Local History and a trip to the Porterhouse
On Friday myself and PM took the day off and decided to venture to the Greenwich Heritage Centre in Royal Arsenal to check out the history of the area.
I lived in Woolwich up until the age of 8 returning only last year and up until Friday the only pieces of historical significance I knew about the area was a) Arsenal Football Club was founded here in 1886 and b) The first McDonalds in the UK opened on Powis Street in 1974.
It was interesting to read about the Royal Arsenal and the docks. The site of the Arsenal expanded much further than the section that remains now. Where our house is was once a weapons factory and formed part of Royal Arsenal East (why couldn't that be in our address?). We found this out from an unofficial map from 1941 as for 200 years there was no Ordinance Survey maps from the area as the land was owned by the Ministry of Defence and they did not want maps of the area falling into enemy hands.
Random fact in relation to Arsenal FC which I didn't know before. Arsenal ended up playing in red shirts after Nottingham Forrest gave the strip to Woolwich Arsenal FC as a present. I found a brilliant book in the little library they have at the Heritage Centre which I want to get on the history of Arsenal FC pre-Highbury.
I could tell you loads more about the various things we watched and read but I don't want to give you all an information overload. If enough people ask I will write some more. If you want to see for yourself the Heritage Centre has free entry. Click here for more details.
Afterwards we headed to Waterloo for some dinner at The Wellington. I opted for a falafel burger which was HUGE!
After eating what we could of the food we headed to the Porterhouse in Covent Garden to meet Mike for some pre-stag do/pre-wedding drinks.
I have never been in this place any further than the front bar. Its a great building. I lost count of how many levels there were. If you like your beer and quirky buildings, I recommend it.
I lived in Woolwich up until the age of 8 returning only last year and up until Friday the only pieces of historical significance I knew about the area was a) Arsenal Football Club was founded here in 1886 and b) The first McDonalds in the UK opened on Powis Street in 1974.It was interesting to read about the Royal Arsenal and the docks. The site of the Arsenal expanded much further than the section that remains now. Where our house is was once a weapons factory and formed part of Royal Arsenal East (why couldn't that be in our address?). We found this out from an unofficial map from 1941 as for 200 years there was no Ordinance Survey maps from the area as the land was owned by the Ministry of Defence and they did not want maps of the area falling into enemy hands.
Random fact in relation to Arsenal FC which I didn't know before. Arsenal ended up playing in red shirts after Nottingham Forrest gave the strip to Woolwich Arsenal FC as a present. I found a brilliant book in the little library they have at the Heritage Centre which I want to get on the history of Arsenal FC pre-Highbury.I could tell you loads more about the various things we watched and read but I don't want to give you all an information overload. If enough people ask I will write some more. If you want to see for yourself the Heritage Centre has free entry. Click here for more details.
Afterwards we headed to Waterloo for some dinner at The Wellington. I opted for a falafel burger which was HUGE!
After eating what we could of the food we headed to the Porterhouse in Covent Garden to meet Mike for some pre-stag do/pre-wedding drinks.
I have never been in this place any further than the front bar. Its a great building. I lost count of how many levels there were. If you like your beer and quirky buildings, I recommend it.
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