page_title: Royal Arsenal
section_title: Consolidation of the site
hierarchical_section_title: Royal Arsenal / 18th century: The Warren / Consolidation of the site
caption_attribution_description: English: View of Riverside guardhouses at the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich, south east London.
context_page_description: 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, United Kingdom. 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 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 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.
context_section_description: By 1777 the site had expanded to 104 acres (42 ha). The purchase that year of additional land to the east allowed the proof butts to be relocated, realigned and extended in 1779. This in turn freed up additional land on the old Warren site which would be used for a series of substantial building projects in the early 19th century. 
  In 1777–1778, convict labour was used to construct a  2.5-mile-long (4.0 km) (approximately) brick boundary wall, generally 8 feet (2.4 m) high. In 1804 this wall was raised to 20 feet (6.1 m) near the Plumstead road, and to 15 feet (4.6 m) in other parts. (The first boundary wall had been built in 1702, prior to which the Warren had operated on open ground.) 
  Use of convict labour was key to this period of expansion. It was used to construct a huge new wharf, completed in 1813, and then again in 1814–1816 to dig a canal (the Ordnance Canal), which formed the eastern boundary of the site. 
  Guardhouses were built at points on the perimeter; one at the main gate (1787–1788) and a pair by the new wharf (1814–1815) are still in place today. Security at this time was provided by troops of the Royal Artillery (though from 1843 they began to share guard duties with the Metropolitan Police, who took over responsibility in 1861).
  The River Thames was key to the Warren and its operations from the earliest days. A dock was built as part of the rebuilt wharf to facilitate loading and unloading from ships (it was supplemented in 1856 by the first in a series of substantial piers). The canal, as well as forming a boundary, provided access for barges; these were initially used to deliver timber to the heart of the carriage-building department and later provided a transit route for guns and explosives.
caption: The riverside guard rooms (1815) flanked a grand set of steps in the newly built wharf, which became the principal point of entry from the river
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