114-686: Jefferson Pier , Jefferson Stone , or the Jefferson Pier Stone , (pronounced pie-er, like radials of a pie ) in Washington, D.C. , marks the second prime meridian of the United States even though it was never officially recognized, either by presidential proclamation or by a resolution or act of Congress . The stone is on the National Mall almost due south of the center of the White House and
228-412: A steak pie or a Jamaican patty ), eggs and cheese (such as quiches or British flans ) or a mixture of meat and vegetables ( pot pie ). Pies are defined by their crusts . A filled pie (also single-crust or bottom-crust ), has pastry lining the baking dish, and the filling is placed on top of the pastry but left open. A top-crust pie has the filling in the bottom of the dish and is covered with
342-462: A "...moyst, thick, tough, course and long-lasting crust, and therefore of all other your Rye paste is best for that purpose.” The largest pies of the era were "standing pies", which were baked with steam holes, which were then sealed with melted butter (which would harden to seal the pie), and then eaten over several months. During the Puritan era of Oliver Cromwell , some sources claim mince pie eating
456-403: A "hygienic pie" which had "apple slices or a pumpkin custard baked in biscuit dough". In 1866, Harper's Magazine included an article by C.W. Gesner that stated that although we "...cry for pie when we are infants", "Pie kills us finally", as the "heavy crust" cannot be digested. Another factor that decreased the popularity of pies was industrialization and increasing movement of women into
570-779: A brick bread oven, and because any mixture of ingredients could be added to pies to "stretch" their "meager provisions". The apple pie made with American apples became popular, because apples were easy to dry and store in barrels over the winter. Early American pies had thick, heavy crusts made with rough flour and suet. As pioneers spread westward, pies continued to be an important supply of food; while apple pies made from dried apples were popular, cooks often had to use fillers or substitutes to stretch out their barrels of apples, such as crushed crackers, vinegar-soaked potatoes, sour green tomatoes and soft-shelled river turtle meat. The first Thanksgiving feast included fowl and venison, which may have been included in pies. Colonists appreciated
684-408: A defaced inscription engraved on its west face that states: POSITION OF JEFFERSON PIER ERECTED DEC 18, 1804. RECOVERED AND RE-ERECTED DEC 2, 1889. [fifth line chiseled out] DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA The chiseled-out fifth line reportedly once incorrectly stated: "BEING THE CENTRE POINT OF THE". According to a notation on Pierre (Peter) Charles L'Enfant 's 1791 " Plan of the city intended for
798-456: A flaky crust and bottom are also a popular dish, typically with a filling of meat (particularly beef, chicken, or turkey), gravy, and mixed vegetables (potatoes, carrots, and peas). Frozen pot pies are often sold in individual serving size. Fruit pies may be served with a scoop of ice cream, a style known in North America as pie à la mode . Many sweet pies are served this way. Apple pie is
912-724: A gift of the Lee Highway Association, was for some reason placed one foot west of the original meridian line extending north–south from the center of the White House. In 1943, the Jefferson Memorial was completed due south of the White House on the Washington Meridian. As a result, the Jefferson Pier now stands on a north–south line that passes near the centers of the "President's house" and the memorial dedicated to
1026-707: A higher spot with better weather. On 1 December 1967, the Isaac Newton Telescope of the Royal Greenwich Observatory at Herstmonceux was inaugurated by Queen Elizabeth II. The telescope was the biggest telescope by aperture in the British Isles. It was moved to Roque de los Muchachos Observatory in Spain's Canary Islands in 1979. In 1990 the RGO moved to Cambridge . At Herstmonceux, the castle grounds became
1140-465: A huge pie that could serve a large group. In the Georgian era, sweetened pies of meat and dried fruits began to become less popular. In recipe books of the period sweet veal, sweet lamb or sweet chicken pies are given alongside recipes for unsweetened alternatives with the same ingredients made for those who could "no longer stomach the sweetened flesh meats enjoyed by earlier generations". Pumpkin pie
1254-455: A hunting lodge. Greenwich Castle was reportedly a favourite place for Henry VIII to house his mistresses, so that he could easily travel from the Palace to see them. In 1676 the main building of the observatory, now known as Flamsteed House, was completed on Greenwich hill. The establishment of a Royal Observatory was proposed in 1674 by Sir Jonas Moore who, in his role as Surveyor-General of
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#17328509932771368-617: A new meridian line extending south from the center of the President's House that intersected a line extending due west from the planned center of the Capitol building. On October 15, 1804, Nicholas King, Surveyor of the City of Washington, erected at the intersection "a small pier, covered by a flat free stone, on which the lines are drawn." This established the Washington Meridian (sometimes termed
1482-587: A noted tourist and education attraction in its own right, featuring many old observatory items as exhibits. It was getting 60,000 visitors per year in the early 21st century. In 1990 the Royal Observatory moved from Herstmonceux to a new site at Cambridge , adjacent to the University 's Institute of Astronomy , where it occupied Greenwich House just to the north of the Cambridge Observatory . By now,
1596-406: A pastry or other covering before baking. A two-crust pie has the filling completely enclosed in the pastry shell. Shortcrust pastry is a typical kind of pastry used for pie crusts, but many things can be used, including baking powder biscuits , mashed potatoes , and crumbs . Pies can be a variety of sizes, ranging from bite-size to those designed for multiple servings. The first known use of
1710-418: A peacock-filled pie. The expressions "eat crow" and "four and 20 blackbirds" are sayings from the era when crow and blackbirds were eaten in pies. Cooked birds were frequently placed by European royal cooks on top of a large pie to identify its contents, leading to its later adaptation in pre-Victorian times as a porcelain ornament to release of steam. The apple pie was first referenced in writing in 1589, when
1824-734: A pie case. By 160 BC, Roman statesman Marcus Porcius Cato (234–149 BC), who wrote De Agri Cultura , notes the recipe for the most popular pie/cake called placenta . Also called libum by the Romans, it was more like a modern-day cheesecake on a pastry base, often used as an offering to the gods. With the development of the Roman Empire and its efficient road transport, pie cooking spread throughout Europe . Wealthy Romans combined many types of meats in their pies, including mussels and other seafood. Roman pie makers generally used vegetable oils, such as olive oil, to make their dough. Pies remained as
1938-511: A plan to have better instruments at Greenwich observatory. Positional astronomy was one of the primary functions of Greenwich for the Admiralty. The Astronomer Royal Airy was an advocate of this and the transit circle instrument he had installed in 1851 was used for a century for positional astronomy. One of the difficulties with positional astronomy, is accounting for the refraction of light through Earth's atmosphere . Sources of error include
2052-554: A recipe for chicken pie was written on a tablet in Sumer . Pie pastry is believed to have originated in Ancient Greece . In the plays of Aristophanes (5th century BC), there are mentions of sweetmeats including small pastries filled with fruit. Nothing is known of the actual pastry used, but the Greeks certainly recognized the trade of pastry-cook as distinct from that of baker. When fat
2166-440: A removable top crust, hence the name pot pie . The first unequivocal reference to pie in a written source is in the 14th century ( Oxford English Dictionary sb pie ). The eating of mince pies during festive periods is a tradition that dates back to the 13th century, as the returning Crusaders brought pie recipes containing "meats, fruits and spices". Some pies contained cooked rabbits, frogs, crows, and pigeons. In 1390,
2280-431: A skilled pie cook by comparing the cook to a fortification builder who "...Makes citadels of curious fowl and fish" and makes "dry-ditches", "bulwark pies" and "ramparts of immortal crusts". In Gervase Markham's 1615 book The English Huswife , there is a pie recipe that calls for "an entire leg of mutton and three pounds of suet..., along with salt, cloves, mace, currants, raisins, prunes, dates, and orange peel", which made
2394-418: A staple of traveling and working peoples in the colder northern European countries, with regional variations based on both the locally grown and available meats, as well as the locally farmed cereal crop. In these colder countries, butter and lard were the main fats in use, which meant that pie cooks created dough that could be rolled flat and moulded into different shapes. The Cornish pasty is an adaptation of
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#17328509932772508-483: A survey of a meridian through the President's house while living in the house when serving as the President of the United States . It is not known why Jefferson requested a survey of a new meridian after he had previously directed a survey of a different one while serving as Secretary of State eleven years earlier. In accordance with Jefferson's request, Isaac Briggs used a transit and equal altitude instrument to survey
2622-604: A traditional choice, though any pie with sweet fillings may be served à la mode . This combination, and possibly the name as well, is thought to have been popularized in the mid-1890s in the United States . Apple pie can be made with a variety of apples; cultivars such as the Golden Delicious , Pink Lady , Granny Smith , and Rome Beauty are popular for usage in pies. Cold pigeon pies and venison pasties appear in novels by Jane Austen , but also more generally in writing in
2736-616: A way that other foods were not. In 1806 Mrs Rundell in her Observations on Savoury Pies in A New System of Domestic Cookery stated that 'There are few articles of cookery more generally liked than relishing pies, if properly made'. Alexis Soyer , a celebrity cook of the 19th century said in his book Shilling Cookery for the People (1860) "From childhood we eat pies - from girlhood to boyhood we eat pies - in fact, pies in England may be considered as one of our best companions du voyage through life. It
2850-615: A wide range of newly developed sweet pies. Pies became more refined with subsequent waves of immigrants; the Pennsylvania Dutch contributed a more aromatic, spiced, and less-sweet style of pie-making; the French brought the approach of making pie with butter and a range of tart, galette and pâté (forcemeat of meat and fish in dough) recipes. Swedish immigrants in the plains states brought recipes for fish pie and berry pie; Finnish immigrants brought their recipes for pasties and meat pies. In
2964-444: Is a baked dish which is usually made of a pastry dough casing that contains a filling of various sweet or savoury ingredients. Sweet pies may be filled with fruit (as in an apple pie ), nuts ( pecan pie ), fruit preserves ( jam tart ), brown sugar ( sugar pie ), sweetened vegetables ( rhubarb pie ), or with thicker fillings based on eggs and dairy (as in custard pie and cream pie ). Savoury pies may be filled with meat (as in
3078-421: Is added to a flour-water paste it becomes a pastry . The Romans made a plain pastry of flour, oil, and water to cover meats and fowls which were baked, thus keeping in the juices. The Roman approach of covering "...birds or hams with dough" has been called more of an attempt to prevent the meat from drying out during baking than an actual pie in the modern sense. The covering was not meant to be eaten. It filled
3192-610: Is an observatory situated on a hill in Greenwich Park in south east London, overlooking the River Thames to the north. It played a major role in the history of astronomy and navigation , and because the Prime Meridian passed through it, it gave its name to Greenwich Mean Time , the precursor to today's Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). The ROG has the IAU observatory code of 000,
3306-544: Is fine grained stone soft enough to carve with a chisel, yet has no tendency to split in any preferential direction. Another stone, the Capitol Stone , was erected where the north–south line from the President's house intersected a line extending west from the south end of the Capitol, and a third stone, the Meridian Stone , was erected on the north–south meridian two miles north on Peters Hill, now Meridian Hill. Neither of
3420-434: Is normally in a lowered position, then starting at 12:55 pm, the ball begins to rise, then at 12:58 it reaches the top; at 1 pm the ball drops. To help mariners at the port and others in line of sight of the observatory to synchronise their clocks to GMT, Astronomer Royal John Pond installed a very visible time ball that drops precisely at 1 pm (13:00) every day atop the observatory in 1833. Initially it
3534-426: Is the food of the heroic" and "no pie-eating people can ever be permanently vanquished". The slang expression "to eat humble pie" comes from the umble pie , which was made with chopped animal offal. "It's a piece of pie", meaning that something is easy, dates from 1889. "Pie-eyed", meaning drunk, dates from 1904. The expression "pie in the sky", to refer to an unlikely proposal or idea, comes from " The Preacher and
Jefferson Pier - Misplaced Pages Continue
3648-599: Is we who leave them behind, not they who leave us; for our children and grandchildren will be as fond of pies as we have been; therefore it is needful that we should learn how to make them, and make them well! Believe me, I am not jesting, but if all the spoilt pies made in London on one single Sunday were to be exhibited in a row beside a railway line, it would take above an hour by special train to pass in review these culinary victims". The Pilgrim fathers and early settlers brought their pie recipes with them to America , adapting to
3762-579: The AMAT telescope became operational for astronomical research in 2018. There had been significant buildings on this land since the reign of William I. Greenwich Palace , on the site of the present-day National Maritime Museum, was the birthplace of both Henry VIII and his daughters Mary I and Elizabeth I ; the Tudors used Greenwich Castle , which stood on the hilltop that the Observatory presently occupies, as
3876-574: The Boston cream pie , which is a cake . Many fruit and berry pies are very similar, varying only the fruit used in filling. Fillings for sweet or fruity are often mixed, such as strawberry rhubarb pie . Royal Observatory, Greenwich The Royal Observatory, Greenwich ( ROG ; known as the Old Royal Observatory from 1957 to 1998, when the working Royal Greenwich Observatory , RGO , temporarily moved south from Greenwich to Herstmonceux )
3990-753: The International Terrestrial Reference Frame , use a single oblate spheroid, fixed to the Earth's gravitational centre. The shift from several local spheroids to one worldwide spheroid caused all geographical coordinates to shift by many metres, sometimes as much as several hundred metres. The Prime Meridian of these modern reference systems is the IERS Reference Meridian , in full the International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service Reference Meridian (in short called
4104-562: The Potomac River . The area of the present National Mall west of the marker was under water until an engineering project that Peter Conover Hains directed from 1882 to 1891 created West Potomac Park . East of the marker, Tiber Creek was transformed into the Washington City Canal . Barges used the marker as a mooring post during and after the first phase of Washington Monument's construction, which began in 1848. However, that usage
4218-632: The Shakespearean era, fruit pies were served hot, but others were served at room temperature, as they would be brought to the "...table more than once". Apple pies were popular in Tudor and Stuart times. Pippins were baked with cloves , cinnamon , dates and candied orange peels . Rosewater was often added to apple pies. The Elizabethan food author Gervase Markham called for baking “Red Deer Venison, Wild-Boar, Gammons of Bacon, Swans, Elkes, Porpus and such like standing dishes, which must be kept long" in
4332-913: The UK Astronomy Technology Centre in Edinburgh. The old observatory site at Greenwich returned to its original name – the Royal Observatory, Greenwich – and was made part of the National Maritime Museum . In 2002 the UK joined the European Southern Observatory , building the VISTA infrared telescope at the Paranal Observatory as an in-kind contribution. The Astronomer Royal Martin Rees called PPARC "irresponsible" for how it handled
4446-483: The food preservation aspect of crusty-topped pies, which were often seasoned with "dried fruit, cinnamon, pepper and nutmeg". Their first pies included pies that were based on berries and fruits pointed out to them by the Native North Americans . Pies allowed colonial cooks to use round shallow pans to literally "cut corners" and to create a regional variation of shallow pie. By the late 1700s, cookbooks show
4560-486: The "16th Street Meridian"), now at a longitude 77°2'11.56" (NAD 83) west of the Royal Observatory, Greenwich . The pier and stone were located at the point that L'Enfant's plan had identified as being the future site of George Washington's equestrian statue. A pier is a massive pillar capable of supporting a great weight. Most of the length of a surveying pier is buried vertically in the ground for stability. Free stone
4674-509: The "President's house" (now the White House) and the "Congress house" (now the U.S. Capitol building). To complete the triangle, a line projecting due south from the center of the President's house intersected at a right angle a line projecting due west from the center of the Congress house. A 400 feet (122 m)-wide garden-lined "grand avenue" would travel for about 1 mile (1.6 km) along
Jefferson Pier - Misplaced Pages Continue
4788-425: The 15th century, custard and fruit pie recipes began appearing, often with apples and figs and dried fruit like dates and raisins. Fresh fruit did not become widely used until sugar dropped in price during the 16th century. The first cherry pie is recorded in the late 16th century, when Queen Elizabeth I was served cherry pie. Queen Elizabeth I was often given gifts of quince or pear pies for New Years. During
4902-453: The 18th century. The character Mrs Elton, from the 1815 novel Emma , believes herself to be modern, but nevertheless plans to take 'pigeon-pies and cold lamb' to a country outing to Box Hill and consults George Turberville 's 1575 work The Noble Art of Venerie (1575) for advice. In the 1817 novel Persuasion , Jane Austen includes pies in her description of an old-fashioned Christmas spread, mentioning 'tressels and trays, bending under
5016-464: The 20 foot high Octagon Room, the principal room of the building. They were of unusual design, each with a pendulum 13 feet (4.0 metres) in length mounted above the clock face, giving a period of four seconds and an accuracy, then unparalleled, of seven seconds per day. The original observatory housed the astronomer royal, his assistant and his family as well as the scientific instruments to be used by Flamsteed in his work on stellar tables. Over time
5130-482: The English cookbook A Forme of Cury had a recipe for “tartes of flesh”, which included a ground-up mixture of "pork, hard-boiled eggs, and cheese" blended with "spices, saffron, and sugar". It also included an apple pie recipes which called for various spices to be used along with figs and raisins The 14th century French chef Taillevent instructed bakers to "crenelate" pie shells and "reinforce them so that they can support
5244-571: The Greenwich meridian, defined by the transit instrument of James Bradley . When the Airy circle (5.79 m to the east) became the reference for the meridian, the difference resulting from the change was considered small enough to be neglected. When a new triangulation was done between 1936 and 1962, scientists determined that in the Ordnance Survey system the longitude of the international Greenwich meridian
5358-624: The IAU retiring GMT for astronomical and chronological purposes, replacing it with Universal Time (UT). In 1929, UT was redefined as a statistical combination of multiple observatories. In 1948, the Office of the Astronomer Royal was moved to Herstmonceux in East Sussex and in 1957, the observatory closed, ceasing time measurement operations. The term "GMT" continues to be promoted by the Observatory and
5472-632: The IRM), which is 102.5 metres east of the Airy Greenwich astronomical meridian represented by the stainless steel strip, which is now 5.31 arcseconds west. The modern location of the Airy Transit is 51°28′40.1″N 0°0′5.3″W / 51.477806°N 0.001472°W / 51.477806; -0.001472 ( Airy Transit ) as the IRM is at 0 degree in longitude nowadays. International time from
5586-450: The Jefferson Pier in a more protected area. Theodolite measurements showed the new Ellipse Meridian Stone stood 26 inches (0.66 m) from the longitudinal line of the replacement Jefferson Stone, indicating one of the two markers was improperly located. Download coordinates as: 38°53′23.29463″N 77°2′11.56″W / 38.8898040639°N 77.0365444°W / 38.8898040639; -77.0365444 Pie A pie
5700-523: The Jefferson stone pier, erected December 18, 1804, and recovered and reerected, December 2, 1889." ( Silvio Bedini has written that these reports did not accurately describe the inscription.) The marker was lowered to within 8 inches of its top, so that the inscription was not visible above ground. In 1899, the ground on the west side of the pier was sloped so as to show the inscription on the Pier. The meridian of
5814-581: The Moons Triton (orbiting Neptune) and Hyperion (orbiting Saturn). It was donated to the observatory in the 1880s, but was taken down in the 1890s. The 1890s also saw the construction of the Altazimuth Pavilion, completed in 1896 and designed by William Crisp. In 1898 the Christie Enclosure was established to house sensitive magnetic instruments that had been disrupted by the use of iron at
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#17328509932775928-463: The Octagon room, and there was a catch at the top to hold it. This could then be triggered by hand, while observing the time on an astronomical month clock, that was regulated to the mean solar time . By dropping the ball, the public, mariners, and clock makers could then get a time signal by viewing it from afar. The ball drop would be repeated at 2 pm also if possible. The reason why 12 noon
6042-478: The Ordnance , persuaded King Charles II to create the observatory, with John Flamsteed installed as its director. The Ordnance Office was given responsibility for building the Observatory, with Moore providing the key instruments and equipment for the observatory at his own personal cost. Flamsteed House, the original part of the Observatory, was designed by Sir Christopher Wren , probably assisted by Robert Hooke , and
6156-751: The RGO and the Royal Observatory Edinburgh , the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council (PPARC) as the RGO's funding body made the decision to close the institution and the Cambridge site by 1998. When the RGO was closed as an institution, the HM Nautical Almanac Office transferred to the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory ( Harwell Science and Innovation Campus , Chilton , Oxfordshire ), while other work went to
6270-670: The RGO's focus had moved from carrying out observations from the British Isles to providing technical support, acting as a conduit between scientists in British universities and the powerful British-owned telescopes (such as the Isaac Newton Telescope , the Anglo-Dutch Jacobus Kapteyn Telescope , and the William Herschel Telescope ) on the Canary Islands and Hawaii . After abandoning a plan to privatise
6384-547: The RGO. In 2018 the Annie Maunder Astrographic Telescope (AMAT) was installed at the ROG in Greenwich. AMAT is a cluster of four separate instruments, to be used for astronomical research; it had achieved first light by June 2018, and contains: The telescopes and the works at the site required to operate them cost about £150,000, from grants, museum members and patrons, and public donations. The telescope
6498-446: The Royal Observatory as a basis for measurement. Four separate meridians have passed through the buildings, defined by successive instruments. The basis of longitude , the meridian that passes through the Airy transit circle , first used in 1851, was adopted as the world's Prime Meridian at the International Meridian Conference at Washington, DC , on 22 October 1884 (voting took place on 13 October). Subsequently, nations across
6612-416: The Second World War, delaying festivities. One of the ground-swells was to build a 'big better' telescope in honour of the celebrated inventor of the Newtonian reflecting telescope. Some two decades of development led to the commissioning of the Isaac Newton Telescope at Herstmonceux. It proved so successful that the cloudy weather was felt to be a bottleneck to its productivity, and plans were made to get it to
6726-438: The Slave ", a 1911 Joe Hill song. Cream filled or topped pies are favorite props for slapstick humor. Throwing a pie in a person's face has been a staple of film comedy since Ben Turpin received one in Mr. Flip in 1909. More recently, pieing has also become a political act; some activists throw cream pies at politicians and other public figures as a form of protest. Some of these pies are pies in name only, such as
6840-450: The UK in general, despite no longer being measured in any way. Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) forms the basis of modern civil time, and is based on the best attributes of UT1 (the modern form of UT, now measured from extra-galactic radio sources) and International Atomic Time (TAI, time kept by accurate clocks). The red time ball of Greenwich was established in 1833, and is noted as a public time signal. The time ball in modern times
6954-482: The United States was changed to the center of the small dome of the Old Naval Observatory in 1850 ( see Old Naval Observatory meridian ) and finally replaced by the Greenwich Meridian as the legal prime meridian for both boundaries and navigation in 1912. In 1920, Congress approved the placement of a new delineation stone on the Ellipse, the Zero Milestone , which is an itinerary marker from which official mileages from Washington would be determined. The new marker,
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#17328509932777068-416: The art of navigation." He appointed John Flamsteed as the first Astronomer Royal. The building was completed in the summer of 1676. The building was often called "Flamsteed House", in reference to its first occupant. The scientific work of the observatory was relocated elsewhere in stages in the first half of the 20th century, and the Greenwich site is now maintained almost exclusively as a museum, although
7182-511: The bare minimum. On 15 October 1940, during the Blitz , the Courtyard gates were destroyed by a direct bomb hit. The wall above the Gate Clock collapsed, and the clock's dial was damaged. The damage was repaired after the war. After the Second World War, in 1947, the decision was made to move the Royal Observatory to Herstmonceux Castle and 320 adjacent acres (1.3 km ), 70 km south-southeast of Greenwich near Hailsham in East Sussex, due to light pollution in London. The Observatory
7296-409: The detonation was intended to occur elsewhere. The novelist Joseph Conrad used the incident in his 1907 novel The Secret Agent . For major parts of the twentieth century, the Royal Greenwich Observatory was not at Greenwich, because it moved to Herstmonceux in East Sussex in 1957. The last time that all departments were in Greenwich was 1924: in that year electrification of the railways affected
7410-491: The east–west line. L'Enfant chose the west end of the "grand avenue" (at the triangle's southwest corner) to be the location of a future equestrian statue of George Washington for which the Continental Congress had voted in 1783. (Although the planned "grand avenue" became the portion of the National Mall that is now between the Capitol's grounds and the Washington Monument, neither the avenue nor Washington's equestrian statue were ever constructed. In 1804, Jefferson requested
7524-437: The end of the 19th century until UT1 was based on Simon Newcomb 's equations, giving a mean sun about 0.18 seconds behind UT1 (the equivalent of 2.7 arcseconds) as of 2013; it coincided in 2013 with a meridian halfway between Airy's circle and the IERS origin : 51°28′40.1247″N 0°0′2.61″W / 51.477812417°N 0.0007250°W / 51.477812417; -0.0007250 . A key instrument for determining time
7638-410: The filling is impossible to prove. The thick crust was so sturdy it had to be cracked open to get to the filling. This may also be the reason why early recipes focus on the filling over the surrounding case, with this development leading to the use of reusable earthenware pie cases which reduced the use of expensive flour. Medieval pie crusts were often baked first, to create a "pot" of baked dough with
7752-436: The first in the list. ROG, the National Maritime Museum , the Queen's House and the clipper ship Cutty Sark are collectively designated Royal Museums Greenwich . The observatory was commissioned in 1675 by King Charles II , with the foundation stone being laid on 10 August. The old hilltop site of Greenwich Castle was chosen by Sir Christopher Wren , a former Savilian Professor of Astronomy ; as Greenwich Park
7866-414: The form of flat, round or freeform crusty cakes called galettes consisting of a crust of ground oats , wheat , rye , or barley containing honey inside. These galettes developed into a form of early sweet pastry or desserts , evidence of which can be found on the tomb walls of the Pharaoh Ramesses II , who ruled from 1304 to 1237 BC, located in the Valley of the Kings . Sometime before 2000 BC,
7980-415: The home of the International Study Centre of Queen's University, Kingston, Canada , and The Observatory Science Centre, which is operated by an educational charity Science Project. The Observatory Science Centre opened in April 1995. Some of the remaining telescopes, which were left behind in the move, have public observation events as part of operations of the centre. The centre has established itself as
8094-429: The ingredients and techniques available to them in the New World. Settlers' recipes were for English-style meat pies. The newcomers used the fruits and berries that they were familiar with from Europe, but also began incorporating North American vegetables and game that they were not familiar with, with guidance from Indigenous people. Settlers favoured pies over bread because pies required less flour and did not require
8208-428: The initial planning of the nation's capital city. Jefferson hoped that the United States would become scientifically as well as politically independent from Europe. He therefore desired that the new nation's capital city should contain a new "first meridian". A prominent geometric feature of L'Enfant's plan was a large right triangle whose hypotenuse was a wide avenue (now part of Pennsylvania Avenue , NW) connecting
8322-751: The institution became a more established institution, thanks to its links to long-lasting government boards (the Board of Ordnance and Board of Longitude ) and oversight by a Board of Visitors, founded in 1710 and made up of the President and Members of the council of the Royal Society. By the later 18th century it incorporated additional responsibilities such as publishing the Nautical Almanac , advising government on technical matters, disseminating time, making meteorological and magnetic observations and undertaking astrophotography and spectroscopy. The physical site and
8436-487: The labour market, which changed pie making from a weekly ritual to an "occasional undertaking" on special occasions. In the 1950s, after WWII, the popularity of pies rebounded in the US, especially with commercial food inventions such as instant pudding mixes, Cool Whip topping, and Jello gelatin (which could be used as fillings) ready-made crusts, which were sold frozen, and alternative crusts made with crushed potato chips. There
8550-537: The library, and observing equipment. The largest telescope at Greenwich at that time, the Yapp telescope 36-inch reflector, was moved out to Herstmonceux in 1958. There it was reconstructed in Dome B of the facility. There it was used for astronomy in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. It was left behind at Herstmonceux in 1990 in its dome when the organization moved once again. The tricentennial of Sir Isaac Newton had passed during
8664-411: The location of the star. The instrument can be used to plot the locations of stars, or alternately, with an accurate star chart, the time at the location of the instrument. The Shuckburgh telescope of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich was used for the 1832 transit of Mercury . It was equipped with a filar micrometer by Peter Dollond and was used to provide a report of the events as seen through
8778-466: The main facility. The Observatory underwent an attempted bombing on 15 February 1894. This was possibly the first "international terrorist" incident in Britain. The bomb was accidentally detonated while being held by 26-year-old French anarchist Martial Bourdin in Greenwich Park , near the Observatory building. Bourdin died about 30 minutes later. It is not known why he chose the observatory, or whether
8892-472: The meat"; one of his pies was high enough that it resembled a model of a castle, an illusion enhanced by miniature banners for the nobles at the event. Pies in the 1400s included birds, as song birds at the time were a delicacy and protected by Royal Law. At the coronation of eight-year-old English King Henry VI (1422–1461) in 1429, "Partrich" and "Pecok enhakill" were served, alleged by some modern writers to consist of cooked peacock mounted in its skin on
9006-629: The midline of 16th Street, NW , about due west of the center of the United States Capitol building, almost due north of the center of the Jefferson Memorial and 391 ft (119 m) WNW of the center of the Washington Monument . The monument is a 2.25-by-2.25-foot (0.7 m × 0.7 m), 3-foot (0.9 m) tall granitic monolith with crossing longitudinal and latitudinal lines engraved on its upper surface and with
9120-645: The northern states, pumpkin pie was popular, as pumpkins were plentiful. Once the British had established Caribbean colonies, sugar became less expensive and more widely available, which meant that sweet pies could be readily made. Molasses was popular in American pies due to the rum and slave trade with the Caribbean Islands, although maple syrup was an important sweetener in Northern states, after Indigenous people taught settlers how to tap maple trees and boil down
9234-407: The numbers of staff increased over time as a result. When the observatory was founded in 1675, one of the best star catalogues was Tycho Brahe 's 1000-star catalogue from 1598. However, this catalogue was not accurate enough to determine longitudes. One of Flamsteed's first orders of business was creating more accurate charts suitable for this purpose. One of the noted charts made at Greenwich
9348-507: The permanent seat of the government of the United States ... " (see L'Enfant Plan ), Andrew Ellicott measured a prime meridian (longitude 0°0' ) through the future site of the U.S. Capitol. (Shortly after L'Enfant prepared this plan, its subject received the name "City of Washington ".) Thomas Jefferson , who at the time was serving as the United States Secretary of State , supervised Ellicott's and L'Enfant's activities during
9462-694: The pie to a working man's daily food needs. The first reference to "pyes" as food items appeared in England , in a Latin context, as early as the 12th century, but it is not clear that this referred to baked pies. In the Medieval era, pies were usually savory meat pies made with "...beef, lamb, wild duck, magpie pigeon -- spiced with pepper, currants or dates". Medieval cooks had restricted access to ovens due to their costs of construction and need for abundant supplies of fuel. Since pies could be easily cooked over an open fire, this made pies easier for most cooks to make. At
9576-490: The poet R. Green wrote "Thy breath is like the seeme of apple pies". Medieval England had an early form of sweet pies called tarts and fruit pies were unsweetened, because sugar was a rare and costly status symbol . In the Middle Ages, a pie could have a number of items as its filling, but a pastry would have only a single filling. Until the start of the 15th century, most pies were expected to contain meat or fish. In
9690-446: The precision of the instrumentation, and then there has to be accounting for precession , nutation , and aberration . Sources of error in the instrument have to be tracked down and accounted for to produce more accurate results. The transit circle makes two measurements; along with a clock, the time a star passed a certain point in the sky as the Earth rotates , and the vertical angle of
9804-659: The president for whom the Pier is named. An artifact sometimes confusing to and often overlooked by tourists, Jefferson Pier is maintained today by the National Park Service under its National Mall and Memorial Parks administrative unit. In 1890 a new monument, the Ellipse Meridian Stone , was placed by the Coast and Geodetic Survey in the center of the Ellipse in President's Park about 1,506 feet (459 m) north of
9918-653: The readings of the Magnetic and Meteorological Departments, and the Magnetic Observatory moved to Abinger in Surrey. Prior to this, the observatory had had to insist that the electric trams in the vicinity could not use an earth return for the traction current. After the onset of World War II in 1939, many departments were temporarily evacuated out of range of German bombers, to Abinger, Bradford on Avon , Bristol , and Bath , and activities in Greenwich were reduced to
10032-416: The role of what was later called puff paste. A richer pastry, intended to be eaten, was used to make small pasties containing eggs or little birds which were among the minor items served at banquets. The first written reference to a Roman pie is for a rye dough that was filled with a mixture of goat's cheese and honey. The 1st-century Roman cookbook Apicius makes various mentions of recipes which involve
10146-462: The same time, by partnering with a baker, a cook could focus on preparing the filling. The earliest pie-like recipes refer to coffyns (the word actually used for a basket or box ), with straight sealed sides and a top; open-top pies were called traps . The resulting hardened pastry was not necessarily eaten, its function being to contain the filling for cooking, and to store it, though whether servants may have eaten it once their masters had eaten
10260-638: The sap. In the Midwest, cheese and cream pies were popular, due to the availability of big dairy farms. In the US south, African-Americans enjoyed sweet potato pies, due to the widespread availability of this type of potato. By the 1870s, the new science of nutrition led to criticism of pies, notably by Sarah Tyson Rorer , a cooking teacher and food editor who warned the public about how much energy pies take to digest. Rorer stated that all pie crusts "...are to be condemned" and her cookbook only included an apple tart, jelly and meringue-covered crackers, pâté, and
10374-624: The significance of the stone, the United States Army Corps of Engineers removed the original marker during 1872–1874 as part of a cleanup and grading of the grounds around the stump of the Washington Monument, which had not yet been finished. As part of this project, the Corps of Engineers filled in gullies, planted trees and constructed ornamental ponds and a broad carriage road around the stump. The project left in place about 20 inches of
10488-491: The small refractor. By observing the transit in combination with timing it and taking measures, a diameter for the planet was taken. They also reported the peculiar effects that they compared to pressing a coin into the Sun. The observer remarked: I afterwards observed, that immediately around the planet there was a dusky tinge, making it appear as if, in a small degree sunk below the sun's surface;" British astronomers have long used
10602-485: The stone's foundation. On December 2, 1889, John Stewart, a draftsman acting on the instructions of Colonel O. H. Ernst, Officer in Charge of Public Buildings and Grounds, erected a replacement marker above the recovered foundation of the original marker. According to 1898 and 1899 reports, an inscription on the west side of the replacement marker stated: "Position of the meridian post, erected September 20, 1793, and position of
10716-410: The two latter stones survives. Due to errors either when the Jefferson Pier was initially surveyed or when it was replaced, its center is now 2.23 ft (0.680 m) south of the Capitol's centerline. The 1804 stone marker replaced one of two wooden posts driven into the ground in 1793 at its site. The marker was originally located on the south bank of Tiber Creek , near the creek's confluence with
10830-411: The weight of brawn and cold pies'. In the whole of Persuasion , brawn and cold pies are the only specific mention of food; they are also the only Christmas foods to be mentioned in any of Jane Austen's novels. In the United States of America, a popular idiom is "American as apple pie". There pie, especially apple pie, became intertwined to the point that in 1902, The New York Times asserted that "pie
10944-584: The word "pie" may be the magpie , a "bird known for collecting odds and ends in its nest"; the connection could be that Medieval pies also contained many different animal meats, including chickens, crows, pigeons and rabbits. One 1450 recipe for “grete pyes” that might support the "magpie" etymology contained what Charles Perry called "odds and ends", including: "...beef, beef suet, capons, hens, both mallard and teal ducks, rabbits, woodcocks and large birds such as herons and storks, plus beef marrow, hard-cooked egg yolks, dates, raisins and prunes." Early pies were in
11058-602: The word 'pie' appears in 1303 in the expense accounts of the Bolton Priory in Yorkshire . However, the Oxford English Dictionary is uncertain to its origin and says 'no further related word is known outside English'. A possible origin is that the word 'pie' is connected with a word used in farming to indicate 'a collection of things made into a heap', for example a heap of potatoes covered with earth. One source of
11172-480: The world used it as their standard for mapping and timekeeping. The Prime Meridian was marked by a brass (later replaced by stainless steel ) strip in the Observatory's courtyard once the buildings became a museum in 1960, and, since 16 December 1999, has been marked by a powerful green laser shining north across the London night sky. Since the first triangulation of Great Britain in the period 1783–1853, Ordnance Survey maps have been based on an earlier version of
11286-517: Was a petition to have another time ball established in Southampton also. The 1890s marked the addition of a new larger refractor, the 28-inch Grubb in the Great Equatorial Dome. Because the new telescope was longer than the old Great refractor, the new dome had to be bigger; thus the famous "onion dome" that expands beyond the diameter of the turret was established. For the tricentennial, it
11400-558: Was a pie renaissance in the 1980s, when old-fashioned pie recipes were rediscovered and a wide range of cross-cultural pies were explored. Meat pies with fillings such as steak, cheese, steak and kidney , beef and ale, lamb and mint, minced beef , or chicken and mushroom are popular in the United Kingdom , Australia , South Africa and New Zealand as take-away snacks. They are also served with chips as an alternative to fish and chips at British chip shops. Pot pies with
11514-407: Was a royal estate, no new land needed to be bought. At that time the king also created the position of Astronomer Royal , to serve as the director of the observatory and to "apply himself with the most exact care and diligence to the rectifying of the tables of the motions of the heavens, and the places of the fixed stars, so as to find out the so much desired longitude of places for the perfecting of
11628-464: Was an active observatory, geographical coordinates were referred to a local oblate spheroid called a datum known as a geoid , whose surface closely matched local mean sea level. Several datums were in use around the world, all using different spheroids, because mean sea level undulates by as much as 100 metres worldwide. Modern geodetic reference systems, such as the World Geodetic System and
11742-543: Was banned as a frivolous activity for 16 years, so mince pie making and eating became an underground activity; the ban was lifted in 1660, with the Restoration of the monarchy. Food historian Annie Gray suggests that the myth of the Puritans "actively" banning mince pies came about "due to the defenders of Christmas" who reported Puritan vitriol "with a certain amount of exaggeration". In the 17th century, Ben Jonson described
11856-570: Was by the Astronomer Royal James Bradley , who between 1750 and 1762 charted sixty thousand stars, so accurately his catalogues were used even in the 1940s. Bradley was the third Astronomer Royal , and his tenure started in 1742. In the early 19th century, the main positional devices were the Troughton Transit instrument and a mural circle , but after George Biddell Airy took over as Astronomer Royal in 1835, he embarked on
11970-408: Was determined by marking the time a star of known location would pass through the aimpoint of the telescope. In a reverse case, this type of instrument was also used for making star charts. The stars whose position was known precisely enough for being used for time determination, were called "clock stars". By 1925, confusion about whether GMT was reckoned from noon or from midnight led (in 1928) to
12084-474: Was dropped by an operator; from 1852 it was released automatically via an electric impulse from the Shepherd Master Clock . The ball is still dropped daily at 13:00 (GMT in winter, BST in summer). The original time ball system was built by Messrs Maudslay and Field, and cost £180. The five-foot diameter ball was made of wood and leather. In the original ball system, it was hoisted by a rope up from
12198-444: Was fashionable in England from the 1650s onward, then fell out of favour during the 18th century. Pumpkin was sliced, fried with sweet herbs sweetened with sugar and eggs were added. This was put into a pastry case with currants and apples. Pumpkin pie was introduced to America by early colonists where it became a national dish. During the 19th century, pies became, according to food historian Janet Clarkson, "universally esteemed" in
12312-533: Was not 0° but 0°00'00.417" (about 8 m) east. Besides the change of the reference line, imperfections of the surveying system added another discrepancy to the definition of the origin, so that the Bradley line itself is now 0°00'00.12" east of the Ordnance Survey Zero Meridian (about 2.3 m). This old astronomical prime meridian has been replaced by a more precise prime meridian. When Greenwich
12426-445: Was not chosen was because astronomers at the observatory would record when the Sun crossed the meridian at that time on that day. In rare occasions where the ball could get stuck due to icing or snow, and if the wind was too high it would not be dropped. In 1852, it was established to distribute a time signal by the telegraph wires also. The time ball was extremely popular with the public, chronometers, railways, mariners, and there
12540-517: Was not the reason that the stone was named a "pier", because the surveyor who erected it had already used that term himself. The developers of the Washington Monument originally wanted the memorial to be located at the site of the Jefferson Pier. However, concerns about the bearing capacity of the soil prevented that from occurring. The marker served as benchmark when the Monument's construction began, but later disappeared from view. Without recognizing
12654-617: Was officially known as the Royal Greenwich Observatory, Herstmonceux . Although the Astronomer Royal Harold Spencer Jones moved to the castle in 1948, the scientific staff did not move until the observatory buildings were completed, in 1957. Shortly thereafter, other previously dispersed departments were reintegrated at Herstmonceux, such as the Nautical Almanac Office , Chronometer Department,
12768-431: Was revitalized with a fibre-glass dome; the old one made of papier-mâché and iron had been taken down. The telescope was installed by 1893, with 28-inch diameter glass doublet lens made by Grubb from Chance of Birmingham glass. The new dome was made by T. Cooke and Sons . This replaced a smaller drum-shaped dome. The Lassell two-foot reflector was a famous metal-mirror telescope that had been used to discover
12882-602: Was the Airy Transit Circle (ATC), which was used primarily from 1851 to 1938. It was agreed that the (Prime) "meridian line marked by the cross-hairs in the Airy Transit Circle eyepiece would indicate 0° longitude and the start of the Universal Day". (Note, however, that this Prime Meridian is obsolete; the ITRF Zero Meridian , which is more than 100 meters east, is the modern standard defining longitude.) The time
12996-454: Was the first purpose-built scientific research facility in Britain. It was built for a cost of £520 (£20 over budget; equivalent to £99,000 in 2023) out of largely recycled materials on the foundations of Duke Humphrey's Tower , the forerunner of Greenwich Castle, which resulted in the alignment being 13 degrees away from true North, somewhat to Flamsteed's chagrin. Moore donated two clocks, built by Thomas Tompion , which were installed in
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