Woolwich (parish)
Woolwich, also known as Woolwich St Mary, was an ancient parish containing the town of Woolwich on the south bank of the Thames and North Woolwich on the north bank. The parish was governed by its vestry from the 16th century to 1852, based in the Church of St Mary until 1842, after which in the purpose-built Woolwich Town Hall. The parish adopted the Public Health Act 1848 and was governed by the Woolwich Local Board of Health from 1852. When the parish became part of the district of the Metropolitan Board of Works in 1855 the local board was treated as if it were an incorporated vestry. It was in the county of Kent until it was transferred to London in 1889. In 1900 it was amalgamated with other parishes to form the Metropolitan Borough of Woolwich and had only nominal existence until it was abolished as a civil parish in 1930. Since 1965 it has been split between the Royal Borough of Greenwich and the London Borough of Newham.
Powis Street
The area that presently forms the commercial heart of Woolwich - south of Old Woolwich, around Powis Street, Beresford Square and General Gordon Square - was still largely rural, with a small cluster of cottages around Green's End and the so-called New Road (Woolwich New Road). To the north and east of the future Powis Street were the Royal Ropeyard and some gardens; to the south and west lay virgin land. As the town was growing rapidly - from 6,500 in 1720 to almost 17,000 in 1811 - the need arose for a new town centre and the obvious location was the area south of the ropeyard, more or less between the old town and the main entrance of the Arsenal.