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Pearl's Hill, briefly Mount Stamford, is a small hill in Singapore. Located in the vicinity of
The hill was the location of gambier plantations owned by the Chinese who had occupied and settled there before
Chinatown
A Chinatown () is an ethnic enclave of Chinese people located outside Greater China, most often in an urban setting. Areas known as "Chinatown" exist throughout the world, including Europe, North America, South America, Asia, Africa and Austra ...
, it is one of the few surviving hills in the city area.
History
The hill was the location of gambier plantations owned by the Chinese who had occupied and settled there before Stamford Raffles
Sir Thomas Stamford Bingley Raffles (5 July 1781 – 5 July 1826) was a British statesman who served as the Lieutenant-Governor of the Dutch East Indies between 1811 and 1816, and Lieutenant-Governor of Bencoolen between 1818 and 1824. He is ...
' arrival in 1819. Captain James Pearl, the captain of ship ''Indiana'' which took Sir Stamford Raffles to Singapore in 1819, liked the look of the hill, and began acquiring plot after plot on the hill from the Chinese gambier planters until he owned the entire hill in May 1822. Pearl had the Chinese and Malay workmen built his house on top of the hill and cleared the slopes to plant pepper vines for him.
The hill was briefly named Mount Stamford by Pearl as a compliment to Raffles. When Raffles, having returned from Bencoolen,
Sumatra
Sumatra is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the sixth-largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 (182,812 mi.2), not including adjacent i ...
in October 1822, heard how the hill had been acquired without his approval, he ordered its repossession by the British Government
ga, Rialtas a Shoilse gd, Riaghaltas a Mhòrachd
, image = HM Government logo.svg
, image_size = 220px
, image2 = Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (HM Government).svg
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, caption = Royal Arms
, date_es ...
. Raffles immediately relented and accorded the ownership of the hill back to Pearl. Captain Pearl, disgruntled by Raffles' actions, renamed the hill after himself.
In 1828, Captain Pearl retired back to England and his agents had the hill sold to the British Government for Rs 10,000. His name had remained associated with the hill since then. Pearl's Hill used to be higher than Fort Canning Hill
Fort Canning Hill, formerly Government Hill, Singapore Hill and Bukit Larangan (''Forbidden Hill'' in Malay), is a small hill, about high, in the southeast portion of the island city-state of Singapore, within the Central Area that forms Si ...
, thus the British colonial engineers decided to have the coolies
A coolie (also spelled koelie, kuli, khuli, khulie, cooli, cooly, or quli) is a term for a low-wage labourer, typically of South Asian or East Asian descent.
The word ''coolie'' was first popularized in the 16th century by European traders acros ...
shave off the top of Pearl's Hill, therefore lowering its peak to ensure their enemies would not be able to use the hill as an attacking position against the newly built Fort Canning
Fort Canning Hill, formerly Government Hill, Singapore Hill and Bukit Larangan (''Forbidden Hill'' in Malay), is a small hill, about high, in the southeast portion of the island city-state of Singapore, within the Central Area that forms Sin ...
.Chris, T. (1997, December 04). Pearl's Hill. Retrieved February 20, 2017, from http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/infopedia/articles/SIP_116_2004-12-14.html
Pearl's Hill is well known for once being the site of the former multiple notable institutional buildings such as the Tan Tock Seng Hospital
Tan Tock Seng Hospital (abbreviation: TTSH) is a tertiary referral hospital in Singapore, located in Novena. The hospital has 45 clinical and allied health departments, 16 specialist centres and is powered by more than 8,000 healthcare staff. ...
, Seaman's hospital and the Pearl's Hill Prison. The Pearl's Hill Prison is located there because of the close proximity to Sepoy Lines as it was thought to provide protection and security for the prison.
See also
*Pearl's Hill City Park
Pearl's Hill City Park is a 9 hectares city park in Singapore built around a reservoir on top of Pearl's Hill. It is located behind Outram Park MRT station.
See also
* List of parks in Singapore
*National Parks Board
The National Parks Board ...
, a city park of 9 hectares built around a reservoir on top of Pearl's Hill Terrace.
* Pearl Bank Apartments
Pearl Bank Apartments () was a high-rise private residential building on Pearl's Hill in Outram, near the Chinatown area of Singapore.
As the tallest and densest residential building in Singapore when completed in June 1976, Pearl Bank Apart ...
* Pearl's Hill Service Reservoir
References
{{Places in Singapore Hills of Singapore