The oldest surviving aircraft hangars in Europe now house part of our amazing collection. See behind the scenes in our stores, rare historic field guns and find out about the birthplace of British military aviation.
Our guided tours will take you behind the scenes at our Wood Road stores where you can explore unique and fascinating artefacts from our small objects store including our incredible collection of field guns from the 17th century to modern day, the latest projects in our conservation workshop and the story of the historic hangars that now house our objects.
The Wood Road hangars are Listed Grade II*, and were built in 1910. Larkhill became Britain's first military airfield, but was only operational until 1914, and the sheds are now almost all that remains of this key moment in aviation history. Until a few years ago, the sheds stored surplus furniture for the nearby Army camp but they have now been made available for use by the Royal Artillery Museum, providing office, workshop and storage space.
Our collection was established in 1778 for training purposes and is one of the oldest and most significant of all military collections. It opened to the public in 1820 at the Rotunda on Woolwich Common and moved to the Firepower Museum in 2001. Firepower closed in 2016, pending the creation of a new museum near Larkhill, the modern home of the Royal Artillery. That project is ongoing, and for the time being, most of the collection remains in various storage locations.
This year, we are also having dedicated talks on researching Gunner Family History, and Larkhill, the birthplace of Military Aviation.Thursday 18 September: 1000 & 1400 - Talk, Researching Gunner Family History
Friday 19 September: 1000 & 1400 - Guided Tours of the Stores
Saturday 20 September: 1000 & 1400 - Guided Tours of the Stores
Sunday 21 September: 1000 & 1400 - Talk, Larkhill - the Birthplace of Military Aviation
You can book yoour place on our Eventbrite page.