Shooter's Hill
Shooter's Hill | |
---|---|
The water tower on Shooter's Hill is a local landmark | |
Location within Greater London | |
Population | 13,433 (2011 Census ward)[1] |
OS grid reference | TQ435765 |
London borough | |
Ceremonial county | Greater London |
Region | |
Country | England |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Post town | LONDON |
Postcode district | SE18, SE3 (part) |
Post town | WELLING |
Postcode district | DA16 |
Dialling code | 020 |
Police | Metropolitan |
Fire | London |
Ambulance | London |
UK Parliament | |
London Assembly | |
Shooter's Hill (or Shooters Hill) is a district in South East
Geography
It reputedly takes its name from the practice of archery there during the Middle Ages, although the name is also commonly linked to its reputation as a haunt for highwaymen and was infamous for its gibbets of executed criminals. In the Second World War it was the site of an array of anti-aircraft guns which protected London. As part of 'London Stop Line Central' it was a last line of defence from a German land invasion, that was assumed would follow Watling Street from Dover. A number of devices were under the control of the Home Guard including a fougasse and a flame thrower.[2] Adjacent to an anti-aircraft battery was built a prisoner-of-war camp on what is today part of a golf course on the north-eastern slopes.[3][4] North of the golf course is Shrewsbury Park, the site for a barrage balloon, part of the Air Ministry's Field Scheme Nosecap for the defence of London; during the Battle of Britain it was manned by 901 County of London Barrage Balloon Squadron.[5]
Eltham Common was the site of Shooter's Hill police station (now closed). Eltham was allegedly the only town in England with two fully functional police stations (the other in Well Hall Road), having been placed there owing to the lawlessness associated with the town.
Celia Fiennes, who in 1697 proceeded out of London along the Dover Road, wrote in her diary of stopping at:
Shuttershill, on top of which hill you see a vast prospect ...some lands clothed with trees, others with grass and flowers, gardens, orchards, with all sorts of herbage and tillage, with severall little towns all by the river, Erith, Leigh, Woolwich etc., quite up to London, Greenwich, Deptford, Black Wall, the Thames twisting and turning it self up and down bearing severall vessells and men of warre on it...
The hill is one of the highest points in London at 132 metres (433 ft)[6] - offering good views over the River Thames to the north, with central London clearly visible to the west. Oxleas Wood remains a public open space close to the top of the hill; on the north side of Shooter's Hill Road is Eaglesfield Park, Shrewsbury Park, a golf-course, and one of the last remaining areas of farmland in inner London, Woodlands Farm (now an educational charity).[7]
Shooter's Hill Road stretches eastwards from the heath at Blackheath up and over the hill, initially as part of the
Literary associations
On 11 April 1661, diarist
Landmarks
The distinctive
Another water tower (of 130 ft) is further west down Shooter's Hill. This was originally built in the 1890s to designs by Thomas W. Aldwinckle to supply water to the 'Brook Fever hospital', which was demolished in the 1990s, to be replaced by a housing development. The tower consists of a plain brick pillar ornamented simply with bands of terracotta tiles and windows like arrowslits. It is not listed, but it was cleaned, repointed and underpinned for conversion into a family home. It is the centrepiece of the housing estate.[8]
Immediately to the east of the housing estate is the Grade II listed former Royal Herbert Hospital, today the Royal Herbert Pavilions. Further up the hill is the still-functioning Memorial Hospital.
In 1749, 'The Bull' public house opened just west of the summit of the hill, and was used as a refreshment stop by the coaches, although not by the Royal Mail, which had an interchange of mail bags at the Post Office by the Red Lion on the London side of the hill.
An 18th-century grade II listed milestone in the grounds of Christ Church on Shooter's Hill has 19th-century plates giving the distances "Dartford 7 miles", "London Bridge 8 miles" and a later addition: "130 miles to Ypres: in defending the salient our casualties were 90,000 killed, 70,500 missing, 450,000 wounded", commemorating the Battle of Ypres.[9][10]
Shrewsbury Barrow is a Bronze Age burial mound which is located on the corners of Brinklow Crescent and Plum Lane, and is a Scheduled Monument. It is approximately 25m wide and 1.5m high. It is the last surviving burial mound out of a group of six.[11]
Road alterations
During the 1950s the road gradient was lowered in the west where low-powered motor vehicles of the era frequently struggled to get to the top. As a remedy, a small section of the road west of the summit was removed and the road resurfaced from scratch to extend the slope horizontally. This alteration is evident where the road (opposite Craigholm) runs through the
Schools
- Ark Greenwich Free School
- Christ Church Primary School
- Plumcroft Primary School
- Shooter's Hill Post 16 Campus, Red Lion Lane
Education
Notable former residents
- Writer Algernon Blackwood was born in Shooter's Hill in 1869.
- English automobiles) up Shooter's Hill in 1826.
- TV cook Fanny Cradock and her husband Johnnie Cradock lived in Shooter's Hill Road.
- Landscape painter William Robert Earl died there in 1880.
- Musician Jools Holland was educated at Shooters Hill Grammar School, a former state grammar school on Red Lion Lane, Shooter's Hill, from which he was expelled for damaging a teacher's Triumph Herald.[12]
- English satirist Frankie Howerd was "gently educated at Shooter's Hill" Grammar School, as he recalled his time there.[13]
- Noted comics writer Steve Moore spent his entire life living in the same house he was born in on Shooter's Hill. His life, area and its history were dramatised by Alan Moore's essay Unearthing in an anthology of essays on London edited by Iain Sinclair. Unearthing was later turned into a dramatic reading.
- Engineer Perceval M. Parsons (1819–1892) was educated at a private school in Shooter's Hill, later established a private laboratory behind his house on Shooters Hill Road where he formulated 'manganese bronze' used in the manufacture of ships' propellers, and died at his home on 5 November 1892.
- English Grammar School on Red Lion Lane (formerly the Woolwich County School).[14]
- British singer-songwriter Boy George (Culture Club) lived in Shooters Hill Road.[15]
Nearby places
- Woolwich
- Eltham
- East Wickham
- Plumstead
- Welling
- Blackheath
- Kidbrooke
- Westcombe Park
- Falconwood
- Mottingham
- Well Hall
Transport
Shooter's Hill is served by many Transport for London bus services connecting it with areas including Blackheath, Woolwich, Eltham, Greenwich, Bexleyheath, Thamesmead, Lewisham and Crystal Palace. The closest rail links to the area are Welling and Falconwood railway stations.
References
- ^ "Greenwich Ward population 2011". Neighbourhood Statistics. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 14 October 2016.
- ^ The Archaeology of the Second World War - Uncovering Britain's Wartime Heritage pp26-8
- ^ "Shooters Hill Local History Group – Prisoners of War and the Local Community". e-Shooters Hill. 17 September 2013. Retrieved 17 May 2017.
- ^ "History". Shooters Hill Golf Club. Retrieved 17 May 2017.
- ^ "Shrewsbury Park, including Shrewsbury Tumulus (Greenwich)". London Gardens Trust. Retrieved 21 December 2020.
- ^ Greenwich Council ward structure
- ^ "Woodlands Farm Trust". Woodlands Farm Trust. Retrieved 17 December 2020.
- ^ Partridge, Chris (25 July 2004). "Tall order to save romantic tower". Guardian.
- ^ Historic England. "Milestone to North of Christ Church (1211875)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 25 November 2015.
- ^ "Ypres Memorial Milestone". Public Monuments & Sculpture Association. Archived from the original on 26 November 2015. Retrieved 25 November 2015.
- ^ "Historic England: Shrewsbury Barrow, Entry No 1430983". Retrieved 18 December 2020.
- ^ Farndale, Nigel (19 November 2006). "A man in touch with his inner anorak". Telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 21 September 2018.
- ISBN 0-491-01807-X
- ^ "Tyrannosaurus Rex". MarcBolan.net. Retrieved 1 July 2021.
- ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 18 October 2019.
Further reading
- Shooter's Hill in Views in Suffolk, Norfolk, and Northamptonshire (1818).