Rose Garden Sundial and Bust of Sir John Flamsteed

As you enter the Rose Garden, the central feature is the imposing bust of Sir John Flamsteed. Flamsteed was the first Astronomer Royal, and the founder of The Royal Greenwich Observatory.

The Royal Greenwich Observatory (RGO) was established in 1675 in Greenwich, East London, and conducted research focused on astronomy, time and navigation. The observatory itself was built very quickly in its original location, opening the first building onsite in 1676. Sir John Flamsteed resided there for decades, recording astronomical observations about the movement of the sun, moon, planets and stars. The observatory was also noted for its role in developing accurate clocks and a standardized system of time zones.

The apparent position of the Sun in the sky, and thus solar time, varies by location because of the spherical shape of the Earth. This variation corresponds to four minutes of time for every degree of longitude. The Royal Observatory established Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), the mean solar time at that location, as an aid to mariners to determine longitude at sea, providing a standard reference time while each location in England kept a different time. This work eventually formed the basis for the global time zones that we are familiar with today.

As East London continued to expand, air pollution and the bright lights of the city began to interfere with the Observatory's work.

On April 11^th, 1946, the Admiralty announced that Herstmonceux Castle had been selected as the Observatory's new home. On February 18^th, 1947, the Castle and surrounding 368-acre estate was purchased from Latham for the sum of £70,000. The Observatory also spent £6,000 to acquire the temporary building that had been erected on the Castle grounds by the Hearts of Oak Friendly Society during World War II.

The transfer began in 1947, and by 1958 the Royal Greenwich Observatory was fully operational. This transfer came with equipment and personnel, artifacts like John Flamsteed's bust and a collection of antique sundials to the Castle grounds. The presence of the Observatory and its equipment accompanied the heightened reputation of the Castle since its gradual restorations beginning in the early 1910s.

Also in the Rose Garden, just north of the bust of John Flamsteed, is the massive Tercentenary Sundial, also known as the Giant Sundial. This sundial was erected at Herstmonceux Castle in 1975 to commemorate the Tercentenary of the founding of the Observatory at Greenwich. It is a reclining equiangular sundial, designed so that the gnomon, the part of the sundial which casts the shadow, would be vertical. The dial is easy to read, and is capable of giving the time in GMT correct to within a minute.

This sundial and an additional six smaller sundials can be found in the garden. Take some time to see if you can find all six sundials here in the Rose Garden.

The Royal Greenwich Observatory occupied the Castle grounds from 1946 until 1989, when it was controversially disbanded and its artifacts and holdings distributed to a number of universities and institutions elsewhere in the UK. The Tercentenary Sundial was moved to Cambridge University in 1990. Thankfully, the sundial was repatriated to its current location behind the Flamsteed bust only a few years later. Its presence in the beautiful rose garden is an enduring reminder of the connection between the Royal Greenwich Observatory and Herstmonceux.

Feel free to learn more about John Flamsteed, wander through the roses, and examine the collection of Sundials scattered through the area, from small garden varieties to the Giant Sundial just behind Flamsteed's bust.