We asked a scholar the history behind the name Greenwich – and discovered that its name could have a number of meanings dating as far back as Anglo-Saxon times.

Greenwich is known for its rich history, its links to royalty and naval history, and for its Royal Park, which was formerly hunting grounds for King Henry VIII.

However, according to one scholar, Greenwich’s history dates back to Anglo-Saxon times, and its name could link to its greenery and its links with the river.

According to Dr Pieter van der Merwe, MBE, DL of the Greenwich Society, Greenwich doesn’t have a “definitive” meaning, however there is some room for speculation.

“Grene” is the Anglo-Saxon for “green”, and “wich” is Anglo-Saxon for “tree”, however there may be a link to the Latin word “vicus” meaning a district.

Greenwich during the Anglo-Saxon period would have been mainly woodland – leading to speculation for the Anglo-Saxon origins for ‘Grene.”

However, early spellings of Greenwich until the time of Henry I in 1186 appear as “Gronewic,” “Gronavic” and “Gronovic”.

As a result earlier spellings may also link the name to the old Norse Word “groenn”, meaning “green”, when Greenwich was a semi-permanent Viking raiding base in 1012 following the murder of Alphege, Archbishop of Canterbury where the Church of St Alphege now stands in Greenwich.

According to Dr Pieter, the combination of “groenn-vik” suggests that Greenwich derives from “green inlet” after the time of the Normal Conquest, and it applied to both sides of Deptford Creek.

Dr Peiter said: “The mouth of the Ravensbourne is likely to be the 'inlet' concerned, since in the days when all the local shorelines were shallow tidal beaches it would have been an obvious place to beach longships, in shelter from wind and wave on the Thames, out of the main tideway, and with their semi-permanent camp established on the higher and dryer ground to the west.”

Before and after the Normal Conquest, the far side of the Creek was the manor of West Greenwich.

Dr Peiter added: “Both before and after the Norman conquest the far side of the Creek was the manor of West Greenwich, latterly in the hands of the Norman Barons de Saye (hence Sayes Court) and the modern town and World Heritage Site area were in the Royal Manor of East Greenwich - albeit farmed out to the Abbey for St Peter at Ghent under the Priory of Lewisham from around 918 to 1414, when Henry V evicted foreign religious houses from English landholding and reclaimed it.“

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What would have once been referred to in Anglo-Saxon and Norman as “West Greenwich” is now Deptford which was previously the only settlement round Deptford Bridge.

However what people today call “West Greenwich” in the historic town area is in fact old “East Greenwich.”

What people now know as “East Greenwich” didn’t exist in residential terms before the 19th century, and was instead “sparsely populated” open fields and marshlands, apart from the riverside houses between Park Row and Ballast Quay.