Greenwich Heritage Centre was a

museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make th ...

and

local history Local history is the study of history in a geographically local context, often concentrating on a relatively small local community. It incorporates cultural and social aspects of history. Local history is not merely national history writ small ...

resource centre in

Woolwich Woolwich () is a district in southeast London, England, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich. The district's location on the River Thames led to its status as an important naval, military and industrial area; a role that was maintained thr ...

, south-east

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

. It was established in 2003 by the London Borough of Greenwich and was run from 2014 by the Royal Greenwich Heritage Trust until the centre's closure in July 2018. The museum was based in a historic building in Artillery Square, in the

Royal Arsenal The Royal Arsenal, Woolwich is an establishment on the south bank of the River Thames in Woolwich in south-east London, England, that was used for the manufacture of armaments and ammunition, proofing, and explosives research for the Britis ...

complex, which was established in the 17th century as a repository and manufactory of heavy guns, ammunition and other military ware.

History of the building

The Greenwich Heritage Centre was in the western and southern range of a quadrangle of buildings known as New Laboratory Square or Building 41, a former storehouse designed by

James Wyatt James Wyatt (3 August 1746 – 4 September 1813) was an English architect, a rival of Robert Adam in the neoclassical and neo-Gothic styles. He was elected to the Royal Academy in 1785 and was its president from 1805 to 1806. Early life W ...

, dating from 1783-85. The storehouse was built by the

Board of Ordnance The Board of Ordnance was a British government body. Established in the Tudor period, it had its headquarters in the Tower of London. Its primary responsibilities were 'to act as custodian of the lands, depots and forts required for the defence o ...

as a "sea storehouse" (a repository for naval ordnance supplies). Further storehouses were added to form the north and east sides of the square in 1808-10. By 1860 the whole complex had been taken over by the

Royal Laboratory The Royal Arsenal, Woolwich is an establishment on the south bank of the River Thames in Woolwich in south-east London, England, that was used for the manufacture of armaments and ammunition, proofing, and explosives research for the British ...

department and converted into a factory to make boxes and barrels for the storage and carriage of ammunition, powder, cartridges, fuses and other items; the west range contained the wood store, the east range had a sawmill with a cooperage above it, the north range contained a

steam engine A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a cylinder. This pushing force can be ...

, which powered the machinery by way of line shafting. The entrance of the Greenwich Heritage Centre was in the south wing of the quadrangle, a former carpenters' workshop of 1877-78 where boxes and barrels were machine-assembled. By the time of the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

this space had been given over to the manufacture of ammunition for

small arms A firearm is any type of gun designed to be readily carried and used by an individual. The term is legally defined further in different countries (see Legal definitions). The first firearms originated in 10th-century China, when bamboo tubes ...

. At the end of the war many women were at work here. In the years leading up to the closure of the Arsenal in 1994, much of the building was in use as Customs and Excise stores. File:London-Woolwich, Royal Arsenal, Greenwich Heritage Centre.jpg, Detail of the south range of New Laboratory Square File:London, Woolwich, Royal Arsenal02.jpg, The west range and the back of the Old Royal Military Academy File:London, Woolwich, Royal Arsenal04.jpg, East and north range; currently not in use by the museum File:London-Woolwich, No 1 Street & Greenwich Heritage Centre 01.jpg, East range; barrels would leave the first-floor by way of the round hole (left)

History of the museum and closure

The Greenwich Heritage Centre was established in October 2003, combining collections from the Greenwich Borough Museum and the local history library, previously at

Woodlands House Woodlands House is a Grade II* listed Georgian villa, next door to Mycenae House, Mycenae Road, in the Westcombe Park area of the Royal Borough of Greenwich. From 1972 to 2003 the building served as a library and art museum, known as the Wood ...

Westcombe Park Westcombe Park is a largely residential area in Blackheath in the Royal Borough of Greenwich, South East London, England. It is bounded by the main London-Dartford railway line to the north, the Blackwall Tunnel southern approach to the east, ...

. The establishing of a museum of local history in this area was motivated by the council's desire to support the refurbishment of the Royal Arsenal and make it a desirable place to live and visit. It was preceded in 2001 by the move of the Royal Artillery Museum from its historic location at the Rotunda to a disused building at the Arsenal where it took the name Firepower – The Royal Artillery Museum. New Laboratory Square was restored by English Partnerships and the London Development Agency in 1999-2002, after plans by Llewyn-Davies architects. Initially the museum only used the west range of the building, while sharing the south range with Firepower. The rest of the building was used as storage by Firepower until its closure in 2016. In 2014 a new charity, the Royal Greenwich Heritage Trust (RGHT), was formed to manage the museum and archives as well as

Charlton House Charlton House is a Jacobean building in Charlton, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich in south-east London. Originally it was a residence for a nobleman associated with the Stuart royal family. It later served as a wartime hospital, then ...

, The Tudor Barn in

Eltham Eltham ( ) is a district of southeast London, England, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich. It is east-southeast of Charing Cross, and is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. The three wards o ...

and certain other heritage assets in the Borough. The RGHT is supported by the Friends of the Royal Greenwich Heritage Trust. In 2017 it was announced that the borough had plans to create a £31 million creative district around the riverside end of No 1 Street. The plan includes a 1200-seat auditorium for concerts and events in Building 41. The closure of the centre in July 2018 was criticised as being sudden and without consultation, with unclear plans as to its future, although the Trust said it planned to continue its research. It moved the borough's archives and museum collections into a single store in the Anchorage Point Industrial Estate on Anchor and Hope Lane in the Woolwich Dockyard area in the following years and - though that facility's opening has been delayed by the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

- it is to remain unaffected by a new school planned for the road unless road improvement works follow.

Exhibitions

From the opening of the museum there was a permanent exhibition named ''Inside the Arsenal'', which told the history of the Royal Arsenal (and the nearby

Woolwich Dockyard Woolwich Dockyard (formally H.M. Dockyard, Woolwich, also known as The King's Yard, Woolwich) was an English naval dockyard along the river Thames at Woolwich in north-west Kent, where many ships were built from the early 16th century until ...

). A section of this exhibition was entitled ''Here Come The Girls'', celebrating the role of women in wartime Woolwich, particularly during the

. In 2016, following the closure of the Firepower museum across the road, a second permanent exhibition ''Making Woolwich: The Royal Regiment of Artillery in Woolwich'' was set up to fill the gap. This exhibition was in the south wing of the building marked the 300th anniversary of the formation of the

Royal Regiment of Artillery The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises t ...

in Woolwich in 1716. Even though the main theme was the Royal Artillery, some of the objects on display related to the

Royal Military Academy, Woolwich The Royal Military Academy (RMA) at Woolwich, in south-east London, was a British Army military academy for the training of commissioned officers of the Royal Artillery and Royal Engineers. It later also trained officers of the Royal Corps of S ...

(1741-1939). Apart from these, the museum usually had one or two changing exhibitions per year. These generally focused on a specific area in the borough, a historic event or other topics of local interest. The temporary Berkeley Gallery was replaced by the ''Making Woolwich'' exhibition. File:2015-Greenwich Heritage Centre, Woolwich 01.jpg, Reception area. To the right the former Berkeley Gallery File:2015-Greenwich Heritage Centre, Woolwich 03.jpg, Local history section. Stairs to first floor File:2015-Greenwich Heritage Centre, Woolwich 02.jpg, Permanent exhibition ''Inside the Arsenal'' File:Greenwich Heritage Centre, Woolwich - RA & RMA exhibition - 1.jpg, Permanent exhibition ''Making Woolwich''

Notes and references

* , ''Woolwich – Survey of London, Volume 48'', Yale Books, London, 2012.

External links

Official Greenwich Heritage Centre website
{{Authority control Local museums in London Museums in the Royal Borough of Greenwich History of the Royal Borough of Greenwich Woolwich

History of the building

History of the museum and closure

Exhibitions

Notes and references

See also

External links