The 17th Century (1601 - 1700)

Greenwich Royal Observatory & Greenwich Hospital established.

1558 - 1603 Queen Elizabeth I

1603: 24 March - Death of Elizabeth I - James I became King of England

1603 - 1625 King James I

1605: 5 November - Gunpowder plot - Guy Fawkes attempts to blow-up Parliament

1606: 12 April - Union Jack adopted

1607: Appearance of Halley's Comet

1611: Authorised version of Bible published

1613: Trinity Hospital founded in Greenwich.

1614: King James I gave Palace of Placenta at Greenwich to his Queen (Anne of Denmark)

1617: Henry Briggs introduces decimal notation.

1618: Sir Walter Ralegh put to death

1619: Death of Queen Anne (Queen's House only partially built)

1620: 6 September - Pilgrim Fathers set sail in Mayflower to America from Southwark sail past Greenwich.

1622: First English newspaper

1625: 27 March - death of James I

1625 - 1649 King Charles I

1625: Parliament gave Charles I tonnage & poundage for one year only

1629: King Charles I (1600 - 1649) commissions Queens House to be completed by Inigo Jones for his Queen Henrietta Maria.

1634: Ship money demanded by Charles I without Parliament's consent

1635: Queens House in Greenwich completed by Inigo Jones (1573 - c1652).

1635: Connecticut first settled

1636: Hackney carriages in London

1642: English Civil War breaks out - Greenwich no longer favoured royal residence.

1649 - 1660 Oliver Cromwell

1653: Body of Richard Deane lay in state at Greenwich.

1657: Body of Robert Blake at Greenwich.

1660: Charles II welcomed on Blackheath on his return from exile.

1660 - 1685 King Charles II

1660: Composition of light discovered by Sir Isaac Newton

1661: Hand-struck postage-stamps first used.

1661-2 Bridge Rooms added to Queens House by King Charles II.

1662: Royal Society of London receives Royal Charter

1665: Great Plague in London

1665-6: Samuel Pepys (1633 - 1703), famous diarist, lived in Greenwich.

1666: 2 June: Samuel Pepy's records gun-fire heard at Greenwich from English-Dutch naval conflict.

1666: 2-6 September - Great Fire of London

1675 - 22 June: Greenwich Royal Observatory created by Royal Warrant

1675: 10 August - Building of Royal Observatory commenced

1675: John Flamsteed appointed first Astronomer Royal.

1676: Royal Greenwich Observatory built by Sir Christopher Wren.

1676: Greenwich ferry starts operating across the River Thames.

1680: Buccaneers' Raids. John Coxon defeated at Panama

1681: Oil street lights first used in London

1682: Appearance of Halley's Comet

1689 - 1702 William and Mary

1688: King William III and Queen Mary II ascend the English throne.

1689: Queen Mary II (wife of William III) welcomed at Greenwich on first arrival to England.

1694: October: Greenwich Hospital established by Queen Mary's royal charter (now Royal Naval College).

1698: Peter the Great works in ship-yard in Deptford.

1699: Rangers House built on edge of Greenwich Royal Park.