page_title: Woolwich
section_title: Woolwich Centre
hierarchical_section_title: Woolwich / Heritage / Woolwich Centre
caption_attribution_description: English: View of Woolwich New Road with the Roman Catholic parish church and school of St Peter the Apostle in Woolwich, Southeast London.
context_page_description: Woolwich is a district in southeast London, England, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich. It has been part of the London metropolitan area since the 19th century. In 1965, most of the former Metropolitan Borough of Woolwich became part of Greenwich Borough, of which it remains the administrative centre. The population of Woolwich was 84,959 in the 2011 census.
  The town is a river crossing point, with the Woolwich Ferry and the Woolwich foot tunnel crossing to North Woolwich in the London Docklands. Throughout the 17th, 18th, 19th and most of the 20th century, Woolwich was an important naval, military and industrial town. After several decades of economic hardship and social deprivation, large-scale urban renewal projects have turned its fortunes around. It is expected that the town, identified in the London Plan as "opportunity area", will evolve from "major centre" to "metropolitan centre" within Greater London in the next few decades.
context_section_description: Virtually nothing is left of the old town of Woolwich which was near the ferry and the parish church along the Thames. In the early 19th century the commercial and administrative centre moved south to its present location around Powis Street, Beresford Square and the Bathway Quarter. Although 20th-century economic decline and infrastructural works have had their effects, there are still some interesting buildings in Woolwich town centre. The best preserved area is perhaps the Bathway Quarter with the former Public Baths, the Old and New Town Hall, the former Magistrates Court and Police Station, the Old Public Library and several historic buildings of Woolwich Polytechnic.
  In nearby Powis Street and Hare Street some late Victorian shop façades have been preserved, notably by local architect Henry Hudson Church. The western end of Powis Street is dominated by two former Royal Arsenal Co-operative Society (RACS) department stores, one late Victorian, the other one in Art Deco style. Nearer to the river are two large cinemas, both built in 1937 and both in use as Pentecostal church halls. The former Odeon Cinema (now occupied by the New Wine Church) is a fine example of an Art Deco theatre; the former Granada Cinema has lavish interior decorations.
  Of the grand houses that once stretched along Woolwich Common and dotted the northern slopes of Shooter's Hill, little remains. Rushgrove House, Shrewsbury House and Woodhill Court survive but have lost their spacious gardens. Woolwich parish church, St Mary Magdalen is a plain brick 1730s building with a spireless tower. Other religious buildings of interest include the Roman Catholic St Peter's Church (by Pugin), and two Sikh gurdwaras, one a former Methodist church, the other a former Masonic hall.
caption: St Peter's rectory, church and school
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