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An industrial settlement hemmed in by the King
George V Dock and the Thames. There is speculation that this could have been the original Woolwich, later lending its name to the settlement across the river. Wool from Essex sheep may have been landed or traded here by
the Saxons. North Woolwich was mentioned in Domesday Book of 1086 and for centuries was a detached portion of the county of
Kent, and part of Woolwich parish. It consisted of virtually uninhabited marshland, used only as water meadows, until the
arrival of the railway in 1847 and the introduction of a steam ferry service to the Royal Arsenal on the opposite bank of
the river. Two years later its early growth halted when Woolwich itself gained a railway connection, although the establishment
of a pleasure park in 1853 generated some day-tripper traffic. Created by the entrepreneur William Holland, the North Woolwich
Gardens boasted the largest dance stage in London. East Ham council took the park into public ownership as the Royal Victoria
Gardens in 1890. The building of the Royal Docks, culminating in the completion of the King George V in 1921, brought factories
and workers’ housing to North Woolwich. Like other out-of-the-way places there was the usual emphasis on noxious industries.
A new station opened in 1979 but closed in 2006. The previous station served for a while as a railway museum but closed in
2009.
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