Woolwich Polytechnic opened on 28th September 1891. It was the second Polytechnic in the country to be opened after Regent Street Polytechnic. The Polytechnic quickly began to expand, with new chemical and physical laboratories, an engineering laboratory, art room and two large classrooms built by 1898. It initially combined education with social and religious functions so a gymnasium was built and several clubs formed, including a Cycling Club and Christian Workers' Union. By 1899 1,111 students attended the Polytechnic. During the First World War the engineering workshops of the Polytechnic were used for the production of munitions. War economy cooking classes and lectures on war time cookery were held by the Bread and Food Reform League. During the 1930s several extensions were made. A new hall was opened in 1936, plus new workshops, a library, laboratories and lecture rooms built between 1936 & 1939.
During the Second World War students were evacuated to villages in Kent. When the expected bombing failed to materialise the schools were re-opened, but had to be evacuated again later. Woolwich Officers and men of the Queen's Own Regiment were stationed in the gymnasium. After the Second World War there was a rapid increase in students, with a great demand for courses leading to degrees. New full-time courses were started for degrees in physics, chemistry, and mathematics, as well as the existing engineering courses. In 1970, Woolwich Polytechnic merged with Hammersmith College of Art and Building to form Thames Polytechnic. In 1992, Thames Polytechnic was granted university status by the Major government (together with other polytechnics) and renamed the University of Greenwich in 1993. In 2001, the university gave up the historic main campus in Woolwich, and relocated to its current main campus in Greenwich. The Woolwich site has been abandoned ever since although it occasionally gets used for filming. In 2003 the main building and the gymnasium achieved Grade II listed status.
This had been on my radar since 2015 or thereabouts. The thing that captured my interest was the large hall on the corner, but it was always locked up. I had no idea at the time that there was a whole abandoned college connected to it. Over the years I tried and failed a few times until one day, as if by magic, I was presented with an open door. Bingo!
Unfortunately the ground floor of the hall had been converted into offices with cheap partition walls which was disappointing. I had a quick run around the offices but there was nothing of any interest.
I wasn't expecting the hall to lead anywhere else but one of the doors opened into this very derpy looking corridor. Things were starting to look up....
I decided to find the nearest stairs and head for the top floor.
All the corridors and stairs had glazed tiles.
The first few rooms were fairly empty up here but they seemed to have been labs at some point.
Then I came across this fully intact lab which was untouched.
Next was this really dated lab which was probably my favourite part of the whole place.
It still had equations written on the blackboard from the last lesson that was taught in there.
Lots of dead pigeons too.
Oh and lots of live pigeons.....
The next floor down was full of very bland looking labs in comparison so I didn't take many pictures.
There were some nice bits of decay to shoot however.
On the ground floor was this section which felt oddly like a hospital.
I presume it's being used as a film set as there were A&E stickers all over this entrance.
Elsewhere on the ground floor more labs were to be found.
On the left of this photo where part of a false wall has been removed you can see the walls actually have glazed white tiles underneath.
Same lab from the opposite end.
The last thing to see was the Grade II listed gymnasium, shown here on the far left of the shot. All was going well until I noticed a man standing in the doorway behind me. It turned out the PIRs do work and we'd been busted. He was very shocked to see us and couldn't believe someone had got in as "this place is very secure you know". Thankfully he was a nice guy and just asked us to show him where we'd got in, before sending us on our way.
Anyway I managed to fire off a couple of shots in the gymnasium before we got busted so I'll leave you with these. It was last used as a lecture theatre before it closed, hence the seating inside. The scribbles on the board looked like farewell messages from students, rather than graff.
On the wooden floor you can still see the markings from when it was a gymnasium.
All in all I enjoyed this far more than I could have anticipated. Mostly down to the fact that I had no idea there was going to be so much to see and it turned out to be pretty decent. It felt like I was the first person to step foot in there for 20 years. Had I done a bit of reading up on the place I probably would have tried a bit harder to get in years ago. At the same time, not knowing what I was going to find around every corner made it way more fun to explore.
That's all for now. Cheers for looking 😇
Unfortunately the ground floor of the hall had been converted into offices with cheap partition walls which was disappointing. I had a quick run around the offices but there was nothing of any interest.
I wasn't expecting the hall to lead anywhere else but one of the doors opened into this very derpy looking corridor. Things were starting to look up....
I decided to find the nearest stairs and head for the top floor.
All the corridors and stairs had glazed tiles.
The first few rooms were fairly empty up here but they seemed to have been labs at some point.
Then I came across this fully intact lab which was untouched.
Next was this really dated lab which was probably my favourite part of the whole place.
It still had equations written on the blackboard from the last lesson that was taught in there.
Lots of dead pigeons too.
Oh and lots of live pigeons.....
The next floor down was full of very bland looking labs in comparison so I didn't take many pictures.
There were some nice bits of decay to shoot however.
On the ground floor was this section which felt oddly like a hospital.
I presume it's being used as a film set as there were A&E stickers all over this entrance.
Elsewhere on the ground floor more labs were to be found.
On the left of this photo where part of a false wall has been removed you can see the walls actually have glazed white tiles underneath.
Same lab from the opposite end.
The last thing to see was the Grade II listed gymnasium, shown here on the far left of the shot. All was going well until I noticed a man standing in the doorway behind me. It turned out the PIRs do work and we'd been busted. He was very shocked to see us and couldn't believe someone had got in as "this place is very secure you know". Thankfully he was a nice guy and just asked us to show him where we'd got in, before sending us on our way.
Anyway I managed to fire off a couple of shots in the gymnasium before we got busted so I'll leave you with these. It was last used as a lecture theatre before it closed, hence the seating inside. The scribbles on the board looked like farewell messages from students, rather than graff.
On the wooden floor you can still see the markings from when it was a gymnasium.
All in all I enjoyed this far more than I could have anticipated. Mostly down to the fact that I had no idea there was going to be so much to see and it turned out to be pretty decent. It felt like I was the first person to step foot in there for 20 years. Had I done a bit of reading up on the place I probably would have tried a bit harder to get in years ago. At the same time, not knowing what I was going to find around every corner made it way more fun to explore.
That's all for now. Cheers for looking 😇
Last edited:
