GREENWICH PARK 
107 
Those who are the ready champions of the rights of 
the people to the common lands, and who justly inveigh 
against all encroachments, must feel bound to admit that, 
in the case of Greenwich Park, what they would call 
pilfering in other instances is thoroughly justified. The 
land which forms the Park was part of Blackheath until 
Henry VI., in the fifteenth year of his reign, gave his 
uncle Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, licence to enclose 
200 acres of the wood and heath “to make a park in 
Greenwich.” 
The modern history of Greenwich Park may be said 
to begin in Duke Humphrey’s time, but it was a favourite 
resort long before that. Situated on the high ground 
above the marshy banks of the river, and near the Wat- 
ling Street between London and Dover, Greenwich was 
found suitable for country residence in Roman times. 
On one of the hills in the Park, with a commanding view 
over the river, the remains of a Roman villa have been 
excavated. Over 300 coins were found, dating from 
35 b.c. to a.d. 423. Bronzes, pottery, a tesselated 
pavement, and the remains of painted plaster were 
discovered, showing that it must have been a villa of 
“ taste and elegance,” and there were indications that 
the final destruction of this charming abode was by fire. 
A peep into the past might reveal the last of its 
Roman occupants flying before the barbarian Jute. 
Doubtless in its prime there would be a garden near 
the villa—perhaps a faint imitation of those Roman 
gardens like Pliny’s. There, “ in front of the portico,” 
was “ a sort of terrace, embellished with various figures 
and bounded with a box-hedge,” which descended “ by an 
easy slope, adorned with the representation of divers 
animals in box,” to a soft lawn. There were shady trees 
