Archaeologists are set to start work next month on searching for remains of giant grass steps that used to be on the hill in Greenwich Park – before a project begins to create them afresh.
Volunteers will dig a trench along the hill leading from the Old Royal Observatory – below one of London’s best-loved viewpoints – to look for what is left of the steps that were built there in the 17th century.
The big dig will come before the Greenwich Park Revealed project, which will seek to recreate the Giant Steps, gets under way.
Work has already begun on a new visitor centre at the Maze Hill end of the park, but the transformation of Observatory Hill – which was approved by Greenwich councillors three years ago – is the centrepiece of the project.
Park bosses believe that the hill was fashioned into 12 levels in 1661, and Charles II wanted to turn it into a water cascade as part of plans for a palace in what is now the park.
The following year, Samuel Pepys wrote that the King hath planted trees and made steps up the hill to the Castle, which is very magnificent”.
But the palace plans went no further and later drawings show a reduction in the number of steps, to five or six. The steps eroded over the years but surveys suggest some are still there beneath the topsoil.
“The intention is to restore the layout of six giant grass steps … and to align this with the outer tree avenue running south from the Wolfe Statue dais to Blackheath Gate,” a planning document submitted by Royal Parks to Greenwich Council says. The council will have to approve this part of the plans before work can begin.
“The steps will be created symmetrically on a line running from the centre of the Queens House to the centre of Blackheath Gate.
“The current proposal assumes that the topsoil is a post 1660s deposit of material that has built up over the remnant earthworks of the Grand Ascent. The evaluation trench aims to examine this assumption.”
If remnants are found, Royal Parks says that it will be able to adapt its final plans to ensure that they stay underneath the new steps.
Work on the recreated steps could start this winter. Public access to the hill, a favourite spot for sunbathing in summer, will be restricted after the changes are made, although park bosses pledged three years ago to open it for sledging in winter.
A diagonal path leading across the foot of the hill – the Parterre Banks – will be removed. The area at the top of the hill – around the General Wolfe statue – will also be changed, with the viewing area extended north and the base of the statue widened to provide more space for visitors and photography.
You must be logged in to post a comment.