Plumstead expanded rapidly in the 1880s with housing developed for workers at the Royal Arsenal; two-up two-down terraced housing was common in the area close to the river and the Arsenal, whereas larger and smarter properties were developed uphill from the Thames, around Plumstead Common. The 1878 Plumstead Common Act protected Plumstead Common as public open space forever. In the late 19th century, Woolwich cemetery was developed in two phases (1856, 1855) on land formerly part of the southern edge of the Common.