DA M 
 
 Tzs-Le 
 
 O 
 
 7^ 
 
 UC-NRLF 
 
 B ^ Q7U T41 
 
GIFT or 
 FROF.C.A.K0FOID 
 
c$on5on @ount^ Council". 
 
 OPENING 
 
 TELEGRAPH HILL/HATCHAM, 
 
 Mr. ARTHUR ARNOLD, 
 
 Chairman of the Council, 
 
 ON 
 
 SATURDAY, 6th APRIL, 1895, 
 
 At ;2.3C' p.m. 
 
 JAS. TRVSCOTT AND SOX, PRINTERS, SUFFOLK LANE, E.C . 
 
 [3538 
 
GIFT OB' 
 
 PR0F.C.A.K0F01D 
 
 ■: f iLfSlAFH HIiJL, 
 
Canaan, €mni^ €annnl. 
 
 OPENING OF TELEGRAPH HILL 
 
 BY 
 
 MR. ARTHUR ARNOLD, 
 
 Chairman of the Council, 
 
 On SATURDAY, 6th APRIL, 1895. 
 
 History of acquisition, description of works and 
 liistorical particulars of tine site. Prepared 
 by J. J. Sexby, Cliief Officer, Parks Sub- 
 Department. 
 
 History of acquisition. 
 
 HE movement to secure part of the summit of 
 Telegrapli-hill as a recreation ground started with 
 Mr. Livesey, the managing director of the South 
 Metropolitan Gas Company, who wished to devote 
 to this purpose a sum of money which he had received as a 
 testimonial to the energy and resources by which he had 
 maintained the supply of gas during the severe strike of gas 
 workers. 
 
 Mr. Livesey wrote to the Vestry of St. Paul, Deptford, 
 asking that body to assist him in securing the land in question 
 as a recreation ground, and offering to subscribe £2,000 
 towards that purpose. The Vestry of St. Paul having no 
 power to act in the matter, referred him to the Greenwich 
 District Board of Works, and the latter body warmly took up 
 the offer. It was agreed that a sum of i"2,000 should be 
 voted for this purpose, the charge to fall entirely on the parish 
 of St. Paul, and that application should be made to the 
 London County Council to assist, and to the Haberdashers' 
 Company, who owned the property, to sell it on favourable 
 terms. Where all parties concerned were equally anxious to 
 secure the desired result, all difficulties were soon swept away. 
 The Haberdashers' Company estimated the land at ^£8,000, 
 but agreed to sell it for this special purpose for £0,000, thus 
 practically contributing £2,000, and the County Council voting 
 the remaining £2,000, the whole price was secured. The 
 
 ivii8G;^87 
 
total cost of the land, i68,000, has thus been borne equallj' 
 by four parties, Mr. Livesey, to whose generous initiative the 
 movement owed its rise, the parish of St. Paul, Deptford, as 
 part of the Greenwich District Board of Works, the Haber- 
 dashers' Company and the London County Council. 
 
 Description of works. 
 
 The grounds consist of two detached plots lying on the 
 upper portions of the slope of Telegraph-hill, the larger plot 
 abutting on Pepys-road, and the smaller one being at the 
 actual summit of the hill, the highest point being upwards of 
 160 feet above sea level. Owing to the steep slopes and 
 rough nature of the ground some difficulties were experienced 
 in laying out the land to the best advantage for the use and 
 enjoyment of the public. The larger or northern plot, about 
 6 acres in extent, was simply a rough hillside with a curved 
 grove of trees standing near the centre. A new road 
 (Erlanger-road) was projected on the west side, and the first 
 work required was to form the high embankment which 
 supports this road. This was done, and the eastern slope of 
 the bank was carried out as flatly as possible on the recreation 
 ground side, many thousands of loads of material being 
 required for the work. The result was that it has been 
 possible to form some of the walks with a moderate gradient, 
 and it was also found practicable to construct a small 
 ornamental lake in two sections at different levels, giving 
 considerable diversity of margin. The water is so arranged as 
 to follow on one side nearly the outline of the grove of trees 
 before described, the shade of which is thus secured for the 
 footpath bordering that side of the lake. Another feature of 
 this portion of the ground is the gravel promenade higher up 
 the slope ; in the centre of this in an ornamental bandstand. 
 
 From this plateau a good view of the lake and grounds 
 generally can be obtained. Higher still, near the south- 
 eastern entrance, is the handsome drinking fountain presented 
 by Mr. George Livesey. This plot is intersected by numerous 
 broad paths well drained, with the grass edges protected by 
 light wire fencing. The boundaries of the ground have been 
 amply planted, and detached shrubberies and clumps of trees 
 are provided at suitable points. The general surface has been 
 regulated and made availab^ ; for children's games. The 
 leading idea of the design lias been to adapt and accentuate 
 the natural features of the ground, with only such modifications 
 and additions as were necessary or desirable to give the 
 greatest opportunities of enjoyment to the public. 
 
 The smaller or southern plot, consisting of nearly four acres, 
 was in some respects a simpler case. As before stated, it is 
 
the summit of the hill. A path has been formed around the 
 margin, with good sweeps at the four entrances. The borders 
 between this path and the boundaries have been well planted. 
 The central space or summit has been prepared for children's 
 games, and on this plot of table land it will be possible to 
 play lawn tennis, although, owing to the breezy situation, the 
 game would be carried on as a rule under some difficulties. In 
 a corner of this ground a store shed and a bothy for the 
 workmen have been constructed. A somewhat serious matter 
 in connection with this plot was the northern slope adjoining 
 Kitto-road. This road was cut through the breast of the hill 
 and the surface of the disturbed clay had slipped considerably, 
 one very large gap in particular causing great trouble. By a 
 careful system of drainage it is believed that this difficulty has 
 been permanently overcome. 
 
 Both plots, with the exception of the Erlanger-road frontage, 
 have been enclosed by an ornamental wrought-iron fence fixed 
 upon a wall and stone kerb. 
 
 The laying-out has been carried out by the Parks Sub- 
 Department from the designs of the chief officer. The 
 estimated cost of this portion of the work was <£4,165, and 
 the actual expenditure has been slightly less than that sum. 
 
 The boundary railing, bandstand and other buildings have 
 been executed by the Works department of the Council, from 
 the designs and under the supervision of the architect. The 
 estimated cost of these works is ^3,445. 
 
 Historical notes regarding the site. 
 
 Telegraph-hill owes its present name to the fact that its 
 highest point was formerly one of the stations on the line of 
 semaphores which were used by the Board of Admiralty before 
 the discovery of the electric telegraph. The invention of the 
 system of semaphore telegraphy is usually attributed to 
 Richard Lovell Edgeworth in 1767, although the idea had 
 occurred to several other inventors in other countries. At any 
 rate they were in regular use by the French in 1794, a year 
 before they were introduced into England by Lord George 
 Murray. The credit for the invention is given in France to 
 the brothers Chappe, who in their younger days were sent to 
 different schools a mile and a half apart. As they were not 
 allowed to communicate with one another, they ingeniously 
 set to work and devised a means of signalling by means 
 of pieces of wood exhibited at their respective back windows. 
 In after years they improved upon their simple device, 
 but the ignorance and superstition of the French prevented 
 it being put to any real use. Being fortunate, however, 
 in 1793 in telegraphing the news of a victory from the frontier 
 
to Paris, the utility of the system became at once apparent, 
 and semaphore stations began to be generally established, not 
 only in France, but all over the continent. In Russia, par- 
 ticularly, some millions of pounds were spent in building 
 a line of semaphores from the German frontier right 
 through Warsaw to St. Petersburg. This line was only 
 completed in 1858, and no sooner was it at work than 
 the introduction of the electric telegraph made it quite 
 out of date. The semaphore on Telegraph-hill was on the 
 line between London, Deal and Dover, communication being 
 established in 1795. Telegraphs were placed at Admiralty 
 St. George's-in-the-Fields, Telegraph-hill, Shooter's-hill, and 
 so on down to Deal. The apparatus on the top of each tower 
 consisted at first of six shutters arranged in two frames ; by 
 means of opening and shutting these in various ways, sixty- 
 three distinct signals could be formed. Each station was in 
 the charge of a naval officer, usually a lieutenant, with one or 
 two men under him. The Deal and Plymouth lines fell into 
 disuse soon after the peace of 1815, owing to the cost of 
 maintenance. 
 
 It will be gathered from the fact that the Admiralty chose 
 this as a telegraph station that it must command very exten- 
 sive views. Situated as it was then in the midst of fields, far 
 away from any houses, there was nothing to impede the view 
 into the surrounding counties. Even now, though the terraces 
 of bricks and mortar considerably mar the prospect, the Tower- 
 bridge, St. Paul's and Westminster Abbey can be distinctly 
 seen, and on a fine day Alexandra Palace is visible. The 
 finest view is towards the south in the direction of Sevenoaks, 
 the most prominent feature being the well-known clump of 
 trees called Knockholt beeches. 
 
 The growth of this neighbourhaod has been very rapid. 
 The ordnance map of 1873 is a perfect blank as far as houses 
 are concerned, the district being shown as a series of fields. 
 Some of the finest nursery grounds and market gardens in the 
 south of London were situated here. When the school ad- 
 joining the ground was opened in 1875 there was not a paved 
 road or a house within some hundreds of yards of it, and the 
 party of the Haberdashers' Company at the opening ceremony 
 had to dismount from their carriages and walk along planks 
 placed across the mud, which was too deep for the carriages to 
 traverse. This development has, of course, added considerably 
 to the value. At the time of the purchase of the manor by 
 the Haberdashers' Company, it was assessed for land tax at a 
 little over £100, now it must be worth a fabulous amount. 
 
 Before the telegraph station here gave it its present name, 
 this hill was formerly known as Plowd-Garlic-hill. The 
 
derivation of this name is involved in some obscurity.' One 
 explanation is that a member of the Garlic family, of whom 
 there are still some representatives in Deptford, may have held 
 the land as a farm, and given his name to it. 
 
 Telegraph-hill is in the county of Surrey, although it has in 
 past years been considered as part of Kent. Philipot (1796) 
 in his " Villare Cantianum," speaking of the manor of 
 Hatcham, says : ** The manor was formerly considered as part 
 of the county of Kent, and its appropriation to either county 
 became a matter of contest until the year 1636, when it was 
 decided judicially to be subject to assessments as belonging to 
 Surrey. This determination was made on the petition of 
 Mr. Kandolph Crew, a London merchant, probably lessee of 
 the manor, who, on a levy of ship money, was taxed for his 
 property here by the assessors of both counties. He did not 
 (like Hampden) question the legality of the tax, but merely 
 objected to the hardship of being compelled to make a double 
 payment, and petitioned the Lords of the Council for redress; 
 when being referred to the Judges of Assize for Kent and 
 Surrey, they, after inquisition and examination of witnesses, 
 on the 31st of May, 1636, certified the lords that the 
 petitioner's manor of Hatcham lies in Surrey and not in 
 Kent. The certificate was signed by Francis Crawley, justice 
 of the common pleas, and Richard Weston, baron of the 
 exchequer."* 
 
 The manor of Hatcham-Bavant or Hatcham-Barnes, in 
 which the recreation-ground is situated, is an offshoot of the 
 manor of Hatcham. This parent manor was, at the time of 
 the Doomsday survey, in the hands of the Bishop of Lisieux. 
 The entry runs as follows — "In Brixton Hundred, the Bishop 
 of Lisieux holds of the Bishop of Bayeux Hachesham, which 
 Brixi held of King Edward. It was then assessed at three 
 hides as it is now, the arable land amounts to three caracutes. 
 There are nine villanes and three bordars with three caracutes, 
 and there are six acres of meadow; the wood yields three 
 swine ; from the time of King Edward (the Confessor) it has 
 been valued at forty shillings." From the description given 
 in this entry, together with the old Saxon name of Deptford- 
 Meretone, i.e., the town in the marshes, we can easily gather 
 that in early times this district must have consisted of well- 
 wooded marsh land. Owing to its proximity to the Thames, 
 it must have been covered with swamps and creeks. Traces 
 of Roman occupation have been discovered from time to time. 
 In 1735, so Hasted, the Kentish historian, informs us, there 
 were unearthed in a garden near the road at New-cross a 
 
 * Quoted in Dew's History of Deptford. 
 
6 
 
 simpulum (sacrificial cup), two urns, and five or six of those 
 viols usually called lachrymatories. In Henry II. 's time 
 Hatcham gave name to a family, one of whom, Gilbert de 
 Hatchesham, accounted for four knights' fees of the Barony of 
 Wakelin Mamignot. In the reign of Richard I., two knights' 
 fees in Hatcham and Camberwell were held of the Earl of 
 Hereford by William de Say (from whom Sayes Court is 
 named) and the heirs of Richard de Vabadun. Roger de 
 Bavant, who had married the daughter and heiress of 
 de Vabadun, owned the manor in the time of Henry III., and 
 accounted for two knights' fees of the above-mentioned barony. 
 The tithes of Hatcham were given to the monks of Ber- 
 mondsey in 1173, and in 1274 a composition was made 
 between the Prior of Bermondseye and the Abbot of Begham 
 concerning the tithes of Hacchesham, in the parish of West 
 Greenwich, let to the said abbot for 13s. 4d. per annum. To 
 pass on now to 1285 we find that Adam de Bavant, son of 
 Roger, had free warren for his lands here, but he alienated a 
 portion of the estate directly afterwards to Gregory de 
 Rokesley, citizen of London, formerly Lord Mayor. In the 
 same year he obtained a faculty from the abbot and convent 
 of Begham for his oratory, which he had built for the use of 
 himself and family here at Hechesan, in their parish of West 
 Greenwiche, saving to themselves all oblations and other 
 rights. The portion retained by Adam de Bavant, with which 
 we are more immediately concerned, was distinguished from 
 the remainder by the name of Hatcham-Barnes. It was 
 afterwards conveyed together with other properties by 
 Roger de Bavant to King Edward III., and he, by letters 
 patent dated July 20th, 1371, granted the manor to the 
 Prioress and Convent of Dartford, which he had founded. It 
 remained in their hands till Henry VIII. confiscated the 
 property of all the monasteries, and it was held by the Crown 
 till the time of Philip and Mary. Ann, widow of George 
 Seymour, Duke of Somerset, then had a life interest in the 
 manor assigned to her. On its reverting again to the Crown, 
 James I. in 1610 granted it, together with other lands 
 formerly belonging to the Convent of Dartford, to George 
 Salter and John Williams. They sold the estate to Peter 
 Vanlore, and he in turn to a person named Brookes, who 
 conveyed it to Sir John Gerrard and Sir Thomas Lowe, 
 Aldermen of London, Robert Offley and Martin Bond, citizens 
 of London and haberdashers, for a consideration amounting to 
 j£9,000. These funds had been bequeathed by a Mr. William 
 Jones, a native of Newland, near Monmouth, to be held by 
 the Haberdashers' Company in trust for founding and support- 
 ing an almshouse and free grammar school at Monmouth. 
 
This William Jones is described as a pedlar or travelling 
 haberdasher, and, as was then the custom, he was a member 
 of the Company of Haberdashers, formerly called mercers or 
 merchants. Having become rich, he left his wealth like 
 many others of his class for the improvement of the condition 
 of his less fortunate brethren, and for the education of children 
 of future generations. The manor house was advertised to be 
 let in February, 1775, and was described then as being 
 surrounded by a moat well stocked with fish. Hatcham 
 House, as it was called, with its moat and park has long since 
 disappeared, the site being covered with rows of cottages, 
 although it has given its name to the locality known as 
 Hatcham-park. 
 
 The space between the southern plot and Pepys-road is 
 occupied by the Church of St. Catherine's, Hatcham, which 
 has just been built from the designs of Mr. Henry Stock, 
 A.R.I.B.A. (of the firm of Stock, Page and Stock), and 
 consecrated on lOth October, 1894, by the Bishop of Rochester. 
 It is another standing memorial to the liberality of the 
 Haberdashers' Company, the patrons of the living, who built 
 and endowed it at a cost of over £22,000. It is cruciform 
 in shape, constructed of Kentish rag stone, and accommodates 
 900 people. The total internal length is 127 feet 6 inches, 
 with a maximum breadth of 57 feet 6 inches. The five-aisled 
 arrangement of the transept is a special feature of the interior, 
 which gives an appearance of great size, and keeps the 
 perspective of the aisles unbroken. The pulpit and reredos 
 are of stone, and are enriched with mosaics depicting scripture 
 scenes. When the tower and spire are added, the church, 
 owing to its elevated site, will be a conspicuous landmark for 
 miles around. The vicar is the Rev. Howard J. H. Truscott. 
 
 The adjoining Aske's schools, on the opposite side of 
 Pepys-road, built by the Haberdashers' Company in 1875, 
 have served the purpose for which they were placed in the 
 middle of an estate ready for development. They were 
 founded under a scheme of the Charity Commissioners dated 
 1873, utilising funds bequeathed in 1688 by Robert Aske, 
 citizen and haberdasher, for tbe maintenance of almshouses 
 and the education of twenty boys, sons or grandsons of free- 
 men. This Robert Aske, who lived towards the end of the 
 seventeenth century, was a grandson of the celebrated Robert 
 Aske, of the old Yorkshire family, who headed the insur- 
 rection — known in history as the Pilgrimage of Grace, 1536 — 
 against Henry VIII. 's arbitrary policy in church matters, and 
 especially the dissolution of the smaller monasteries. The 
 name Aske is another form of Ash, and refers to the strong, 
 straight and useful ash tree. The amount of the bequest 
 
8 
 
 realised se20,000, and it was the subject of a special Act of 
 Parliament, 20th December, 1690. The trustees — the Haber- 
 dashers' Company — expended this money in the purchase of 
 21 acres in Hoxton, and other lands near Ashford, in Kent. 
 The total amount held reaches nearly 2,000 acres, but whereas 
 the value of the Hoxton lands has increased enormously 
 during the 200 years they have been in the Company's 
 possession, the depression in agriculture has seriously lessened 
 the income of the Kentish land. The four acres of land on 
 which the school buildings stand were purchased in 1873 for 
 £3,200 from Jones' Charity, by consent of the Charity Com- 
 missioners. The schools were opened in 1875, one for boys 
 to accommodate 300, the other for 200 girls. This accommo- 
 dation proved insufficient, as the schools filled, and a new 
 school was built for 400 girls at the bottom of Jerningham- 
 road, and opened in January, 1891. The building up to that 
 time occupied by the girls was then handed over to the boys 
 school. There are at present about 350 boys and 300 girls in 
 the schools. 
 
 I must gratefully acknowledge the assistance I have received 
 in the preparation of these notes from Mr. W. J. Spratling, 
 B.Sc, F.G.S., F.C.P., &c., head master of St. Peter's College, 
 Brockley, formerly for more than fifteen years head master of 
 Aske's schools ; also to Mr. Alfred Barker, M.A., B.Sc, the 
 present head master ; and to Mr. J. W. G-. Godfrey for the 
 particulars relating to St. Catherine's Church. 
 
 Jno. J. Sexby, 
 
 Chief Officer, 
 

 THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY 
 
 U. C BERKELEY LIBRARIES 
 
 CDSimSBlM