The parish was governed by its vestry from the 16th century to 1852, based in the Church of St Mary until 1842, after which in the purpose-built Woolwich Town Hall.

The main part of the parish was a roughly triangular area south of the River Thames, including the town of Woolwich.

The boundary with Plumstead to the east was very close to the centre of the town, located approximately where the Woolwich Arsenal station is now.

The parish narrowed further south, including Woolwich Common and reaching to Shooter's Hill Road.

The western part was divided from the eastern section by the parish of East Ham.

Woolwich was added to the Registrar General definition of the London Metropolis in 1837, appearing in the weekly tables of mortality from 1840.

It was an anomaly amongst metropolitan parishes, having a local board of health, and this was treated as if it were an incorporated vestry.