North Woolwich, Middlesex

Historical Description

Woolwich, North, a section of Woolwich parish, with a small new town, on the N bank of the Thames, in the Eastern Metropolitan Postal District, at the terminus of a branch of the G.E.R., adjacent to the Victoria Docks, and opposite Woolwich. There is also a station on the G.E.R. at Becton, and a free ferry across the river for vehicles and passengers was established and opened in 1889. Population, 7100. The Royal Victoria Gardens, with an area of 12 acres, were purchased by subscriptions and donations, and handed over to the London County Council. They are open to the public daily. There are important telegraph works here, and the Gaslight and Coke Company have works covering an area of 40 acres at Becton. The East Ham part of North Woolwich has a parish council. North Woolwich was made a separate ecclesiastical parish in 1877. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of St Albans; net value, £260, in the gift of the Bishop of St Albans. The church, erected in 1872 at a cost of about £8000, is a building of brick and stone in the Italian style. There are Primitive Methodist, Congregational, Wesleyan, and Believers' chapels.

Land and Property

A full transcript of the Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Middlesex is online.

Maps

Online maps of North Woolwich are available from a number of sites:

• Bing (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
• Google Streetview.
• National Library of Scotland. (Old maps)
• OpenStreetMap.
• old-maps.co.uk (Old Ordnance Survey maps to buy).
• Streetmap.co.uk (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
• A Vision of Britain through Time. (Old maps)

Newspapers and Periodicals

The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following Kent newspapers online:

• Kent & Sussex Courier
• Whitstable Times and Herne Bay Herald
• Dover Express
• Kentish Gazette
• Folkestone, Hythe, Sandgate & Cheriton Herald
• Kentish Chronicle
• Maidstone Telegraph

Visitations Heraldic

The Visitation of Kent, 1619 is available on the Heraldry page, as is also The Visitation of Kent, 1663-68.