The information plaque at Cleethorpes.

Cleethorpes, information plaque. © National Maritime Museum, London

Repro ID: F0944-12

Description: The information plaque alongside the meridian markers on the Coastal Path, Cleethorpes. The plaque reads - THE GREENWICH MERIDIAN Set in the pathway near this plaque is a plate marking the line of the Greenwich Meridian, which is the world's prime meridian for longitude and time. Here East meets West. It was in 1884 that the Greenwich Meridian was established by international agreement as the line of zero longitude to be used as the standard time reckoning throughout the world. When the Marine Embankment was built between Cleethorpes Boating Lake and the Dunes at Humberston Fitties in the early 1930s, the metal plate was set in the pathway, it was presented by a Sheffield foundry to test a new non-corroding steel. The plate has remained in place ever since, and its present condition pays tribute to the fine quality of the steel. If you stand on the meridian line with your watch showing Greenwich Mean Time, you will be truly able to tell the correct time of day and that time will be especially significant at mid-day because the word meridian derives from the Latin 'meridies' meaning mid-day.

Creator: National Maritime Museum, London

Date: 2004

Credit line: National Maritime Museum, London