Greeting everyone and welcome to a scorcher in SE London. We're standing outside Woolwich Arsenal Station, originally opened in 1849 and rebuilt in 1906. Woolwich is a garrison town and was the home of Woolwich Arsenal and Dockyard. The Arsenal closed in 1967 for manufacturing..

and completely in 1994 and the loss of this huge employer, together with most of the heavy industry in the area heavily impacted on the town, which has seen some hard times in recent years. It is now beginning to bounce back though. Woolwich Arsenal Station was hit twice during..

the Blitz, on 6 October 1940 when the 'UP' platform was hit and the line blocked and again on 2 March 1944, when an AA rocket fell on the tracks. The surrounding area suffered during the Blitz of 1940-41 and we can see the typical mixture of old and new buildings as we leave the

station and walk along Woolwich New Road and bear left into Grand Depot Road, where we pause outside the bombed out Royal Garrison Church of St George, opposite the Royal Artillery Barracks. The church was built in 1862-63 on the orders of Lord Herbert, Secretary of State for War

to provide "moral well-being for soldiers of the Royal Artillery" and was part of a more general campaign to provide better facilities for the Army following the Crimean War. It was designed in the Italian-Romanesque style by the architects Thomas Wyatt and his brother, Sir

Matthew Digby Wyatt. The church suffered superficial damage from splinter damage from a Zeppelin raid in 1916 and was damaged by splinters on 9 March 1941, the evidence of which can be seen on the marble pillars on each side of the main entrance. However, the real knockout blow

came on 13 July 1944, when a V-1 Flying Bomb hit the building at around 18:55. One passer-by, a Mr Sweeting of Grove Park was killed and 8 further casualties were taken to hospital with various injuries. The church, as can be imagined, was devastated and left as a roofless ruin.

After the war, various plans were put forward to repair or replace the church but these came to nothing and after stabilisation of the ruins, the church remained consecrated for certain services each year, which gradually deteriorating in condition. The church contains several..

important memorials, including the Royal Artillery VC Roll of Honour and their list of battle honours, including the pictured memorial to Mons & Ypres. The church contains a delightful garden and many individual tributes and memorials to former members of Woolwich Garrison,

including those who have fallen in more recent times, including Fusilier Lee Rigby, murdered by terrorists nearby in 2013. Since 2011, the Garrison Church has been under the stewardship of a Trust, who are making steady progress in restoring and preserving the church. We now..

walk a short distance further along Grand Depot Road to cross the busy A205 at a safe crossing point and whilst doing so, we can see the junction to Nightingale Place and further along this road, was located Wardens' Post EE1. This was rendered unusable on 31 July 1944, when a..

V-1 Buzz Bomb impacted on nearby Milward Street, causing the usual devastation and killing two people. The previous photograph shows the remains of the Wardens' Post, and with a touch of gallows humour, some wag has chalked the words "The Blitz Hotel" above the entrance! We now..

cross the road and take the footpath running in front of the magnificent Royal Artillery Barracks, built between 1776 and 1802, which at 329 metres is the longest continuous architectural frontage in London and which not surprisingly, is listed as Grade II*. The barracks suffered

during the Blitz, on 9 March 1941, from blast damage caused by the V-1 that hit the Garrison Church and interestingly, from incendiary bombs on 19 April 1944, which was the very last Luftwaffe raid using manned aircraft (as opposed to V-Weapons) to affect London and which caused

considerable fire damage to the roof. We now continue across the footpath and turn right into Repository Road and pause close to the main entrance to the Royal Artillery Barracks, now home to the Royal Fusiliers. On the lawn by the main entrance, we see a small memorial stone..

placed by the Shoreham Aircraft Museum to a RAF fighter pilot, Robin McGregor "Bubble" Waterston, who lost his life in the skies over Woolwich on 31 August 1940 during the Battle of Britain. Robin was a member of 603 (City of Edinburgh) Squadron, based at RAF Hornchurch. The..

squadron had only moved south on 27 August as part of the continual rotation of squadrons within Fighter Command and on the evening of 31 August, Robin was shot down during a series of fierce dogfights over SE London, his Spitfire crashing near this spot. He was a very popular..

figure within his squadron and had gained his nickname, due to a reputed likeness to the little boy in Millais' famous painting used in the contemporary Pears Soap advert. He was popular with his ground crew too as he would think nothing of helping them prepare his aircraft. We..

now continue to the junction of Artillery Place and turn right here towards Mulgrave School, formerly in use as Station 42W of the Auxiliary Fire Service. During WW2, the children had been evacuated to the countryside and in common with many vacant school buildings, the AFS had

taken over the premises. On the night of 19/20 April 1941 - a heavy raid mounted by the Luftwaffe to 'celebrate' Hitler's birthday, the premises were devastated by a series of High Explosive bombs that fell on and around the school. 3 firefighters were killed, including Auxiliary

Firewoman Lillian Baker and an 18-year-old AFS Messenger, Francis McDonough. The War Artist, Bernard Hailstone (pictured) was based here and painted the scene in a work that is now in the collection of Greenwich Heritage Trust. It is hoped to place a commemorative plaque here in

the near future. We now head down the hill into Wellington Street and pause outside the magnificent Woolwich Town Hall, the work of architect Alfred Brumwell Thomas and completed in 1906. It is Grade II* Listed and although buildings on either side of it were damaged/destroyed

in the Blitz, the only damage suffered by the Town Hall came on 4 March 1943, when an anti-aircraft shell fell through the roof and exploded inside the building, causing minor damage. We continue down Wellington Street and turn left into Thomas Street, before turning right into..

Calderwood Street and left into Powis Street, once a bustling shopping street but now sadly a shadow of its former self. At the far end is the impressive former HQ building of the Royal Arsenal Co-Operative Society, or RACS as they were known in the area. This is now a hotel but