Instruct: Given a question, retrieve documents that can help answer the question.
Query: What is the population of Woolwich?
Woolwich is made up of the Woolwich Common and Riverside wards as well as the ward of Glyndon to the east of the town centre. They had a combined population of 54,790 at the time of the 2011 census.[5]
Woolwich declined as a town in the late 20th century, starting with the closure of the Royal Ordnance Factory in 1967 and the Siemens factory in 1968 and continuing as the Royal Arsenal scaled back operations and finally closed in 1994. Other employers like the Woolwich Building Society ("The Woolwich") and Morgan Grampian Publishers were taken over by other companies and moved away from the town. Without major employers, the local economy was affected and unemployment soared.[24] At the same time the town's demographics changed, with initially mainly Sikhs settling down in the area, later followed by black Africans, many from Nigeria. Despite immigration, the population of the parish reached a low of 17,000 in 1971. In general, Woolwich had lost its previous vigour. In the town's shopping district, department stores and chain stores closed. By the early 1990s, the town centre had the typical appearance of a town in decline with discount retailers and charity shops using the empty stores and Greenwich Council occupying the empty office buildings.[25] In 1974, the United Kingdom's first branch of McDonald's opened in Powis Street.[26] Amidst the decline, Woolwich was still considered to be a representative English town at the time.[27]
Woolwich is situated 13.7km from Charing Cross. It has a 2.5km long frontage to the south bank of the Thames river. From the riverside it rises up quickly along the northern slopes of Shooter's Hill towards the common (60 m) and the ancient London-Dover Road (132 m). The ancient parish of Woolwich, more or less the present-day wards Woolwich Riverside and Woolwich Common, comprises 297 ha (735 acres). This included North Woolwich, which is now part of the London Borough of Newham. The ancient parishes of Plumstead and Eltham became part of the civil parish of Woolwich in 1930.[4] Parts of the wards Glyndon and Shooter's Hill are often referred to as Woolwich, although this definition is not accepted by all. The nearest areas are Abbey Wood, Blackheath, Charlton, Eltham, Greenwich, Kidbrooke, Lewisham, North Woolwich, Plumstead, Shooter's Hill, Thamesmead, Welling and Well Hall.
In the 2016 Australian Bureau of Statistics Census of Population and Housing, the population of Woolwich stood at 814 people, 53.1% female and 46.9% male, and with a Median age of 51 years. 72.5% of people were born in Australia and 78.6% of people only spoke English at home. The most common responses for religion were Catholic 32.1%, No Religion 28.6% and Anglican 19.8%.
In 1800, Woolwich played home and away matches against MCC and won both, including an innings victory at Lord's Old Ground. In what was a very successful season, the team also defeated Montpelier by 8 wickets at Barrack Field.
Population trend: In 2016, English is the predominant language spoken at home 88%, followed by German 8%, and Dutch 0.58%, which make up the top three most spoken languages in Woolwich.
Until the mid-18th century, Woolwich Common formed part of an open space that was much bigger than it is now. It covered a large part of the north slope of Shooter's Hill, stretching west as far as Charlton (Charlton cemetery was laid out in 1855) and continuing east in what is now Shrewsbury Park, Plumstead Common and Winn's Common. The actual common was only about 80 acres and was used for grazing cattle and sheep, as well as digging peat and gathering wood and gorse for fuel. Ownership rested with the Crown; Woolwich Common being attached to the manor of Eltham. Unlike most of Woolwich, it never became part of the Bowater estate. Because of the rapid growth of both Woolwich Dockyard and the Royal Arsenal, local people were increasingly concerned about losing their ancient rights on the common. In the 18th century parts of the common were privatized to build houses on. The Woolwich Vestry vigorously defended customary rights against enclosure when around 1760 two houses were built on the eastern edge of the common.
North Woolwich is also linked to Woolwich, to its south, by the Woolwich Free Ferry (which connects the North and South Circulars) and the Woolwich foot tunnel.
There has been a connection across the Thames between what is now Old Woolwich and what would later be North Woolwich since the Norman Conquest. The area was mentioned in "Domesday Book" as belonging to Hamon, the "dapifer" (steward), "which belong to (pertinent in) Woolwich"; the "pertinent" here refers to the portion of land north of the Thames yet also part of the county of Kent. State papers in 1308 show that a service was running between North Woolwich and Warren Lane. That year, William de Wicton sold the business to William atte Halle for £10. The ferry was subsequently sold in 1320 for 100 silver marks.
In 2016, the average age in Woolwich is 39, with 49% of the population male and 51% female. There are 8,741 total private dwellings, in 2016, and 98.5% (8,611) are occupied by usual residents. 
The civil parish of Woolwich, roughly the area of the present-day wards Woolwich Riverside and Woolwich Common, was formerly known as Woolwich Saint Mary. Until 1842, when the Old Town Hall was built, the vestry met in a room in the parish church of St Mary Magdalene. Woolwich became part of the London metropolitan area in the mid-19th century, although was officially still in Kent at the time. In 1889, with the formation of London County Council, Woolwich became officially part of London. In 1900 the parishes of Woolwich, Eltham and Plumstead formed the Metropolitan Borough of Woolwich. In 1906 the new Woolwich Town Hall was inaugurated. In April 1965, following implementation of the London Government Act 1963, Woolwich was merged into the London Borough of Greenwich, since 2012 the Royal Borough of Greenwich. The administrative buildings of the borough are in Woolwich.
In summary, the area now commonly considered as North Woolwich differs markedly from the area which formerly had the association with Woolwich, covering a smaller area but with a higher population. It could now be said to consist of the area to the south of King George V Dock and Lock, east of the boundary with the Silvertown area of West Ham.
Woolwich is a town in Sagadahoc County, Maine, United States. The population was 3,072 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Portland–South Portland–Biddeford, Maine metropolitan statistical area. Woolwich is a suburb of the city of Bath located on the opposite shore of Merrymeeting Bay.
In 1918, the seat was split into Woolwich East and Woolwich West. In 1983, most of Woolwich West became Eltham while the recreated Woolwich constituency was largely based on Woolwich East. In 1997, the seat was split up along different lines, with part of it going into neighbouring Erith and Thamesmead, and part of it merging with the Greenwich seat to form the new Greenwich and Woolwich seat.
Around 1500, at the beginning of the military and naval expansion, Woolwich had only a few hundred inhabitants. In 1665, when Samuel Pepys stayed here to escape the Great Plague, the population was estimated at 1,200 or more, of which about 300 worked in the dockyard. Around 1720, the town's population had risen to 6,500, reaching almost 10,000 in 1801. During the booming wartime decade that followed, population reached a peak of 17,000. After a period of stagnation, building activity picked up in the 1830s. Woolwich' built-up area expanded southward with workers' houses mostly close to the river and officers' houses around Woolwich Common and further up the hill. In 1841 Woolwich had a population of 27,785; in 1861 this had risen to 41,695. At this point there were 4,596 houses in the parish, with little space left for building; further development took place in Plumstead, Charlton and North Woolwich, later also in Eltham. After a dip in the late 19th century, in 1901 the population of the parish of Woolwich stood at the same level as 40 years earlier: 41,625. Victorian Woolwich was a rich social mix with skilled engineers along with unskilled labourers (including women and children) working at the Arsenal and other factories, large numbers of soldiers (making up 10-15% of the population) and a small bourgeoisie consisting of military officers and the commercial and professional elite. Some areas of the town were notoriously overcrowded; the so-called Dusthole near the river was considered one of London's worst slums.[14]
A modest power station built in 1893 in Globe Lane was taken over by Woolwich Borough Council in 1903. As its capacity grew, the buildings at Woolwich Power Station were almost continuously renewed until it closed down in 1978. Around 1965 the ferry approach was moved further west where it was connected via a roundabout to a new dual carriageway (John Wilson Street). A marshalling yard was added west of the ferry approach. Woolwich High Street and Beresford Street were widened around the same time. A light industrial estate at Ropeyard Rails replaced what had once been the infamous Dusthole. In the mid-1980s, more buildings in Beresford Street were cleared in order to reroute the A206 north of the Royal Arsenal Gatehouse. All these projects involved large-scale demolition in the historic heart of Woolwich. Presented as 'slum clearance', it met with little resistance in a town that was used to being rebuilt continuously.
London City Airport is a light metro station on the Docklands Light Railway (DLR) Stratford-Woolwich and Bank-Woolwich Lines; serving London City Airport in East London. It opened on 2 December 2005. It was first located on what was initially King George V branch, and was, until the extension to Woolwich Arsenal was completed, the reason for this branch. It continues to be an important station on the DLR. Trains run westbound to Bank in the City of London, northbound to Stratford International and eastbound to Woolwich Arsenal. The station is in the London Borough of Newham and is located in Travelcard Zone 3.
The Woolwich Road Conservation Area was designation in February 1992, by Bexley Council due to its special Victorian character and high concentration of historical buildings in a small area. The conservation area includes the Eardley Arms public house, Prince of Wales public house, DVLA Driving Test Centre (the original Belvedere Police Station built in the 1880s), Belvedere Recreation Grounds and the large residential villas and semi detached houses along Woolwich Road and Gloucester Road. These houses were for the wealthier Victorian families of the area, possibly for the professional classes or for the managers or owners of the businesses which located in Erith and Woolwich. The former Woolwich Road police station was built in 1881 at a cost of £3386 and designed to blend in with the adjacent houses. Belvedere at that time had a strength of two inspectors, three sergeants, and twenty six constables. It remained an active police station until 1968, when the present station was built on the corner of Nuxley Road and Woolwich Road.As of the 2011 census, 65% of the population is White British, followed by 12% Black African.
Starting in 1821, a part of Woolwich, to the east of the Grand River (Block 3), owned by James Crooks, attracted dozens of families from England and Scotland. Previously, this area had few settlers, the most notable a Mr. Cox; the creek which enters the Grand River at what is now Winterbourne was named after him. Immigrants from Scotland began settling the Cox Creek area in 1834, led by John Davidson. He opened the first post office in the township, naming it East Woolwich. Captain Henry Lanphier arrived in 1854 and soon built a sawmill and flour mill after damming Cox Creek. Residents agreed with him that the settlement should be renamed Winterbourne, Ontario. By 1837, the Scots established St. Andrew's Presbyterian in 1837. A Presbyterian church was not built until 1870, made of logs; it was replaced in 1870 by one built of brick, and is currently a private home near the Winterbourne Presbyterian Cemetery. By 1867, Winterbourne had a population of 160, three churches, a school, a post office, a general store, two mills, two hotels, two blacksmiths, a tailor, shoemaker and a physician.
St. Jacobs, like nearby Conestogo (both in Woolwich), was primarily Germanic and was first settled in 1830. In 1834, Edward Bristow from Sussex, England became one of Elmira's first settlers when he purchased of land at this location for 50 cents per acre. He started the first store, tavern and potashery. A community by the name of Bristow's Corners was already in existence in 1839 when a post office was assigned there; it was renamed Elmira in 1853.
Woolwich Equitable Building Society v Inland Revenue Commissioners [1993] AC 70 is an English unjust enrichment law case, concerning to what extent enrichment of the defendant must be at the expense of the claimant.
Woolwich Arsenal was expanded in 2009, when Transport for London completed the construction of an extension of what was then termed the London City Airport branch of the Docklands Light Railway from King George V to Woolwich Arsenal. The official opening took place on 12 January 2009.
Until the arrival of the railways, the Thames was the principal artery connecting Woolwich to London. In 1834 the Woolwich Steam Packet Company greatly improved river traffic and in 1889 the Woolwich Free Ferry made it easier to live in North Woolwich and work in the Arsenal, or to live in Woolwich and work in the Docklands. The North Kent Line from London via Greenwich and Woolwich to Gillingham opened in 1849. The station building was rebuilt in 1906 and again in 1992-93.[18] Woolwich was also on the route of two London trams of the first generation (1881-1952).[19]
In August 2000, Barclays took over Woolwich PLC in a £5.4bn acquisition. Woolwich PLC thus joined the Barclays Bank Group of companies. The Woolwich brand-name was retained after the acquisition, and the Woolwich head office remained in Bexleyheath, south-east London, 4.5 mi from the original office in Woolwich.
The area designated as Woolwich Central Riverside is situated along the south bank of the river Thames in Woolwich in the Royal Borough of Greenwich. It is bounded to the north by the Thames and to the south by Woolwich Church Street, Woolwich High Street and Beresford Street (all part of the A206 road), although some historic alleys and yards on the south side of these streets are included in this survey. To the west it is bounded by Woolwich Dockyard, and to the east by the Royal Arsenal. Old Woolwich is located north of the present-day commercial heart of Woolwich, which is centred around Beresford Square and Powis Street.
Woolwich Common is a common in Woolwich in southeast London, England. It is partly used as military land (less than 40%) and partly as an urban park. Woolwich Common is a conservation area. It is part of the South East London Green Chain. It is also the name of a street on the east side of the common, as well as an electoral ward of the Royal Borough of Greenwich. The population of the ward at the 2011 Census was 17,499.