Steps up to One Tree Hill

Image: © Marathon Taken: 18 Oct 2015

One Tree Hill is also known as Honor Oak Hill and it rises to 300 feet, offering extensive views across to Hampstead Heath and Alexandra Palace on the horizon, and St Paul's Cathedral and the towers of the City of London nearer. When John Betjeman visited One Tree Hill in 1957 he described it as "the nearest and strangest piece of country surviving near London". Both names refer to an oak which has long gone which once served as a boundary marker between the parishes of Camberwell (then in Surrey) and Lewisham (then in Kent). Queen Elizabeth I is said to have rested beneath it on May Day 1602. At the beginning of the 19th century the summit was the site of a semaphore station used by the East India Company to signal the appearance of their ships in the Channel. In 1896 the hill was enclosed by a six feet high fence by the local golf club which led to considerable protests. On 10th October the following year a crowd of 15,000 protesters gathered on the hill to assert their rights and broke down the new fence. The following week a crowd of between 50,000 and 100,000 returned to the hill and this time were confronted by 500 police. Finally in 1904 the Borough Council bought the wooded hill and on 7th August 1905 declared it freely open to the public 'for ever'. By the late 19th century, the land had been cleared for the golf course and the Oak of Honor was the last tree remaining on the hill - hence the name of One Tree Hill. The Oak of Honor was struck by lightning in 1888 and the present tree (which is now surrounded by railings) was planted on the day when the park was formally opened to the public. When first opened it was laid out as a formal park with London Plane trees but from the 1960s management ceased and woodland took over.

Images are licensed for reuse under creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0