'The Shop'

From the back of our house, we can clearly see the buildings that housed the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich.

The Royal Military Academy in Woolwich was set up in 1741 by the Board of Ordnance inside the Woolwich Arsenal. Its remit was to provide specialist professional military training for aspiring Royal Artillery and Royal Engineer officers. It was initially housed in a converted workshop, and this is why it came to be known as 'The Shop'.

(Incidentally, this nickname is the origin of the expression 'not talking shop', as officers were actively dissuaded from talking about their profession in the regimental mess. Therefore, a Royal Artillery or Royal Engineer officer who mentioned something that referred to his professional work in a mess – rather than social events, sport, or hunting – would be told to 'stop taking 'Shop''.)

A special building was constructed to house the Academy ...

... and a set of Cadet Barracks followed in 1751 when the officer cadets were formed into the Company of Gentleman Cadets under the command of one – later - two – captain-lieutenants.

(Incidentally, one of my wife's ancestors served as the Fife Major to the Company of Gentleman Cadets whilst they were based inside the Arsenal and was responsible for providing the music for the weekly parade and the administration of any sentence of corporal punishment that was handed down to a cadet!)

The Napoleonic Wars saw an increase in the number of cadets passing through the Academy, and in 1806 it moved to new buildings on the southern side of Woolwich Common. These were designed by William Wyatt, and the Academy remained there until it closed on the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939. The Academy was merged with the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, in 1947 to form the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst.