Royal Artillery Barracks The Royal Artillery Barracks at Woolwich in the Royal Borough of Greenwich in London , was the home of the Royal Artillery . History . The Barracks were built between 1776 and 1802 on a site overlooking Woolwich Common to accommodate the nascent Royal Artillery , which was fast outgrowing its barracks in the Warren . As originally built ( 1774 - 6 ) the barracks frontage was only half the present length , being the eastern half of the current south elevation ( with the pediment and clock positioned centrally ) . Twenty - five years later , when further expansion was required , it was resolved to double the frontage by building an identical façade to the west ( with a wind - dial in place of the clock ) . The architect James Wyatt then married the two halves together with a centerpiece triumphal arch . Behind the south frontage , the barracks were laid out on a grid pattern , and included soldiers ' accommodation , officers ' quarters , the officers ' mess , a chapel and a library with ancillary buildings further behind along with stores and stables for the horse artillery . Several of these buildings were altered over time or entirely replaced in one of a number of refurbishment programmes ; Wyatt ' s officers ' mess remains " in situ " . Regimental handover in the 21st century . Since the nineteenth century , the appropriateness of Woolwich as a base for the Artillery had been questioned . Suggestions of a move came to nothing until a Defence Estates Review in 2003 proposed a move to Larkhill on Salisbury Plain ( where the Royal School of Artillery has been based since 1915 ) . After very nearly 300 years in Woolwich , the last Artillery regiment left the barracks in July 2007 . Its place was taken by the public duties line infantry battalion and incremental companies of the Foot Guards ( who moved in from Chelsea Barracks and Cavalry Barracks ) . Soon afterwards , the Second Battalion The Princess of Wales ’ s Royal Regiment was posted to Woolwich from Cyprus . Then in 2012 , an artillery link was regained when the King ' s Troop , Royal Horse Artillery moved from the St John ' s Wood Barracks to new quarters and stables on the Woolwich site , bringing with them a complement of 120 or thereabouts horses , historic gun carriages and artillery pieces used for their displays . The shooting events at the 2012 Summer Olympics and Paralympics were held at a temporary venue at the Barracks . The original plan to conduct the shooting at the National Shooting Centre at Bisley , Surrey , was changed after the International Olympic Committee expressed reservations about the number of sports proposed to be staged outside London . Related institutions in Woolwich . Woolwich has extensive links with weaponry . Besides the Royal Artillery Barracks it was the location of the Royal Arsenal complex , which was the British Government ' s principal armaments manufacturing facility for over 200 years ( and the original home of the Royal Artillery ) . The Royal Military Academy which trained artillery officers and engineers from 1741 to 1939 also began in the Arsenal before moving ( like the Artillery barracks ) on to Woolwich Common in 1806 . Rooms in the Arsenal freed by the Academy ' s move were used to house a Royal Artillery museum , which itself moved to the Common in 1820 , where it was housed in the newly - rebuilt Rotunda . In 2001 the museum returned to the Arsenal site and was renamed Firepower . In 1780 , shortly after the opening of the Barracks , the Royal Artillery Hospital was opened on a nearby site to the east - one of the first purpose - built military hospitals in England . In 1865 , the ground - breaking Royal Herbert Hospital was opened opposite the Barracks at the southern end of the Common ; the earlier hospital was then converted to serve as barracks for the Military Train ( forerunners of the Royal Army Service Corps ) . The eighteenth - century buildings survive as Connaught Mews , an apartment complex off Grand Depot Road . St George ' s Garrison Church was built on the eastern edge of the Common in 1863 . Romanesque in style with Byzantine detailing , it was largely destroyed by a V1 flying bomb on 14 July 1944 , but the ruins have been preserved as a memorial . From 1802 , the open ground to the west of the Common became a field training ground known as the Repository Grounds ( after the Royal Military Repository within the Arsenal where it began ) . The ground was laid out with trees , ditches , ponds , ravines , earthworks , and other structures in order to train troops in the movement of guns , ammunition and heavy equipment across difficult terrain . This specialist training had been instituted by Sir William Congreve in the 1770s . Workshops and carriage stores were built at the same time to service the site . As of 2012 the Grounds were still used for training as well as providing new accommodation and stables for the King ' s Troop , Royal Horse Artillery . A regimental school was opened nearby in 1808 ; the Royal Artillery school buildings ( dating from the 1850s ) can still be seen in Greenhill Terrace . Woolwich Dockyard was one of the principal Royal Dockyard s during the Tudor and Stuart period s , although it closed in the late 19th century for Royal Navy use as the Thames was by then too difficult to navigate for the naval vessels of the time . The Royal Marines , who provided a military presence in the Dockyard , were housed in separate barracks ( of 1842 - 8 ) in Frances Street , just south of the Dockyard . After the closure of the Dockyard , these Royal Marine Barracks were renamed Cambridge Barracks and used by the Army as additional troop accommodation . They were of an enlightened design for their time , built to provide even the lowest - ranked inhabitants with sufficient light , space and fresh air . Having become surplus to requirements , the barracks were demolished in 1972 , but the heavily rusticated gatehouse arch remains on Frances Street , serving as a community centre and police office . Alongside these barracks had stood the red - brick Royal Marine Infirmiary ; built in 1858 - 60 , it was one of the first pavilion - plan hospitals to be erected in England in the wake of the Crimean War . Later named Red Barracks , it accommodated the Army Ordnance Corps for a time , before becoming the Artillery College ( later the Royal Military College of Science ) . Despite being a listed building , it too was demolished ( in 1975 ) , the College having moved to Shrivenham in 1939 . The perimeter wall remains . On the other side of town , near the present - day town centre , a Royal Artillery regimental garden was laid out in 1740 . A small garden survived there for the next 200 years , but most of the area was soon given over to artillery storage and was known as the Grand Depot . In 1803 a Grand Depot barracks was built , south of Love Lane , to serve as headquarters for the Royal Military Artificers ( a forerunner unit of the Corps of Royal Engineers who , like the Artillery , were under the Board of Ordnance rather than the War Office ) . When the Royal Engineers ' headquarters was established in Chatham , their Woolwich barracks were retained for use by various Ordnance troops ( artillery and engineers ) until they too were demolished in the 1970s . Woolwich Common is still a designated military training area although troops are not often seen nowadays .