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Shooter's Hill (or Shooters Hill) is a district in South East
The hill is one of the List of highest points in London, highest points in London at - 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).
''Shooter's Hill Road'' stretches eastwards from the heath at Blackheath up and over the hill, initially as part of the A2 road as far as the Sun in the Sands, and then the A207. The road follows the route of
The distinctive Gothic Revival architecture, gothic revival water tower at the top of Shooter's Hill is a landmark built in 1910 and can be seen from far around. Other local landmarks include Severndroog Castle, a folly designed by the architect Richard Jupp in 1784 and built to commemorate Commodore Sir William James (naval commander), William James, who on 2 April 1755 attacked and destroyed a pirate fortress at Suvarnadurg along the western coast of India.
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 General Hospital, 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.
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, Woolwich, 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 Coach (carriage), 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.
Shrewsbury Barrow is a Bronze Age tumulus, burial mound which is located on the corners of Brinklow Crescent and Plum Lane, and is a Scheduled monument, Scheduled Monument. It is approximately 25m wide and 1.5m high. It is the last surviving burial mound out of a group of six.
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 cutting (transportation), cutting and the pavement (following the original gradient of the hill) rises about 1–2 metres above.
* Writer Algernon Blackwood was born in Shooter's Hill in 1869.
* English engineer Samuel Brown (engineer), Samuel Brown developed an internal combustion engine that used hydrogen as a fuel and tested it to propel a vehicle (arguably one of the earliest 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 Sixth Form College, 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.
* English actor-comedian-satirist Frankie Howerd was "gently educated at Shooter's Hill" Grammar School, as he recalled his time there.Howerd, Frankie (1976) ''On the Way I Lost It'', W.H. Allen,
* Noted comics writer Steve Moore (comics), 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 musician-songwriter-guitarist Steve Peregrin Took (T.Rex (band), T.Rex, Shagrat (band), Shagrat, Steve Took's Horns) was educated at Shooter's Hill Grammar School on Red Lion Lane (formerly the Woolwich County School).
* British singer-songwriter Boy George (Culture Club) lived in Shooters Hill Road.
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
within the Royal Borough of Greenwich
The Royal Borough of Greenwich (, , or ) is a London borough in southeast Greater London. The London Borough of Greenwich was formed in 1965 by the London Government Act 1963. The new borough covered the former area of the Metropolitan Borough ...
. It borders the London Borough of Bexley
The London Borough of Bexley () is a London boroughs, London borough in south-east London, forming part of Outer London. It has a population of 248,287. The main settlements are Sidcup, Erith, Bexleyheath, Crayford, Welling and Old Bexley. The ...
. It lies north of Eltham
Eltham ( ) is a district of southeast London, England, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich. It is east-southeast of Charing Cross, and is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. The three wards of Elt ...
and south of Woolwich
Woolwich () is a district in southeast London, England, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich.
The district's location on the River Thames led to its status as an important naval, military and industrial area; a role that was maintained throu ...
. With a height of , it is the highest point in the Borough of Greenwich and one of the highest points in Greater London. Shooter's Hill also gives its name to the A road which passes through east to west and is part of the A207 road
List of A roads in zone 2 in Great Britain starting south of the River Thames
The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest r ...
, the A2 road, and also Watling Street
Watling Street is a historic route in England that crosses the River Thames at London and which was used in Classical Antiquity, Late Antiquity, and throughout the Middle Ages. It was used by the ancient Britons and paved as one of the main R ...
.
Geography
It reputedly takes its name from the practice ofarchery
Archery is the sport, practice, or skill of using a bow to shoot arrows.Paterson ''Encyclopaedia of Archery'' p. 17 The word comes from the Latin ''arcus'', meaning bow. Historically, archery has been used for hunting and combat. In m ...
there during the Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...
, although the name is also commonly linked to its reputation as a haunt for highwayman, highwaymen and was infamous for its Gibbeting, 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
Watling Street is a historic route in England that crosses the River Thames at London and which was used in Classical Antiquity, Late Antiquity, and throughout the Middle Ages. It was used by the ancient Britons and paved as one of the main R ...
from Dover. A number of devices were under the control of the Home Guard (United Kingdom), Home Guard including a fougasse (weapon), fougasse and a flame thrower. 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. 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.
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:
The hill is one of the List of highest points in London, highest points in London at - 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).
''Shooter's Hill Road'' stretches eastwards from the heath at Blackheath up and over the hill, initially as part of the A2 road as far as the Sun in the Sands, and then the A207. The road follows the route of Watling Street
Watling Street is a historic route in England that crosses the River Thames at London and which was used in Classical Antiquity, Late Antiquity, and throughout the Middle Ages. It was used by the ancient Britons and paved as one of the main R ...
, a Roman Road linking London with Roman settlements in north Kent. This was used as a route for horse-drawn mail-coaches linking London with Dover.
Literary associations
Byron's Don Juan is waylaid while romantically musing on Shooter's Hill when he first arrives in London (Canto XI). As the narrative of Charles Dickens's ''A Tale of Two Cities'' opens, Mr. Jarvis Lorry is a passenger in the Dover mail coach, "lumbering up Shooter's Hill"; and Dickens refers to a public house there in ''The Pickwick Papers''. The name Shooter's Hill is also mentioned in Bram Stoker's ''Dracula'' although referring to the Hampstead area, some distance away, and also in H.G. Wells' ''The War of the Worlds (novel), The War of the Worlds'' and by Thomas Carlyle. On 11 April 1661, diarist Samuel Pepys mentions passing under "the man that hangs upon Shooter's Hill and a filthy sight it was to see how his flesh is shrunk to his bones." (presumably a highwayman hanged and left to rot as a warning to other criminals - at 'Gibbet Field', now part of the local golf course). In the graphic novel ''V for Vendetta'' by Alan Moore and David Lloyd (comic artist), David Lloyd, the character Evey Hammond describes her childhood, spent on Shooter's Hill.Landmarks
The distinctive Gothic Revival architecture, gothic revival water tower at the top of Shooter's Hill is a landmark built in 1910 and can be seen from far around. Other local landmarks include Severndroog Castle, a folly designed by the architect Richard Jupp in 1784 and built to commemorate Commodore Sir William James (naval commander), William James, who on 2 April 1755 attacked and destroyed a pirate fortress at Suvarnadurg along the western coast of India.
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 General Hospital, 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.
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, Woolwich, 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 Coach (carriage), 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.
Shrewsbury Barrow is a Bronze Age tumulus, burial mound which is located on the corners of Brinklow Crescent and Plum Lane, and is a Scheduled monument, Scheduled Monument. It is approximately 25m wide and 1.5m high. It is the last surviving burial mound out of a group of six.
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 cutting (transportation), cutting and the pavement (following the original gradient of the hill) rises about 1–2 metres above.
Housing estates
* Barnfield EstateSchools
*Ark Greenwich Free School *Christ Church Primary School *Plumcroft Primary School *Shooters Hill Sixth Form College, Shooter's Hill Post 16 Campus, Red Lion LaneEducation
Notable former residents
* Writer Algernon Blackwood was born in Shooter's Hill in 1869.
* English engineer Samuel Brown (engineer), Samuel Brown developed an internal combustion engine that used hydrogen as a fuel and tested it to propel a vehicle (arguably one of the earliest 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 Sixth Form College, 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.
* English actor-comedian-satirist Frankie Howerd was "gently educated at Shooter's Hill" Grammar School, as he recalled his time there.Howerd, Frankie (1976) ''On the Way I Lost It'', W.H. Allen,
* Noted comics writer Steve Moore (comics), 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 musician-songwriter-guitarist Steve Peregrin Took (T.Rex (band), T.Rex, Shagrat (band), Shagrat, Steve Took's Horns) was educated at Shooter's Hill Grammar School on Red Lion Lane (formerly the Woolwich County School).
* British singer-songwriter Boy George (Culture Club) lived in Shooters Hill Road.
Nearest places
*Woolwich
Woolwich () is a district in southeast London, England, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich.
The district's location on the River Thames led to its status as an important naval, military and industrial area; a role that was maintained throu ...
*Eltham
Eltham ( ) is a district of southeast London, England, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich. It is east-southeast of Charing Cross, and is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. The three wards of Elt ...
*East Wickham
*Plumstead
*Welling
*Blackheath, London, 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 includingWoolwich
Woolwich () is a district in southeast London, England, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich.
The district's location on the River Thames led to its status as an important naval, military and industrial area; a role that was maintained throu ...
, Eltham
Eltham ( ) is a district of southeast London, England, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich. It is east-southeast of Charing Cross, and is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. The three wards of Elt ...
, Greenwich, Bexleyheath, Thamesmead, Lewisham and Crystal Palace, London, Crystal Palace. The closest rail links to the area are Welling railway station, Welling and Falconwood railway stations.
References
Further reading
*External links
{{LB Greenwich Districts of the Royal Borough of Greenwich Areas of London Hills of London Geography of the Royal Borough of Greenwich