The Heritage Centre holds a variety of records from various local institutions. A summary of these is listed below.
Simply click on the link to jump to the summary you are interested in. For more details, please contact us using the number given on the right.
Charitable homes for the poor, ranging from Goldsmith's Almshouses, established in 1560, to Plumstead Almshouses, founded in 1883.
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The Heritage Centre holds some background information and pictures of hospitals in the area. More detailed records from many of the hospitals in the area that have now closed, including military hospitals, are held at London Metropolitan Archives.
Note that patient records may not have been kept, as there is no requirement to do so.
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Since the seventeenth century, the Arsenal site at Woolwich has been a centre for the manufacture and testing of arms. Thousands of people were employed there over the years (80,000 during the First World War when production was at its height). It finally closed in 1994.
The centre holds background information and illustrations relating to the Arsenal, but the records of people employed in the Arsenal are deposited at the Public Record Office.
More information – Inside the Arsenal exhibition
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The Royal Hospital for Seamen was founded in 1694 and closed in 1869. The burial ground for the hospital was on Maze Hill and was used from 1707 to 1749.
After this date burials for officers and children from the Royal Hospital schools continued until 1821, when the burial ground finally closed. A piece of land known as Goddard's Garden on Romney Road was acquired in 1715 and used as a burial ground from 1742 - 1857.
A new Hospital cemetery was opened in East Greenwich in 1857. The remains of some 3000 former pensioners were moved to this cemetery in 1875. Records of people buried there are deposited at the Public Record Office.
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The school for the sons of seamen was established shortly after the hospital. The Royal Naval Asylum, a similar school for boys and girls, was later set up in 1805. The schools were mainly for orphans of seamen, but entry was not restricted to them.
The Public Records Office holds records for the schools, which include admission papers, birth certificates, and parents’ marriage certificates.
Greenwich Heritage Centre has a collection of background information about the schools including books, pamphlets, illustrations, prints and so on.
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Records for the London School Board (established in 1870) and its successors (London County Council and later ILEA) are deposited at the London Metropolitan Archives.
These records include school registers and log books. If school records are not deposited at London Metropolitan Archives, they may be at the school if it is still active.
Greenwich Heritage Centre holds general background information about many schools in the Borough, some of them charity schools dating back to the seventeenth century, which survive today as modern comprehensives. However, with a few exceptions, the library does not hold information about pupils.
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Prior to 1834, the administration of workhouses was an individual parish responsibility. Some workhouse records for this period are available in the library.
Afterwards, workhouses were run by unions, three of which operated in Greenwich: the Greenwich and Deptford Union (formed in 1835), Lewisham Union (formed in 1836) and the Woolwich Union (formed 1868).
Records are kept in the London Metropolitan Archives.
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