Royal Arsenal, Royal Laboratory West Pavilion
Royal Arsenal, Royal Laboratory West Pavilion, Plumstead Road SE18
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1245208
- Date first listed:
- 08-Jun-1973
- List Entry Name:
- Royal Arsenal, Royal Laboratory West Pavilion
- Statutory Address:
- Royal Arsenal, Royal Laboratory West Pavilion, Plumstead Road SE18
Location
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Images of England Project
- Date:
- 2002-10-02
- Reference:
- IOE01/07718/23
- Rights:
- © Mr John Hussey. Source: Historic England Archive
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Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1245208
- Date first listed:
- 08-Jun-1973
- Date of most recent amendment:
- 09-Jul-1997
- List Entry Name:
- Royal Arsenal, Royal Laboratory West Pavilion
- Statutory Address 1:
- Royal Arsenal, Royal Laboratory West Pavilion, Plumstead Road SE18
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
Location
- Statutory Address:
- Royal Arsenal, Royal Laboratory West Pavilion, Plumstead Road SE18
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- County:
- Greater London Authority
- District:
- Greenwich (London Borough)
- Parish:
- Non Civil Parish
- National Grid Reference:
- TQ 43705 79182
Details
This list entry was subject to a Minor Amendment on 21/05/2020
TQ 4479
786/9/50
PLUMSTEAD ROAD SE18 (North side)
Royal Arsenal, Royal Laboratory West Pavilion
08/06/50
GV
II
Gunpowder works, west pavilion, now disused. Part of the Royal Laboratory 1694-1696, extended and altered 1802, partly demolished. Flemish bond brick with stone dressings and slate hipped roof. Single-depth plan. Two storeys; five-window range. A symmetrical front has a pedimented entrance bay set forward, with rusticated voussoirs, plinth and plat band; the doorway has a good surround with eared architrave and a console cornice, set below first-floor architrave with foliate brackets to an eared architrave with a lion key. The pediment contains a cartouche with the arms of William III. Rubbed brick flat arches with keys to altered or blocked sashes.
INTERIOR: not inspected but noted as having no internal division or flooring and a C19 iron roof.
HISTORICAL NOTE: the oldest part of the Arsenal, and possibly the oldest Ordnance buildings in the country: one of a pair of pavilions with that to the east (qv) which are the only surviving part of a larger building, to which the Royal Laboratory for the manufacture of fireworks and gunpowder transferred when it moved from Greenwich in 1695. It had cross windows, lower buildings each side, and the yard was closed to the north and south with gate piers from which came the lion and unicorn finials now on the Board Room (qv). The courtyard between the two pavilions was covered in 1854, and contained the largest milling machinery space in the world when it was completed. This was demolished mid 1950s.
Listing NGR: TQ4295478475
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
- Legacy System number:
- 468770
- Legacy System:
- LBS
Sources
Books and journals
Wesley, H, The Royal Arsenal: A Brief History, (1987), 12
Historic Buildings Report in The Royal Arsenal Woolwich, (1994)
Legal
This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.
Map
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 11-Jun-2026 at 09:38:54.
Download a full scale map (PDF)End of official list entry
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