Telegraph Hill, Lewisham
Encyclopedia
Wards of the United Kingdom
A ward in the United Kingdom is an electoral district at sub-national level represented by one or more councillors. It is the primary unit of British administrative and electoral geography .-England:...
just south of New Cross
New Cross
New Cross is a district and ward of the London Borough of Lewisham, England. It is situated 4 miles south-east of Charing Cross. The ward covered by London post town and the SE 14 postcode district. New Cross is near St Johns, Telegraph Hill, Nunhead, Peckham, Brockley, Deptford and Greenwich...
in the London Borough of Lewisham
London Borough of Lewisham
The London Borough of Lewisham is a London borough in south-east London, England and forms part of Inner London. The principal settlement of the borough is Lewisham...
in southeast London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, England.
The hill rises to around 30 metres. It was formerly known as Plowed Garlic Hill. It gained its current name from a semaphore telegraph station which was constructed on the summit of the hill circa 1795. The signalling station was one of the points from which news of Wellington's victory at Waterloo was flashed to London. It was removed in 1823.
The poet Robert Browning
Robert Browning
Robert Browning was an English poet and playwright whose mastery of dramatic verse, especially dramatic monologues, made him one of the foremost Victorian poets.-Early years:...
at one time lived at the foot of Telegraph Hill, in a cottage which he wrote looked like a 'goose pie'.
The hill was for many years covered by market gardens owned by the Worshipful Company of Haberdashers
Worshipful Company of Haberdashers
The Worshipful Company of Haberdashers is one of the senior Livery Companies of the City of London. The organisation, following on from the Mercers' Company, another Livery Company connected with clothing and haberdashery, received a Royal Charter in 1448...
, one of the ancient livery companies of London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. In the late 19th century the Haberdashers decided to develop the hill for housing. The company had already built terraced housing on its land nearer New Cross Road when it commissioned a study of the development potential of Telegraph Hill in 1859. The surveyor recommended 'the erection of dwelling houses of a high standard' on wide tree-lined streets.
Most construction took place around 1871. The villas are distinctive in style and as a result of this architectural unity, Telegraph Hill is now a conservation area.
The company added Haberdashers' Aske's School for boys and girls (named after one of its members Robert Aske, and now Haberdashers' Aske's Hatcham College
Haberdashers' Aske's Hatcham College
Haberdashers' Aske's Hatcham College is an Academy secondary school located. in New Cross. The school was formerly a Grammar school, then a comprehensive City Technology College and now an Academy operating between two sites near New Cross Gate in South-East London...
) in 1875, a separate Haberdashers' Aske's girls' school in 1891 and St Catherine's Church in 1894.
In the 1895 the London County Council opened Telegraph Hill Park to the public.
An active local residents' group called the Telegraph Hill Society campaigns for improvements to the area. Its latest effort led to the restoration of the Victorian
Victorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
park at the top of the hill. The refurbished park was reopened in Summer 2005. The park is in two halves on either side of Kitto Road; the upper park contains tennis courts which apparently occupy the site of the telegraph station which gave the hill its name. The lower park contains ponds and children's playgrounds. A farmers' market is held in the lower park on the third Saturday of each month.
A large number of artists have studios on the hill, and participate in Telegraph Hill Festival which is held each year in March. In 2009 Bold Vision was established as a social enterprise with the aim of strengthening community in the area. Its first project was building the Hill Station - a cafe, community gathering point, learning centre and performance / exhibition space between the parks in the undercroft of Telegraph Hill Centre. Bold Vision's other projects include Common Growth, a food growing project; annual community Pantomime
Pantomime
Pantomime — not to be confused with a mime artist, a theatrical performer of mime—is a musical-comedy theatrical production traditionally found in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Jamaica, South Africa, India, Ireland, Gibraltar and Malta, and is mostly performed during the...
; annual Big Lunch, a community street party
Street party
A street party can mean any type of social event taking place on a road.In Britain, these have historically been held to commemorate momentous events, such as VE Day or the Queen's Silver Jubilee, with "bunting, trestle tables covered with sandwiches and cakes, and children playing in the street"...
; talks on current affairs to enable local people to exchange thoughts and ideas.
Schools and Colleges
Telegraph Hill is home to the highly popular Haberdashers' Aske's Hatcham CollegeHaberdashers' Aske's Hatcham College
Haberdashers' Aske's Hatcham College is an Academy secondary school located. in New Cross. The school was formerly a Grammar school, then a comprehensive City Technology College and now an Academy operating between two sites near New Cross Gate in South-East London...
, which is the most over-subscribed state school in the country. The hill's other secondary school, Telegraph Hill School, closed in 2003. A campaign by local parents failed to persuade the council to establish a new secondary school on the site. Instead, a sixth form
Sixth form
In the education systems of England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, and of Commonwealth West Indian countries such as Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Belize, Jamaica and Malta, the sixth form is the final two years of secondary education, where students, usually sixteen to eighteen years of age,...
centre called Crossways Sixth Form was built on the site, and opened in 2004. Telegraph Hill also has a primary school: the Edmund Waller Primary School, in Waller Road.
Politics
Telegraph Hill ward is one of 18 council wards that make up the LewishamLewisham
Lewisham is a district in South London, England, located in the London Borough of Lewisham. It is situated south-east of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London.-History:...
borough council. Local council elections in the ward have recently been dominated by concerns about traffic calming schemes and the perceived need for a new secondary school, and the voters have a history of supporting candidates from smaller parties. In 2002 this resulted in the election of a candidate for a local party called LEAP (Local Education Action by Parents).
In the 2006 Borough Council elections, Telegraph Hill voters elected Robin Cross, Ian G. Page and Christopher Flood. Robin Cross ran for the Labour Party
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
, but retired from the council in 2010 to spend more time on his work in international development - he is the Director of Projects for the international development and disaster relief charity "Article 25" (registered Charity No 1112621). Ian Page and Chris Flood both ran for the Socialist Alternative, the name used in elections by the Trotskyist Socialist Party
Socialist Party (England and Wales)
The Socialist Party is a Trotskyist party active in England and Wales.It publishes the weekly newspaper The Socialist and the monthly magazine Socialism Today...
; they were two of only five borough councillors for the party in the country.. In the 2006 elections, Telegraph Hill was, among a total of 624 London wards, the one with the largest share of votes (50.6%) going to parties to the left of the three mainstream parties (Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrat).
In the 2010 elections for the Borough Council, the three councillors elected were Paul Bell, Joan Millbank and Dan Whittle, all standing for the Labour Party
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
. All three are new members of the Council.
| Elections for the Lewisham Borough Council, Results for the Telegraph Hill ward | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| %age 2002 | votes 2006 | %age 2006 | votes 2010 | %age 2010 | |
| TURNOUT | 26.8% | 34.0% | 62.3% | ||
| Candidates for the Labour Party | 24.7% | 2682 | 32.8% | 7827 | 42.6% |
| Candidates for the Socialist Alternative | 25.2% | 2868 | 35.0% | 3455 | 18.8% |
| Candidates for the Liberal Democrats | 9.7% | 753 | 9.2% | 2644 | 14.4% |
| Candidates for the Green Party | 11.5% | 1280 | 15.6% | 2633 | 14.3% |
| Candidates for the Conservative Party | 4.2% | 605 | 7.4% | 1807 | 9.8% |
| Candidates for Local Education Action by Parents (LEAP) | 24.7% | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
Demography
According to the 2001 census, 10,200 (71.0%) of the residents were born in the United Kingdom. 700 residents (or 4.9%) were born in Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
, and 489 (or 3.4%) in Nigeria
Nigeria
Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...
; other countries of birth constituted smaller shares of the population. 58.1% of the population were white; 32.2% black or black British; 2.4% Asian or Asian British; 2.6% Chinese or belonging to another ethnic group; and 4.7% mixed.
The census identified 10.0% of residents aged 16–74 as being in higher professional or higher managerial occupations; a further 24.0% were in "lower managerial and professional occupations"; 11.7% of residents were full-time students; and 7.6% had never worked or were long-term unemployed. In comparison to overall numbers for London and England, there is a high proportion of non-pensioner one-person households (25.1%) and lone parent households with dependent children (11.8%).