Greenwich Heritage Centre - exposition

This exposition written by Katherine Reed

Greenwich Heritage Centre was a museum and local history resource centre in Woolwich, south-
east London, England. 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 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, dating from 1783-85. The storehouse was built by the Board of Ordnance as a "sea
storehouse". 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 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, 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 this space had been given over to the manufacture of
ammunition for small arms. 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.

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 in
Westcombe Park. 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, was formed to manage the museum
and archives as well as Charlton House, The Tudor Barn in Eltham 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 - 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. A section of this exhibition was entitled Here Come
The Girls, celebrating the role of women in wartime Woolwich, particularly during the First
World War.
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 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.
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.

Notes and references

Woolwich – Survey of London, Volume 48, Yale Books, London, 2012.
See also
Discover Greenwich Visitor Centre - which focuses on the Greenwich World Heritage Site
External links