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FROM BLACKHEATH TO THE CLOCK TOWER. 61 
Blackheath, where he was met by the Duke of Norfolk with a 
numerous train of bishops and others of high rank. Here, in a 
tent of cloth of gold, he put on his cardinal’s robes, and rode in 
much state into London. 
In 1540 Henry VIII here met Anne of Cleves, for whose 
passage over the Heath a broad way was cut through the furze. 
The Court being so frequently at Greenwich, the Sovereign 
frequently used the Heath for exercise, and, as of old, the situation 
of the ground made it a convenient place for the assembly of 
troops. Edward VI, accompanied by his Court, was often on 
the Heath, and Queen Elizabeth here in 1585 reviewed the City 
Militia. 
During the Civil War there were many musterings of troops 
on Blackheath, and it was here that the army was drawn up to 
receive Charles II at the Restoration. 
John Evelyn in his diary mentions the formation of large 
camps on the Heath in 1673 and 1690, and in 1687 he remarks that 
on the 16th March he saw a trial of ‘‘ those devilish, murdering, 
mischief-doing engines called bombs shot out of the morter-piece 
on Black-heath. The distance that they are cast and the destruc- 
tion they make where they fall is prodigious.” On the map of 1695 
the mount in the centre of the Heath is marked as ‘‘ the mount for 
trying mortars,” and if it ts not an ancient tumulus, as some sus- 
pect, it may have been thrown up for the purpose which Evelyn 
mentions. 
In the time of Queen Anne the ‘‘ Palatines,” who flocked to 
England, were encamped on the Heath to the number of 7,000, 
where they sickened and died in great numbers. They were for- 
bidden to enter the City, and were finally shipped off to New York, 
Holland and Ireland. 
The days of the Georges saw several reviews on the Heath, 
one of which was the subject of an engraving by Paul Sanby. 
But it is time to turn from these historical reminiscences to the 
Heath itself. It is difficult to-day, with the well-defined roads, 
asphalte paths, gas lamps, etc., to imagine the Heath as it was in 
the times, just referred to, and, indeed, as late as the early part of 
the last century. Covered with gorse and bracken, ill-defined roads, 
no lights of any kind at night, and with only a few houses here and 
there on the very borders, it is no wonder that the place obtained 
an unenviable notoriety for its highwaymen, so much so that 
associations were formed by the inhabitants for mutual protection. 
In attempting to form some idea of the appearance of the 
Heath in days gone by, we must first remember that it originally 
extended from Blackheath Hill to Shooters Hill, and from Kidbrook 
to the slopes overlooking Greenwich, a wide unpopulated waste, 
covered with furze and bracken. The first curtailment, so far as 
we have evidence, was the enclosure authorised in 1432 of 200 
acres, by Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, to form Greenwich Park. 
Later on, enclosures were made on the eastern side of the Heath, 
