Woolwich was once home to two vast military production sites - the Woolwich Dockyard and the Woolwich Arsenal. Both founded in the time of Henry VIII, the dockyard built ships for the Royal Navy up until the switch to steam ships in the early 19th century, and guns and ammunition were developed at Woolwich Arsenal until the 1960s. This one hour Zoom talk looks at the story of both sites, some of the ships built there and the impact the sites had on British naval power.
Virtual Guide: Rob Smith
Online Event
This fifty-minute Virtual Walk, hosted online via Zoom video conferencing, explores the fascinating Thames Estuary, a place London has always relied on but which remains a mystery to many Londoners. Starting in East London and following the river to the sea. Your guide Rob Smith will tell you some of the stories from the history of the area, and tell you about places to visit in real life: forts built to defend London from invasion, container ports that bring goods to our shops today, hidden places for wildlife, genteel Georgian towns that have grown up a bit today, Saxon settlements and World War Two sea forts.
Shadwell, developed to equip ships for imperial interests and explorations in the Age of Sail, was home to wealthy merchants and many small businesses. To make those possible, large numbers of ordinary folk provided services, making the area a multicultural hub where escaping slaves hid out, fed-up sailors started new lives, river pirates spied opportunities and women provided the comforts of home in lodging-houses, taverns and brothels. Of course, women were also seamen, pirates, slaves and merchants. Outsiders came to experience the many opium-dens that were standard places of unwinding for seafarers. Shadwell Basin is the only one left of three early docks located in the area. On this walk we pass remnants of all these phenomena as well as river stairs, imposing warehouses, green spaces, the Thames Path and numerous appealing pubs.
Guide: Laura Agustín
Meet at Shadwell Overground Station, outside exit on Cornwall Street, London E1 2QE
As recently as 1979, 85% of the area around what is now Canada Water was occupied by the waters of the Surrey Commercial Docks. Since then there has been a radical transformation, the former docks and timber storage ponds becoming woodland, parks, housing and shops. A new phase of development is bringing change again. On this Guided Walk, Rob will find the buildings from the old docks that have survived, explain how the docks worked and tell the story of their complex history. He will also explain how this part of London transformed into Docklands and why it is different to Canary Wharf, its neighbour on the other side of the river.
Guide: Rob Smith
Meet at Canada Water Station, Deal Porter Way, London SE16 2YS
