Woolwich Town Hall
Woolwich Town Hall is the third seat of local government in Woolwich. It was built in 1903–05 when the second town hall, dating from 1842, had become too small. The first town hall was built only a few years earlier, around 1839, but was almost immediately sold to the Metropolitan Police. Earlier, the local government of Woolwich, then a civil parish in the County of Kent, met in a room next to the poorhouse and in the parish church of St Mary Magdalene. The old town hall was initially shared with Woolwich County Court. In 1855 the Metropolis Management Act provided every parish in the metropolitan area with its own local administration. In 
1889 the parish of Woolwich became part of the newly formed County of London. In 1900 the Metropolitan Borough of Woolwich was formed from the parishes of Woolwich, Plumstead and Eltham. This prompted the construction of a larger and more representative town hall.
Woolwich
Woolwich is situated 13.7 km from Charing Cross. It has a 2.5 km long frontage to the south bank of the Thames river. From the riverside it rises up quickly along the northern slopes of Shooter's Hill towards the common (60 m) and the ancient London-Dover Road (132 m). The ancient parish of Woolwich, more or less the present-day wards Woolwich Riverside and Woolwich Common, comprises 297 ha (735 acres). This included North Woolwich, which is now part of the London Borough of Newham. The ancient parishes of Plumstead and Eltham became part of the civil parish of Woolwich in 1930. Parts of the wards Glyndon and Shooter's Hill are often referred to as Woolwich, although this definition is not accepted by all. The nearest areas are Abbey Wood, Blackheath, Charlton, Eltham, Greenwich, Kidbrooke, Lewisham, North Woolwich, Plumstead, Shooter's Hill, Thamesmead, Welling and Well Hall.