Winn’s Common is said to have been settled by ancient Britons. Several Bronze Age burial mounds were found in the area, as well as Roman relics. One mound remains on Winn’s Common, the Winn’s Common Tumulus.

During World War II a line of barrage balloons were sited on Winn’s Common to deter enemy aircraft from attacking the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich. At the end of the war many prefabricated houses were placed on the common to try to alleviate the displaced from all over London. The prefabs came down in the early 1950s to be replaced by open ground and football pitches. An old hut at the North End of the common, adjacent to Kings Highway, served as the changing rooms with a tin trough and cold taps supplying the only washing facility.


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