Temporary Exhibition PLAY

General history of the borough & transport in Greenwich

Inside The Arsenal PLAY

This free exhibition tells the fascinating story of the Royal Arsenal and the Royal Woolwich Dockyard by looking across 400 years of history from Henry VIII to modern times.

Bellarmine Pot

A seventeenth century bellarmine pot. Excavations in 1973 and 1974 at the Woolwich Ferry site unearthed two pottery kilns. One was an earthenware kiln and the other a stoneware kiln. The stoneware kiln, dating from 1620-1650, is the earliest stoneware kiln in Britain. It produced bellarmine jugs, originally made in Germany, which were popular in the 17th century. The Woolwich bellarmines had a distinctive sportsman medallion depicting a man holding a goblet in one hand and a shooting stick in the other. This medallion has been adopted as the Greenwich Heritage Centre's logo. Local clays would have been used to produce the earthenware pots but the clay for bellarmines fired in the stoneware kiln probably came from Devon and would have been transported to Woolwich using the River.

Roman Statue PLAY
19th Century Teapot 1 PLAY
19th Century Teapot 2 PLAY
18th Century Tea Caddy 1 PLAY
18th Century Tea Caddy 2 PLAY
19th Century Vase PLAY
Sewing Machine PLAY
Victorian Glovebox PLAY
Butterfly Collection PLAY