Shooters Hill

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Academy Road

Royal Military Academy.  The RoyalMilitaryAcademyitself was founded in 1741 in the buildings in the Royal Arsenal which later became the Royal Laboratory Model Room. The Academy was given a site of its own away from the river on Woolwich Common in 1805, when James Wyatt erected this grand pile. The Academy moved there in 1808 although some cadets were still at The Warren in 1882.  They were trained here for both the Royal Artillery and the Royal Engineers. The RegimentalMuseumwas also here.  The whole institution was known as 'The Shop'. In 1946 it was mergedwith Sandhurst. It is a large battlemented complex in Tudor style overlooking Woolwich Common. It has a front built c. 1720 ft which is long, symmetrical, and consists of a centre block with two side blocks.  The centre block, had four corner turrets crowned by cupolas in imitation of the WhiteTowerand it is connected by plain one-storeyed arcades, with four-centred arches, to the side parts which have nine bays each. Behind the centre lies the great hall. The end pavilions date from the later c 19, in red brick and stone dressings, they extend back around the inner buildings. The Chapel dates from 1902 and is by Major Hemming, R.E.  It has a stained glass window by Christopher Whall, 1920. The centre block, of stock brick, has four octagonal corner turrets and ogee shaped cupolas; the ground floor windows are Tudor and the upper floor windows Gothic. This block is linked by stuccoed arcades to two stock brick ranges of the same period, which are in turn linked by arcades to red brick end pavilions, which with the red brick side ranges were added in 1862. The heavily battlemented red brick lodges are of 1877. The complex in part preserves its original railings. There are three splendid entrance gates, two on Academy Road on the west side and one (ornamented with gilt crockets) at the foot of Red Lion Lane on the east side. Many of the buildings preserve beautiful original projecting lamp-holders. In front of the centre block are several old guns, including two Dutch guns of 1614 and 1630 with very fine decoration, two 17th century Chinese guns, cannon of 1719, a late 18th century French gun, and British cannon of 1812. In the arcades on either side are a number of old mortars - French and Italian 17th century mortars and Russian mortars of c1800. At the very front of the parade ground are more modern guns, including some Russian guns captured during the Gulf War. In a courtyard to the rear of the centre block is an unusual Penfold hexagonal pillar box c1872. The rear of the complex has another range, with two large archways, of the original building of 1806, flanked by ranges of 1862. The centre block housed the Royal Artillery Museum on the upper floor, and the library of the Royal Artillery Institution on the ground floor. The library is open to the public only by special appointment. The Museum, covering the history and the campaigns of the Royal Artillery Regiment from its founding in 1716 to the present day, closed to the public in 1995. With the closure of the Museum, there is no longer any public access to the complex; however, there are good views of the buildings from outside.  Sold for housing 2006.

Chapel. Plain red brick Academy Chapel of 1902, with a splendid stained glass west window by Christopher Whall 1920; in 1945 it became the Royal Garrison Church of St Michael & All Angels. On the ground in front is a great stone First World War memorial laid by the Woolwich & District branch of the Old Contemptibles Association. The church was built for £8,000. At this time it was simply brick work. When the base at Addiscombe was closed parts of their chapel, including the wooden choirs, were transferred to the Academy. Consequently, the decorations include items from the East India Company and the Royal Ordnance Corps. The stained glass window with St George, St Andrew and St David flanking Christ in the apse comes from there.  In the reredos Christ blesses Doubting Thomas. The church had no organ and the current organ was introduced much later. Where it stands today was once a gallery for the soldier staff of the base. An old Toc H lamp is on display, one of the five Toc H lamps used on the front line during the 1914-1918 war, and presented to the church by Edward, Prince of Wales in 1926. The church was also intended as a campo santo for memorials to graduates from the Academy who died in service and the walls are covered with brass or copper plate commemorations to the cadets who never survived. Regimental pendants and others commemorating battles hang on the wall. "Some of these cadets were lucky to see three or four weeks after they left the Academy," said the Verger. Kitchener was at the Academy and is commemorated in the nave, which has a hammerbeam oak roof, giving the appearance of an upturned ship's keel. The only memento of the 1939-1945 war is a reef to Royal Artillery officers killed in action at the Battle of Kohima against Japan. The magnificent stained glass window opposite the apse was created by Christopher Whall in 1920. If you stand back and look carefully you can see that the window portrays the very first artillery band in uniform and gunners with their cannons who fought during the Napoleonic, Crimean and 1914-1918 wars. Badges of the Royal Engineers and the Royal Artillery, General Bogard, as well as French and Belgian soldiers are included. The Archangel Gabriel and St Michael are accompanied by cherubs.

War Department boundary marker at the corner of Ha-Ha Road and Academy Road. 

Married Officers' Quarters by the Austin-Smith Salmon Lord Partnership, 1969.

Gates Three sets of wrought-iron

Barnfield Place.  (Not on AZ)

Lotus Nursery Garden at south end. (Booth)

Barnfield Road

71 Royal Oak

Belmont Place.

Brent Road.

Steep hill running up to south. 

Brinklow Crescent

Bronze Age barrow.  One of four or five originally. A round barrow.  This prehistoric burial mound is the sole survivor of several on Shooters Hill, the others having been destroyed in building works in the 1930s.

Brookhill Row.

Bushmoor Crescent

Shrewsbury House.  Foundation stone in the museum.  Charles Earl of Shrewsbury laid in 1789.  House leased to Princess Charlotte, age three.  Tutor Dr. Watson.  1851 boarding school and London County Council home.  Open to the public by Woolwich Borough Council, 1934.  Houses built by Laing.  Winsor and gasometers. A large building of 1923 in classical style, near the site of an older house with the same name. Note the large front porch on Ionic columns, and to the rear a curved porch also with Ionic columns. It is now used as a community centre.

Shrewsbury Park Estate. House 1923.  Bought by LCC who sold the southern end of the park to F.T.Halse, local builder. An attractively laid out 'garden suburb' style estate with several greens, built in the grounds of Shrewsbury House in the 1930s

Shrewsbury Park. An extensive park with a wooded area and wildlife sanctuary, its lower slopes giving excellent views over Plumstead, Thamesmead and the Thames. It was once part of the grounds of Shrewsbury House, which were purchased by the London County Council in 1928

Cantwell Road.

Cumberland Place.

Delvan Street (not on az)

Dicey Street (not on az)

In a valley, runs steeply uphill at both north and south ends. 

Edge Hill

In an elevated position overlooking Plumstead Common Road. Developed in the 1860s; some houses have fine ornamental features.

Eglinton Hill

100

133

Eglinton Road

Eglinton School 169-2

Genesta Road

Victorian wall letter box

85/91A c 20 terrace of four houses worth a glance: by Lubetkin and Pilichowski, 1934-5. The projecting window frames and curved concrete balconies are typical of Lubetkin's work. The living rooms are on the first floor, approached by spiral staircases.  Britain’s only terrace of Modern Movement.

Graydon Street. (Not on AZ)

Hanover Road (not on az)

 2-storey runs over crest of steep hill to the north, 

Hanover Terrace (not on az)

Herbert Road

Herbert Estate

Co-op Reading room and library, 1902

106 Vicarage

89/133 Herbert Terrace

St.Joseph's, RC

47 Lord Herbert

51

War Department boundary marker.  At the junction of Herbert Road andRed Lion Lane disappeared when the "Academy" estate wasbuilt there in 1987.

James Street  (not on az)

John's Place (not on az)

Keemor Street  (not on az)

Nightingale Place

Was Nightingale Lane

Runs downhill to the north and has a dip into a deep valley on its east side. 

Old tollhouse on east side by Belmont Place. 2-storey, 

A Gospel Hall on west side. 

Hables Cottages. 

Nightingale Vale,

Valley of the medicinal steam on Shooters Hill

Woolwich Common Estate.  Built 1975 on the site of the Barrack Tavern and regency housing - Including 1 Kemp Place which was the birthplace of General Gordon. The jagged, restless and tiered frontage of this large estate built 1968-82 overlooks Woolwich Common and Nightingale Place; it is a complex incorporating several architectural styles. The tiered terraces are 1980-82. A dramatically sloping site, a demonstration of changing ideals from the 1960s to the 1970s.  The earlier, lower blocks are of 1967-70, V. H. Hards. The more recent phases, R. L. Dickinson, include a variety of buildings: stepped-back terraces facing the common, 1975-82, in the style that Darbourne & Darke made popular in the late 1960s; further terraces with monopitch roofs, running with a jerky rhythm down the hill; and a yellow brick shopping parade with a community hall at one end, a pleasant building with day centre below and an upper clerestory-lit hall approached by a generous staircase. Completed 1979.

Nightingale Heights The tall block c1969, - attractively restored and refurbished in 1994, with an elegantly curved roof which is the boiler house for a new central heating system. This centrepiece is one of the twenty-four-storey towers of industrialized construction 1968-71.

Long Walk. 1979. Long Walk includes a long terrace stepped up to a tall tower as it climbs the hillside, and incorporates a winding pedestrian walkway at an upper level

Woolwich Common cavern.  40' deep and 30' across opened up in November 1979. The road gave way after a cement lorry had passed the spot.   At the surface, the hole was only 6' to 8' in diameter but widened to 30' lower down.   'Experts think the collapse could have been caused by an underground stream.""  

Nithdale Road

a hilly waste over the Plumstead marshes. Bricks made from the foundations dug for the houses 

Ordnance Road.

Paget Road.

Plumstead

Plumstead Common Road

Foxhill Centre A pleasant small red brick building with a Dutch gable' octagonal   cupola and much fine ornamental detail. Appearance is spoiled by modern tile-cladding on the upper floor,

Foxhill Junior School 1881, one storeyed, with cupola, Dutch gable, and terracotta ornament.

26/28 Plumstead Common Road, a pair probably of the 1830s; no 26 is stuccoed and has an ornamental fanlight.

63/65 Plumstead Common Road, a brick pair of the 1840s. No 63 is well preserved, no 65 spoiled by later alterations.

71/81 form a unified sequence of cubic houses, with rusticated and stuccoed ground floors. Attractive, of the mid 19th century

83/89 are two tall pairs with pedimented windows and projecting porches. Attractive, of the mid 19th century.

Plume of Feathers, early c 18 altered.

Runs uphill steeply to the east. Old road, improves eastwards near the Common. Into Plumstead Common Road. 

Portland Place (not on az)

Princes Road (not on az)

At the south end is a brick- built column that looks as though meant for a Jubilee clock but it is only an escape for sewer gas.  Poor (Booth)

Ripon Road

All Saints 1956 by T. F. Ford, replacing a bombed church begun in 1873. Brick, with a small tower with octagonal top; Greek cross plan; primly eclectic details. Mural by Hans Feibusch

1860s 2-storey.  Some servants. Opposite is All Saints Church (Rev Morris). J (Booth)

Ritter Street

Rocket Row (not on az)

Westdale road.

Whitworth Road.

Woolwich Common Estate 1970

Nightingale Heights

Long Walk