Royal Arsenal

The Royal Arsenal, originally known as the Woolwich Arsenal, carried out armaments manufacture, ammunition proofing and explosives research. It was sited on the south bank of the River Thames in Woolwich in south-east London. It was formally established as an Ordnance Storage Depot in 1671 on a 31 acre (125,000 m²) site, the Warren in Tower Place. An ammunition laboratory (the Royal Laboratory) was added in 1695, and a gun foundry (the Royal Brass Foundry) was established in 1717. By 1777 it had risen to 104 acres (0.4 km²). Shortly afterwards, convict labour was used to construct an, approximately, 2.5 mile long brick boundary wall, generally eight-foot high. In 1804 this wall was raised to 20 foot near the Plumstead road, and to 15 foot in other parts. In 1814-16, convict labour was also used to dig a canal (the Ordnance Canal), which formed the eastern boundary.

World War II

The build-up to the World War II started in the late 1930s / early 1940s. Abel's old Chemical Laboratory was by now too small and new Chemical Laboratories were built in 1937 on Frog Island, on a former loop in the Ordnance Canal.

Related Topics:
World War II - 1930s - 1940s - 1937

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Staff from the Royal Arsenal helped design, and in some cases managed the construction of, many of the new second World War Royal Ordnance Factories (ROFs) and ROF Filling Factories. Much of its former ordnance production was moved to these new sites as the Royal Arsenal was considered vulnerable to aerial bombing from mainland Europe. The original plan was to replace the Royal Arsenal's Filling Factory with one at ROF Chorley and one at ROF Bridgend. It was then realised that many more ROFs would be needed. Just over 40 ROFs were opened by the end of World War II, nearly half of them Filling Factories, together with a similar number of factories built and run by private companies, such as ICI Nobels Explosives (although these were not called ROFs). Even so, some 30,000 people worked at the Royal Arsenal during World War II.

Related Topics:
Royal Ordnance Factories - Filling Factories - Aerial - Europe - ROF Chorley - ROF Bridgend - ICI

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The Royal Arsenal was caught up in The Blitz; the staff of the Chemical Inspectorate, working with explosives, were evacuted in early September 1940. Shortly afterwards one of the Frog Island buildings was destroyed by bombing and another damaged. The Laboratories were partially re-occupied in 1945 and fully re-occupied by 1949. Masters (1995) reports 103 people killed and 770 injured, during many raids, by bombs, V1 flying bombs and V2 rockets.

Related Topics:
The Blitz - 1940 - 1945 - 1949 - V1 flying bomb - V2 rocket

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During the quiet period after the end of World War II, the Royal Arsenal built and railway wagons for export. Armament production then increased during the Korean War.

Related Topics:
Wagons - Export - Korean War

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