As part of yet another new occasional series, Greenwich then and now, I thought I’d share this strange picture with you – the view from Point Hill in 1906.

I guess the thing that’s most striking about it is that the angle is completely different to what we’d be looking at today. The only things I really recognise are St Alfege’s tower and the domes of the Old Royal Naval College – neither of which are easily viewable from the Point today.

In fact this is the best I could do a few days ago, trying to get that same angle:

The trees have grown up along the north side, which does make the Point more sheltered, but also protects us from realising just what a promontary it is, jutting out from Blackheath, looking out over the whole of London.

It must have been quite a view. I find myself imagining Jack Cade, Wat Tyler and various Cornish rebels (who must have been a bit lost to have come this way round…) standing on this funny little bit of a hill and seeing the whole of London – and a fair amount of Essex – before them.

To try to get anywhere near the same view as the shot taken just over 100 years ago, I had to go down a level, and look out over the tops of the houses – not such a good angle, but at least halfway there.

One more thing about the 1906 picture – does anyone know what the Dutch-gabled building just below the ORNC is? I can’t see it still exists.

On Easter Monday, I took a stroll up to the Point. I love going there – it’s full of those country lanes I’ve been promising to flag up (some more coming soon, promise…) It doesn’t matter how you approach it, it always feels slightly edgy, slightly secret.

It certainly was on Monday. As you can see, the place was deserted. Admittedly it had that certain extra, added-edginess – that ‘will-it-won’t-it-pour-with-rain-before-I-get-to-the-Union’ feel about it. But for that short while, despite its being a bank holiday, it was empty up there. A magical, flat, tree-surrounded fairy glade, with a fabulous view.

Of course the view’s getting a little more obscure these days as the shrubs on the hill below grow to maturity – they could do with a spot of judicious pruning here and there – but hey – this has to be one of (if not the) best view around.

If you can imagine, through the rapidly-approaching clouds in this picture, the London Eye is bang in the middle, with Wembley, the Gherkin, that strange building over Spitalfields, Tower 42 and Canary Wharf all silhouetted to the right (not that they’re mentioned in the charmingly out-of-date info board up there…) but there are lovely little extras too – chimney pots and higgledy-piggledy roofs, church spires and curiosities, the DLR and sundry train lines (sadly no St Nicholas, Deptford, any more – new builds conceal it now…)

That same day, the crowds to view London from The Phantom General Wolfe’s Statue were several-people-deep. And – I’ll grant you – it IS a good view. As is the one from that lonesome bench to the west of Greenwich Park, just at the brow of Greenwich Hill. I’m even partial to the vista you get from outside the Amylum chemical works on the Thames Path, looking back at the ORNC. From the top of Maze Hill, by Vanbrugh Castle’s another good one. But none of them can beat The Point, IMHO.

Sadly, by the time I took the photo above, those clouds were approaching a bit scarily fast (though in the event came to nothing) and the view was rapidly fading but if you’ve never been there, hive yourself up there pronto.

And then – hell, why not – let’s have a poll. What IS the best view in Greenwich? Have I missed any out? Vote Here