Coloured plan mounted on canvas entitled 'An Exact Plan of Greenwich Park describing all things thereunto belonging and adjacent; Viz: the Queen's House there, Keepers' Lodges, Plantations, etc.' Produced circa 1700 by Henry Wise.

This apparently rather idealized plan probably dates to before 1700 (or is based on information before that date), since Romney Road was constructed in 1697-99 and there is no sign of it, while the outline of Greenwich Hospital is shown as complete, when in fact not finished until 1751. Early sources for the 'giant steps' below the Observatory - such as the 1676 Observatory views of Francis Place and the 1693 survey of Greenwich (TNA: MR/329 (1) ) - also indicate there were nine plus the final riser making it ten including the level of the Avenue at the top. This plan just shows five much deeper, plus a sixth step up to the Avenue. For some reason it is also unfinished, most obviously lacking the 'Explanation'. Why and when it was done are therefore currently uncertain but Henry Wise, 1653-1738, was a celebrated gardener and garden designer. Though of Oxfordshire family he appears to have been baptised in Greenwich, and was perhaps therefore born there too. He studied horticulture under George London, and about 1688 became his partner in the Brompton Park nurseries in London. After the accession of William III, Wise was appointed deputy ranger of Hyde Park and superintendent of the royal gardens at Hampton Court, Kensington, and elsewhere, and was eventually Royal Gardener to Queen Anne and George I. [PvdM 10/10]