Remembrance Day Event

Join us at the unveiling of Thamesmead’s first publically accessible war memorial which will be taking place at the clock tower in Thamesmead Town Centre at 12 noon on Tuesday 11 November.

The event will feature the unveiling of two commemorative plaques, made even more poignant during the centenary anniversary of the start of the First World War, as well as a two minute silence and prayer.

Peabody Chief Executive, Stephen Howlett said: “Peabody is privileged to be leading on the creation of a new war memorial which will enable Thamesmead residents to commemorate the centenary of the First World War, and the contribution of British and Commonwealth military and civilian servicemen and women in the two World Wars and later conflicts.”

11.45am
Gather at the clock tower

11.50am
Welcome

12:00pm
Clock tower strikes
Exhortation
Last post as standard is lowered
Two minute silence
Reveille
Prayer
Lay wreaths

Although not yet ‘founded’, the area of Thamesmead played an important role in the First World War as part of the Royal Arsenal which was the cornerstone of Britain’s ordnance production which peaked during WWI. At this point, the Royal Arsenal employed close to 80,000 people sprawled over 1285 acres and stretched for three miles along the river Thames.

The land in Thamesmead, which was ideal marshland as it deadened the impact of explosions, played an important military and naval site dating as far back as the 1500s when Henry VIII built his major dockyard. The area was used for storing ordnance and ammunition from as early as 1565 and gradually more and more land was given over to what became the Royal Arsenal where guns were made and tested.

After the Second World War the Royal Arsenal was used less and less. By the late 1950s the London County Council (LCC) had earmarked part of the land - together with about 500 acres of marshland at Erith - to form the site for a new riverside town development (Thamesmead) to help cope with the demand for housing in the London area.