GreenwichThe growth of London through transport

Map of London’s boroughs

The map shows the current boundaries of London’s boroughs. The content of this album relates to the area highlighted on the map.

This album is one of a series looking at London boroughs and their transport stories from 1800 to the present day.

Key

1 Barking & Dagenham

2 Barnet

3 Bexley

4 Brent

5 Bromley

6 Camden

7 City of London

8 Croydon

9 Ealing

10 Enfield

11 Greenwich

12 Hackney

13 Hammersmith & Fulham

14 Haringey

15 Harrow

16 Havering

17 Hillingdon

18 Hounslow

19 Islington

20 Kensington & Chelsea

21 Kingston

22 Lambeth

23 Lewisham

24 Merton

25 Newham

26 Redbridge

27 Richmond

28 Southwark

29 Sutton

30 Tower Hamlets

31 Waltham Forest

32 Wandsworth

33 Westminster

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Map of Greenwich

London Transport Museum would like to thank the staff at the Greenwich Heritage Centre, London Borough of Greenwich, for their help with this album.

The Museum has worked closely with local partners to produce the series. Details of the partner contributing to this album can be found at the back of the book.

References for the images are at the bottom of each page. Those in the Greenwich collections are marked LBG.

WoolwichArsenal

WoolwichDockyard

Charlton

Eltham

NewEltham

Mottingham

Plumstead

Abbey Wood

Westcombe Park

Lee

Blackheath

Kidbrooke Falconwood

Maze Hill

Greenwich

ElversonRoad

Cutty Sark

Canary Wharf

NorthGreenwich

Deptford Bridge

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A206

G R E E N W I C HGREENWICH

ELTHAM

WOOLWICH

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A20

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A2

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A205

A102

A102M

A2

A2

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A2

0

A20

A211

A2

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A210A210

A2

*O2

L & GR Viaduct*

Greenwich*foot tunnel

Black

wal

lTu

nnel

ThamesBarrier

*GreenwichPier

*GreenwichPark

*Greenwich PowerStation

Woolwich*Free Ferry

*Princess Alice Disaster

*Royal Arsenal

*ElthamHigh Street

*Beresford Gate

*Woolwich foot tunnel

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0 miles ½ 1

0 kilometres1

* Asterisks indicate a story in the text.

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1825 Opening of the world’s first steam-powered passenger railway, the Stockton & Darlington, UK1838 Slavery abolished throughout British Empire

1861 Start of American Civil War (ends 1865)1863 Opening of world’s first underground passenger railway, London, UK

1912 Ocean liner RMS Titanic sinks after hitting an iceberg1947 India gains independence from Britain. Country is partitioned into India and Pakistan

1969 American Neil Armstrong becomes first person to walk on the moon1994 Channel Tunnel opens linking Britain to European mainland for first time

2001 World Trade Centre in New York destroyed in terrorist attack2005 London is awarded the Olympic and Paralympic Games for 2012

1834 George Shillibeer begins operating omnibus services between Woolwich and Greenwich1836 London & Greenwich Railway opens, the first suburban railway in the world

1878 Princess Alice steamboat disaster. Over 600 people drown1889 Woolwich Free Ferry launched 1897 Blackwall Tunnel opens to road traffic

1902 Greenwich foot tunnel provides access to Isle of Dogs1906 Greenwich Power Station opens, supplying electricity for London’s trams1912 Woolwich foot tunnel opens, London’s most easterly underwater cross-river link

1952 London’s last tram runs from Woolwich1999 North Greenwich station opens, connecting Greenwich to the Underground network1999 Docklands Light Railway (DLR) extended to Greenwich and Lewisham

2000 Millennium Dome opens2009 Opening of DLR extension to Woolwich Arsenal station

2000 onwards

1800– 49

1850– 99

1950– 99

1900– 49

Timelines

World events Local stories

Image of Titanic courtesy of Ulster Folk & Transport Museum2

Beresford Gate, Royal Arsenal, Woolwich, c1900. The Royal Arsenal was the oldest and largest armament factory in Britain. LBG

Henry VIII established his Tudor palace at Greenwich and dockyards at Deptford and Woolwich in the 16th century. By the 19th century, the area had a large community and industry flourished along the river.

London’s first railway began operating from Deptford to London Bridge in 1836. Steamboats and horse buses also ran regularly to and from the city. After the Second World War, local industry across Greenwich and Woolwich declined and many jobs were lost. Today, new transport links at Woolwich are a key part of regeneration plans for the borough.

Greenwich’s transport story

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‘She [Isaacs’ aunt] . . . took me to the mortuary where she recognised my mother and the baby . . . My father’s body was never found . . . My brother William . . . was not identified until three days later . . . he had been struck on the head and had given his name wrongly.’

WT Isaacs, survivor of the Princess Alice collision.Interview in the Kentish Mercury, September 1938

Services to row passengers between Greenwich and London began in 1816. Steamboat services followed in the 1830s. They later faced stiff competition from the railway. By 1876, the surviving London Steamboat Company (LSC) was running reduced summer services only, between Chelsea, Greenwich and Woolwich.

On 3 September 1878, the LSC pleasure steamer Princess Alice collided with the 890–ton collier Bywell Castle and sank at Woolwich. Over 600 people died, making it Britain’s largest civilian disaster. It marked the decline of the river as a passenger highway.

The river highway

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Thames steamboats pass the Royal Naval Hospital, Greenwich, c1840. LBG

The Princess Alice collides with the Bywell Castle. Illustrated London News, 1878. LBG

LCC steamboats at Greenwich Pier, 1906. LBG

Crowded pleasure steamer at Greenwich Pier, c1910. 2006/4989

Tram conductor taking fares on the emergency river bus service, 1940. 1998/56538

In 1905, the London County Council (LCC) attempted to revive passenger services along the river from Hammersmith to Plumstead. But they suffered huge losses and closed in 1908. Only a handful of private operators survived, carrying day-trippers during the summer months.

Services were briefly reinstated for six weeks in 1940, when London Transport ran river buses between Westminster and Woolwich. They were to replace the trams which had been damaged by bombs during the Blitz.

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Bird’s-eye view of the London & Greenwich Railway, The Mirror, 17 December 1836. LBG

Poster advertising train times and fares, London & Greenwich Railway, c1836. LBG

The coming of the railway and a world first

The railway boom brought the world’s first suburban line to Greenwich. The London & Greenwich Railway (LGR) opened in 1836 between Deptford and London Bridge. Built by Colonel George Landmann, a Woolwich-born military engineer, it ran along an 878-arch railway viaduct, still in use today.

During construction, 100,000 bricks were laid each day by hundreds of navvies. Attempts were made to rent out the arches for housing, but the venture failed.

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Proposed Gravesend railroad as it would appear in Greenwich Park, 1835. It was never built. LBG

South Eastern Railway steam locomotive and crew, Greenwich station, 1885. LBG, Spurgeon Collection

Tilling hansom cab outside Greenwich station, 1887. LBG, Spurgeon Collection

Although fares were expensive, by 1844 the London & Greenwich Railway was carrying two million passengers a year. Despite this, the company struggled to survive. It was taken over by the South Eastern Railway in 1845.

A proposed extension of the line through Greenwich Park was thwarted by local opposition. It was 1878 before the line was extended and even then it was routed through a tunnel north of the park.

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Woolwich Free Ferry crew, c1900. Captain Thomas Tucker (centre, with hands folded) was married to Edith Nesbit, author of The Railway Children. LBG

Postcard of the Woolwich ferry paddle steamers Gordon and Duncan, named after two local military heroes, c1900. LBG

For hundreds of years, local people relied on ferries to get across the Thames. Before Tower Bridge opened in 1894, the nearest crossing point for road traffic was far upriver, at London Bridge.

By the 1880s, local pressure forced the Metropolitan Board of Works to provide a free ferry service between north and south Woolwich. On the opening weekend in 1889, 25,000 people flocked to ride on the new ferry.

The reliable friend: Woolwich’s famous ferry

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A London Transport River Tour sightseeing coach on the Woolwich ferry, 1951. Note the second ferry boat in the background. 1998/44356

The modern James Newman ferry, 2007. Canary Wharf can be seen in the background. 2007/8223

The Woolwich Free Ferry has carried vehicles and passengers continuously since 1889. In the 1950s a ride on the ferry formed part of the London River Tour run by London Transport. From North Woolwich the tour took the ferry across the Thames before returning to London through Greenwich.

The original paddle steamers were replaced with new diesel-engine boats in 1963. Today the ferry is managed by Transport for London and remains the only free ferry in England.

‘Since the ferry started, children have delighted in chasing around the decks, taunting the constables, evading the crews.’ Julian Watson and Wendy Gregory, Free for all, 1993

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Blackheath station, opened in 1849, is the building below the Dannatt sign, c1900. LBG

Driver George Alfred Darville aboard an LCC double deck horse tram on the Greenwich to Elephant & Castle route, 1904. 1998/84417

A surge of house-building at the end of the 19th century changed the local landscape. The genteel houses of Greenwich and Blackheath were joined by more modest dwellings as local industries grew and the need for workers increased.

The transport network of rail, buses and trams gradually extended to service the growing population. Greenwich was one of the last areas of London to have horse trams.

Growth of the suburbs

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Arsenal station, Woolwich, c1910. 2006/2924

Eltham High Street with an early motorbus outside the library, c1910. LBG

Tilling horse bus in 1912 with three horses in ‘unicorn’ arrangement, similar to the one described by Claude Sisley at Eltham. 1998/86829

In Woolwich and Plumstead workers were drawn to the area by the many industries based along the river. Woolwich became the main shopping centre for south-east London and north Kent.

Eltham’s rural aspect survived well into the 20th century. Claude Sisley, riding on a horse bus to Eltham, remarked: ‘Through the long winding High Street of Eltham we clattered. There are many fine wooden houses here... At the eastern end of the village... a bus was just starting for Woolwich... drawn by three horses as a unicorn team as the road is hilly.’

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Tunnels under the Thames

Well into the 19th century, road traffic was forced into the city before it could cross the river at London Bridge. To relieve the congestion, the LCC opened the Blackwall Tunnel in 1897, one of the last great engineering feats of the century. Double deck buses had their roofs and tyres specially modified to pass through the tunnel.

Traffic continued to increase, requiring a second tunnel to be opened in 1967 alongside the original one.

Cross-section of the Blackwall Tunnel under the Thames, The Engineer, 1895. Institute of Civil Engineers

Single deck B-type bus number 69 entering the Blackwall Tunnel, c1915. 1998/56064

NS-type Blackwall Tunnel bus number 108A with modified domed roof, 1929. 1998/79786

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The Greenwich foot tunnel opened in 1902. The tunnel enabled residents living south of the Thames to walk to work in the docks on the Isle of Dogs.

At Woolwich, the free ferry could not operate when winter fogs rolled across the Thames. Residents north and south of the river often lost a day’s pay if they were unable to get across. The opening of the Woolwich foot tunnel in 1912 meant people could get to work regardless of the weather.

Crowds gather on a wet day at the opening of the Woolwich foot tunnel, 26 October 1912. LBG

North entrance to the Greenwich foot tunnel, with Greenwich Hospital in the background, c1905. LBG

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Royal Arsenal at Woolwich

The Royal Arsenal was Britain’s largest munitions factory and a huge local employer. Woolwich and Plumstead grew rapidly in the late 19th century as more houses were built for workers at the Arsenal and other factories in the area.

Special express ‘dinner’ horse trams enabled workers to travel home for lunch and get back to work on time. Local roads were widened for tram services. In 1913, to increase numbers of passengers on the route, additional trailer cars were added to the trams.

Tram in front of the Royal Arsenal gates, c1915. Holy Trinity Church was demolished in 1962. LBG

LCC E1 electric tramcar coupled to a trailer car, similar to those used on the Woolwich route, c1915. 1998/83930

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Women munition workers at the Arsenal, c1915. LBG

The Progress Estate, Well Hall Road, Eltham, 1915. LBG

Air-raid damage to the tram track at Woolwich Road, Charlton, 24 October 1940. 1998/35120

At its peak during the First World War, the Royal Arsenal employed 80,000 workers, including women and boys. A shortage of local housing led the government to create the Progress Estate. Built in just one year in 1915, it provided 1300 new homes for Arsenal workers.

Around 30,000 people worked at the Arsenal during the Second World War. Targeted by Zeppelin attacks during the previous war, the area was bombed again during the Blitz of 1940.

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The beginning and the end for London’s trams

Greenwich Power Station opened in 1906 to supply electricity for London’s newly electrified trams. It required vast coal supplies, which arrived by river.

The London County Council’s Central Repair depot opened in Charlton in 1909 to service the fleet. In the 1930s trams began to be replaced by trolleybuses. The last London tram left Woolwich at 23:57 on 5 July 1952.

Royal Naval College and Greenwich Power Station, c1920. 2005/126

Tram travelling past Eltham Church in its last week of service, 1952. 2003/3989

Scrap yard or ‘tramatorium’ at Charlton, 29 January 1953. The last London tram has been stripped out and burned. 1998/89618

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Into modern times

North Greenwich station on the Jubilee line opened in 1999. Each year 9.6 million passengers pass through the station. The new Docklands Light Railway station at Woolwich offers another route into the City for commuters south of the river.

Future schemes include the Greenwich Waterfront Transit (a bus-based rapid transit system between Abbey Wood and Greenwich), a station at Woolwich as part of the Crossrail scheme linking east and west London, and the Thames Gateway bridge.

North Greenwich station and The O2, 2007. 2007/8224

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Greenwich now

The Royal Arsenal is no longer used as a munitions factory. Redeveloping the site is a key part of Greenwich’s future. The Heritage Centre and Firepower Museum are located there. Other historic buildings are being developed for housing, offices and leisure.

River transport from the Woolwich Arsenal pier is also making a comeback. Thames Clippers run commuter services between central London, Greenwich and Woolwich. They carry over 20,000 passengers a week.

Beresford Gate, Royal Arsenal, Woolwich, 2007. Behind these gates, the huge site that was once the munitions factory is now being redeveloped for a variety of uses. 2007/8189

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Want to know more?

Greenwich Heritage Centre Artillery Square Royal Arsenal Woolwich London SE18 4DX

Tel: (020) 8854 2452 Email: heritage.centre@greenwich.gov.uk

www.greenwich.gov.uk

Greenwich Heritage Centre (right) stands next to the former Royal Artillery Officers Mess (left), 2007. 2007/8188

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London Transport Museum © Transport for London