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Royal Arsenal

1671 establishments in EnglandConservation areas in LondonEngineering ROFFilling factoriesGrade II* listed buildings in the Royal Borough of Greenwich
Grade II* listed government buildingsGrade I listed buildings in the Royal Borough of GreenwichGrade I listed government buildingsGrade I listed industrial buildingsHistory of the Royal Borough of GreenwichIndustrial buildings in LondonMilitary history of LondonMilitary units and formations established in 1671National government buildings in LondonRoyal Ordnance Factories in EnglandUse British English from July 2016Woolwich
Woolwich royal arsenal gatehouse 1
Woolwich royal arsenal gatehouse 1

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 armed forces. It was originally known as the Woolwich Warren, having begun on land previously used as a domestic warren in the grounds of a mid-16th century Tudor house, Tower Place. Much of the initial history of the site is linked with that of the Office of Ordnance, which purchased the Warren in the late 17th century in order to expand an earlier base at Gun Wharf in Woolwich Dockyard. Over the next two centuries, as operations grew and innovations were pursued, the site expanded massively. At the time of the First World War the Arsenal covered 1,285 acres (520 ha) and employed close to 80,000 people. Thereafter its operations were scaled down. It finally closed as a factory in 1967 and the Ministry of Defence moved out in 1994. Today the area, so long a secret enclave, is open to the public and is being redeveloped for housing and community use.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Royal Arsenal (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Royal Arsenal
Woolwich New Road, London

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Latitude Longitude
N 51.491176 ° E 0.069937 °
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Woolwich New Road

Woolwich New Road
SE18 6AY London (Royal Borough of Greenwich)
England, United Kingdom
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Woolwich royal arsenal gatehouse 1
Woolwich royal arsenal gatehouse 1
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Auto Stacker

The Auto Stacker, also known as Autostacker, was an ambitious but ill-fated automated parking system in Woolwich, South East London in the early 1960s. The project was initiated by Woolwich Borough Council but failed to work and was demolished in 1965–66. The Auto Stacker was an automated system for parking cars, and effectively an automated multi-storey car park, using a combination of conveyor belts, lifts and dollies to move vehicles from ground level to one of 256 car park spaces. It was situated above a car showroom, workshop and petrol station on Beresford Street, on the site of the former Empire Theatre. Being situated along the A206 road, close to Woolwich market (Beresford Square) and the town's main shopping street (Powis Street), it was thought that the Auto Stacker, along with the introduction of parking meters, would solve the town's parking problems.The eight-storey Auto Stacker was designed by T. and P. Braddock and built by Mitchell Engineering Company, in collaboration with Shell-Mex & BP. It was built in 1960–61 at a cost of £100,000. It was constructed more or less simultaneously with the comparable Zidpark at Southwark Bridge, a private enterprise. The Woolwich Auto Stacker was officially opened by Princess Margaret on 11 May 1961. At the opening ceremony, the demonstration vehicle got stuck and had to be manhandled in. The mechanism failed to work that evening for Fyfe Robertson's Tonight television show, and the Auto Stacker never functioned properly; it was abandoned within months in 1961 and a few years later demolished at a cost of £60,000.