Development pressures were very strong in Plumstead in the 1860s.
The rapid growth of the Royal Arsenal during the Crimean War stimulated an unprecedented house building boom.

This print from an estate auction catalogue shows what might have happened to the land between Plumstead Common Road and the top of Shooters Hill.

These proposed detached houses with large ornamental gardens were never built as the land was taken up by more conventional and high density housing. 

The parish church to the right of the picture is St. Margaret's, Plumstead Common (built 1858 but demolished in the 1960s).

Adjacent to it are the Plumstead Central Schools (now St. Margaret's School).

The turrets of the Red Barracks in Woolwich (built 1859, demolished in the 1970s) can be seen in the top left of the picture and the domes of The Royal Hospital for Seamen at Greenwich are a distant feature.

Watercolour by George Barnes Williams (Architect), Published by Messrs. Hudson & Sons Auctioneers, Woolwich, 1866.