Woolwich - History

History

In 1796 Daniel Lysons wrote, "this place in old charters is called Hulviz, Wolwiche, Wollewic, &c. I can find nothing satisfactory relating to its etymology." But it is now generally believed that the name Woolwich derives from the Anglo-Saxon name, "trading place for wool". Woolwich has been inhabited since at least the Iron Age, and a Roman fort was found in the current Riverside park.

Woolwich remained a small Kentish village until it started to become a leading military and industrial town. It was home to the Woolwich Dockyard (founded in 1512), the Royal Arsenal (dating back to 1471), the Royal Military Academy (1741) and the Royal Horse Artillery (1793); the town still retains an army base at the Royal Artillery Barracks (although 16RA Royal Artillery left in 2007, Woolwich Barracks still house the Royal Artillery Band and more recently Second Battalion Princess of Wales Royal Regiment and Kings Troop Royal Horse Artillery), and the Royal Artillery Museum, Firepower. The nearby Greenwich Heritage Centre also houses exhibits relating to the Royal Arsenal.

Arsenal Football Club were founded in Woolwich in 1886 by workers at the Arsenal – the club were initially known as Dial Square, then Royal Arsenal and then became Woolwich Arsenal in 1891. They moved to Arsenal Stadium, Highbury in north London in 1913, and dropped the Woolwich prefix the following year. This is a rare example of a British football team moving from its local area, albeit relocating within the same conurbation. Royal Ordnance Factories F.C. was founded in response to Woolwich Arsenal joining the League but only lasted several years.

In 1889, Woolwich became part of London, with the formation of London County Council. In 1900 Woolwich, Eltham and Plumstead became the Metropolitan Borough of Woolwich until the current Borough of Greenwich came into being in April 1965 following implementation of the London Government Act 1963 and subsequently became Royal Borough in the Queen's jubilee year, 2012.

Woolwich Polytechnic, founded in 1892, merged with other local colleges and became Thames Polytechnic in 1970. In 1992 it was granted university status as the University of Greenwich. In 2000, the University began a relocation to the Old Royal Naval College, several miles to the west in Greenwich town centre, leaving only an administrative presence in Woolwich.

Woolwich was the start of the route of the last London tram, on 5 July 1952. A scheduled Route 40 tram, restricted to just a nominal number of fare paying passengers, was driven through enormous crowds to New Cross, finally arriving at New Cross depot around 1am on the 6 July.

Woolwich was home to the experimental Auto Stacker car park. Built on the site of the Empire Theatre, it was officially opened in May 1961 by Princess Margaret. It was never actually used by the public and was demolished in 1962, after the council could not get it to work.

Woolwich is the location of the United Kingdom's first branch of McDonald's (the 3,000th in the world), which opened on 13 November 1974. Woolwich was chosen because it was considered to be a representative English town at the time.

Woolwich once had four cinemas. Today, one, the former Granada cinema (which once hosted Buddy Holly in 1958, and later Roy Orbison and The Beatles in 1963), is a bingo hall; another, the former ABC (previously Regal) is a nightclub, while the former Odeon, later Coronet, is now a Pentecostal church. The Century cinema, which faced Beresford Square, was demolished for redevelopment in the late 1960s.

Woolwich was used as a location for the 2006 film Children of Men.