Royal Arsenal Co-operative Society
The Royal Arsenal Co-operative Society (RACS) was a large consumer co-operative based in south east London, England. The co-operative took its name from the Royal Arsenal munitions works in Woolwich and its motto was: "Each for all and all for each". In 1985 it merged into the national Co-operative Wholesale Society.
Detail of Central Stores in Powis Street, Woolwich, with the RACS motto and a statue of Alexander McLeod
Various RACS stores in Powis Street, Woolwich, 1884
Half-finished Central Stores, Powis Street, Woolwich, 1907
Former RACS store in Plumstead, partly used by a Co-op supermarket
The Royal Arsenal, Woolwich is an establishment on the south bank of the River Thames in Woolwich in south-east London, England, that was used for the manufacture of armaments and ammunition, proofing, and explosives research for the British armed forces. It was originally known as the Woolwich Warren, having begun on land previously used as a domestic warren in the grounds of a mid-16th century Tudor house, Tower Place. Much of the initial history of the site is linked with that of the Office of Ordnance, which purchased the Warren in the late 17th century in order to expand an earlier base at Gun Wharf in Woolwich Dockyard.
Royal Arsenal Gatehouse (Beresford Gate) in 2007
The octagonal tower of Tower Place alongside the Royal Military Academy
Shot stacked up outside the Royal Laboratory gates and rows of guns arrayed in the background (James Cockburn, 1795).
One of a pair of 17th-century pavilions, the earliest buildings on the site, undergoing restoration (2015)