page_title: Old Woolwich
section_title: 19th century: Victorian slum
hierarchical_section_title: Old Woolwich / History / 19th century: Victorian slum
caption_attribution_description: English: Postcard of Woolwich High Street, ca 1900(?). Photographed at an exhibition in Greenwich Heritage Centre in Woolwich, southeast London, UK.
context_page_description: Old Woolwich or Woolwich Central Riverside is an area along the Thames in Woolwich, South East London. It is the oldest inhabited part of Woolwich, going back to an Anglo-Saxon riverside settlement. When the demographic centre of Woolwich shifted south in the 1800s, the area became a Victorian slum. Most of Old Woolwich was cleared in the 20th and early 21st centuries to make way for industrial, infrastructural and other large-scale developments. Although most of the earlier buildings have been demolishied, the area has retained some interesting architecture, including the Georgian parish church, the Edwardian foot tunnel rotunda and two cinemas of the 1930s.
context_section_description: In the late 18th century, the population of Woolwich approached 10,000 and new areas for housing were found south of the main street. A new town centre comprising Beresford Square, Powis Street and the Bathway Quarter was laid out around 1800. The ropeyard closed in 1832 and the site was acquired by the Greenwich wine merchant George Smith. Three years later the area was cleared and Beresford Street was laid out. By 1847 the street had been fully developed with two-storey-houses (some double-fronted, one room deep), two public houses (Beresford Arms and Duke of Sussex), a theatre (Theatre Royal, later Woolwich Empire) and a chapel (Wesleyan Association Chapel; later followed by Baptist Tabernacle, Salvation Army Chapel and St Saviour's Mission). At the eastern end of the street, facing Beresford Square, Holy Trinity Church was built in 1833-34. This large Anglican church had an imposing façade in Portland stone with a stump tower above a Greek Revival portico.
  In 1856 the overcrowded churchyard at St Mary Magdalene's was closed and a new parish cemetery, Woolwich cemetery, opened in Plumstead. In 1893-95 the old churchyard was transformed into a public park, St Mary's Gardens. The park formed an oasis between the densely populated streets south of Woolwich Church Street, and the Dockyard north of it. An attempt was made to move the market from Market Hill to Market Street in the Bathway Quarter but this proved to be unpopular. In 1888 the market was officially established at Beresford Square. Powis Street became a successful commercial street and replaced Woolwich High Street as the town's main shopping area. Horse-drawn trams arrived in Woolwich Church Street, High Street and Beresford Street in 1881. The Woolwich Free Ferry was established in 1889, replacing privately owned ferry services. Between Nile Street and Surgeon Street an entire block had to be cleared in order to build the ferry terminal, new river walls and approach roads.
  The area north of the High Street gradually turned into a Victorian slum. The most notorious part was the so-called Dusthole, between Beresford Street, Warren Lane and the river, named after the dust from neighbouring coal wharves. Many people that lived in this area were of Irish descent. Poverty and prostitution were prevalent here. The depravity of the area attracted numerous religious institutions and led in 1850 to the establishment of the Woolwich Baths and Lecture Hall on Nelson Street, one of London's earliest public baths. Later in the 19th century, more and more houses were replaced by industrial developments (coal wharves, a gas company and a power station).
caption: Woolwich High Street c.1900
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