Royal Arsenal

The Royal Arsenal, Woolwich carried out armaments manufacture, ammunition proofing, and explosives research for the British armed forces at a site on the south bank of the River Thames in Woolwich in south-east London, England. It was originally known as the Woolwich Warren, having begun on land previously used as a domestic warren in the grounds of a Tudor house, Tower Place. Much of the initial history of the site is linked with that of the Board 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.

The Board of Ordnance was both a civil and a military office of State, independent of the Army, overseen by a high-ranking official, the Master-General of the Ordnance. Both branches, civil and military, were represented at the Warren; indeed there was a great deal of overlap: military officers for the most part headed up the civil departments, and civilians often worked alongside the military personnel.

The Warren in Tower Place was established by the Board as an Storage Depot in 1671 on a 31-acre (13 ha) site. Its four main areas of activity developed as follows:

The Board of Ordnance initially looked on the site as "a convenient place for building a storehouse for powder and other stores of war, and for room for the proof of guns". As at other Ordnance Yards the site was overseen by a Storekeeper, who was based in the old house (Tower Place). The Storekeeper not only controlled the receipt, safekeeping and issue of all the items that were stored on the site; he was also responsible (until the early 1800s) for issuing payments on the Board's behalf to all personnel. He was assisted by a Clerk of the Cheque, Clerk of the Survey and other administrative staff.

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