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site: the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, the fine and largely 19th-century buildings of the Museum proper; and Inigo Jones's Queen's House which, as the spiritual and physical focus of the World Heritage Site in architectural terms, is also the jewel in the crown of the Museum's estate.

The Conservation Plan brings together and creates for the first time a practical compilation of everything we know about the history and significance of the buildings and their settings: the Queen's House, the buildings added to it to house the Royal Hospital School, and the adaptation to the Museum thereafter. It celebrates achievements of stewardship to date and sets policies for the future, to preserve this physical legacy and enhance recognition of its significance.

The Plan is an important document that will support many aspects of future Museum and wider World Heritage Site activity. Those responsible for ongoing preventative maintenance will use its content to inform their work: future capital development will also respond to, and be shaped by, its recommendations.

The final version of the Plan will be publicly available on the Museum's website and will be periodically reviewed to keep it up-to-date. It will thereby also be a primary source for anyone requiring accurate knowledge about the history and significance of the site. As such we hope it will provide support for the development of exhibitions, popular publications and learning resources concerning the history of Maritime Greenwich as a whole.

The National Maritime Museum now welcomes comment on the final draft of the Conservation Plan from any interested organization or member of the public. Any comments should be sent in writing by Wednesday 31 st January 2007 to Sue McMahon at the National Maritime Museum:

smcmahon@nmm.ac.uk

National Maritime Museum

Romney Road

Greenwich

London

SE10 9NF

A hard copy of the document is available for study at the Caird Library at the National Maritime Museum (opening hours, 10am - 5pm, Monday - Saturday inclusive).

The draft Plan has been compiled by Cambridge Architectural Research and written with reference to the World Heritage Site Management Plan 2004 (in which it represents a target achieved) and the separate, pre-existing conservation plans for the Royal Observatory and Old Royal Naval College, the latter compiled for the Greenwich Foundation.

Contact:

Sue McMahon

smcmahon@nmm.ac.uk

National Maritime Museum

Romney Road

Greenwich

London

SE10 9NF