io8 LONDON PARKS & GARDENS 
and a splashing fountain, and sunny walks to form “ a 
very pleasing contrast,” where the air was “ perfumed 
with roses.” The slopes of Greenwich may have pre¬ 
sented such a scene in the days when Roman galleys 
rowed up the Thames. 
In another part of the Park, Roman graves have been 
found, and other burying-places of a later date suggest a 
very different picture from that of Roman times. These 
tumuli are very numerous, and although over twenty 
remain, a much greater number existed, and have been 
rifled from time to time, or excavated, as in 1784, when 
some fifty were opened, and braids of human hair, frag¬ 
ments of woollen cloth, and beads were found. These 
graves suggest the occupation of these heights by the 
Danes, who were encamped there for some three years 
about 1011. Wild and lawless must have been the 
aspect then, and the incident that stands out prominently 
is the martyrdom of St. Alphege, the Archbishop, slain 
here by the Danes in 1012. 
There was probably some royal residence at Green¬ 
wich from the time of Edward I., but it was not 
until it came to Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, that 
the Palace much used in Tudor times was built. This 
building faced the Thames, and went by the name of 
“Placentia” or “ Plaisance,” and round it there was a 
garden. The royal licence, which gave the Duke leave 
to enclose a portion of the heath, provided that he might 
also build “Towers of stone and lime.” The tower 
stood on the hill now crowned by the Observatory, and 
was pulled down when Charles II. had the Observatory 
erected from designs by Wren in 1675. The plan in¬ 
cluded a well 100 feet deep, at the bottom of which the 
astronomer Flamsteed could lie and observe the heavens. 
