Woolwich Dockyard, also known as the King’s Dockyard, was one of the most important shipbuilding locations in England during the Age of Sail. By the 1830s however, it small size and the growing size of vessels led to its’ gradual demise. It became the main dockyard fitting steam engines to the Royal Navy warships and this gave it a lease of like until closing in 1869. At its’ height in about 1774 the dockyard had a double dry dock s single dry dock, as well as four slipways.
After the closure of the Dockyard in 1869 part of the site was used by the Ordnance Stores Department as an overflow from the nearby Royal Arsenal. It was primarily used to store general stores such as uniforms, harnesses and the like. In 1878 the Dockyard was used by the Commissariat Reserve Store for supplies for overseas garrisons. The last military unit, REME, moved out in 1966.