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Leith Hill

Coordinates:51°10′33″N0°22′11″W/ 51.17583°N 0.36972°W/51.17583; -0.36972
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Leith Hill
Highest point
Elevation294 m (965 ft)
Prominence249 m (817 ft)
ListingMarilyn,[1]Hardy,County Top
Coordinates51°10′33″N0°22′11″W/ 51.17583°N 0.36972°W/51.17583; -0.36972
Geography
Leith Hill is located in Surrey
Leith Hill
Leith Hill
Leith Hill inSurrey
LocationSurrey,England
Parent rangeGreensand Ridge
OS gridTQ139431
Topo mapOSLandranger187

Leith Hillin southern England is the highest summit of theGreensand Ridge,[2]approximately 6.7 km (4 mi) southwest ofDorking,Surreyand 40.5 km (30 mi) southwest ofcentral London.It reaches 294 m (965 ft)above sea level,[3]and is the second highest point insoutheast England,afterWalbury Hillin southwestBerkshire,(which is 297 m (974 ft) high).[1]Leith Hill is the highest ground for 79 km (49 mi).

Four areas of woodland surrounding the hill comprise the 337.9-hectare (835-acre)Leith Hill Site of Special Scientific Interest,although the summit is excluded from this designation.[4]

The nearest railway station isHolmwood station,3.6 km (2 mi) to the east, served bySoutherntrains toLondon Victoria.[5]

Leith Hill Tower[edit]

The tower on the top of Leith Hill

On the summit of Leith Hill is an 18th-century Gothic tower. In 1764–65 Richard Hull of nearbyLeith Hill Placebuilt "Prospect House", later to become known as Leith Hill Tower,[6]with the intention of raising the hill above 1,000 ft (305 m) above sea level. A tower built contemporaneously at the summit ofBredon Hillachieves a similar purpose.

Leith Hill Tower is 19.5 metres (64 ft) high and consisted of two rooms "neatly furnished", with aLatininscription above the door announcing that it had been built not only for his own pleasure, but also for the enjoyment of others. Hull provided visitors with prospect glasses, similar to a smalltelescope,through which to survey the extensive views towards London and theEnglish Channel,each some 25 miles (40 km) away.

When Hull died in 1772, at his request he was buried under the tower.[6]Following his death, the building was stripped of its contents, doors and windows, and fell into ruin. As a result, the tower was filled with rubble and concrete, and the entrance bricked up.

In 1864,William John Evelynof nearbyWotton Housedecided to reopen it, but the concrete made this difficult, and so the additional turreted side-tower was added to allow access to the top of the tower.[6]

At the top of the tower there is a viewpoint indicator to commemorateWalker Miles,whose work in the early days of the Rambler's movement contributed to the formation of TheRamblersof Great Britain. It has been claimed that on a clear day, 13 counties can be seen from the top of Leith Hill Tower.[7]

The tower was fully restored by theNational Trustin 1984. This restoration included the removal of rubble and concrete, fitting safety features such as a handrail in the narrow staircase, and converting the lower portion of the tower into a servery. Following restoration, the mobile phone operator Cellnet installed a first-generation transmitter station (Base site) into one of the tower rooms, feeding single vertical antennas on the tower roof dressed to look like flag poles. Leith Hill Tower is open to the public every day from 10:00 am until 3:00 pm on weekdays and 9:00 am to 5:00 pm on weekends, every day of the year exceptChristmas Day,with a comprehensive display explaining the history of the tower.

History[edit]

Mesolithicand/orNeolithicflint tools, found close to the summit of Leith Hill[8]

Leith Hill was owned by the Evelyn family of Wotton House from the 17th to the early 20th centuries.[9]On the death of Lt. John Evelyn in 1922,[note 1]the executors of his will were required to raise money to paydeath dutiesand they therefore offered the Tower and the surrounding five acres of Leith Hill for sale. After a campaign, organised in part by theCommons and Footpath Preservation Society,the land was bought by Wilfred James MacAndrew (a resident of Reigate and former co-owner of the shipping company MacAndrew & Co)[note 2]and donated to the National Trust.[9][11]

Leith Hill Place[edit]

Leith Hill Place, childhood home of the composerRalph Vaughan Williams.

Originally a gabled house dating from about 1600, Leith Hill Place (51°10′09″N0°22′47″W/ 51.1692957°N 0.3798451°W/51.1692957; -0.3798451) was completely refaced in aPalladianstyle about 1760 by Richard Hull.[12]It was bought in 1847 byJosiah Wedgwood III[13]and remained in the family until his grandson, the composerRalph Vaughan Williams,who had been brought up there and eventually inherited it from his brother, immediately gave it to theNational Truston his brother's death in 1944. Subsequently, it was leased from the Trust by his cousinsSir Ralph Wedgwoodand thenSir John Wedgwood,later becoming a boarding house for a nearby sixth form college,Hurtwood House.

The house was opened to the public by the National Trust in 2013 and now serves as a memorial to Ralph Vaughan Williams.[14]Josiah Wedgwood'swidow,born Caroline Darwin, created arhododendronwood there, now open to the public.[15]

Geology[edit]

Simplified geological cross section of the western Weald, showing how the land was uplifted to form theWeald-Artois anticline(dashed lines) and the strata as they are today (solid lines).

Like the other summits of theGreensand Ridgein the south of Surrey, the rock of which Leith Hill is composed, is primarily the Lower Greensand, overlaid with a harder layer ofchert.[16]The greensand was deposited in theearly Cretaceous,most likely in ashallow sea with low oxygen levels.Over the subsequent 50 million years, other strata were deposited on top of the Lower Greensand, includingGault clayand thechalkof the North and South Downs.[2]

Following theCretaceous,the sea covering the south of England began to retreat and the land was pushed higher. The Weald (the area covering modern-day south Surrey, south Kent, north Sussex and east Hampshire) was lifted bythe same geological processes that created the Alps,resulting in ananticlinewhich stretched across theEnglish Channelto theArtois regionof northern France. Initially an island, thisdome-like structurewas drained by the ancestors of the rivers which today cut through the North and South Downs (including theMole,WeyandArun).[note 3]The dome was eroded away over the course of theCenozoic,exposing the strata beneath and resulting in theescarpmentsof the Downs and the Greensand Ridge.[2]

Search for oil[edit]

A site on an ancient lane going up the hill was originally chosen by an oil company for exploratory drilling, however due to an active protest campaign and various legal objections raised by local groups and environmentalists, the lease on the land from theForestry Commissionexpired before the drilling could start. The Minister for Environment subsequently decided not to renew the lease due to concerns of the effect it would have on nearby ancient woodland. The oil company has since stated it intends to find a new site from which to explore the same prospect. Locals have stated that they will continue to oppose this.[17]

Geodesy[edit]

Leith Hill Tower was the origin (meridian) of the 6 inch and 1:2500 Ordnance Survey maps of Surrey.[18]

References[edit]

  1. ^abDawson, Alan (1992). "The Marilyns by Height".The Relative Hills of Britain.Milnthorpe, Cumbria, England: Cicerone Press.ISBN1-85284-068-4.Archived fromthe originalon 22 August 2010.Dawson draws his information from various editions ofOrdnance Surveymaps, but he does not specify which.
  2. ^abcGallois, RW; Edmunds, MA (1965).The Wealden District.British Geological Survey.ISBN0-11-884078-9.
  3. ^Bench marks km square TQ1343Archived25 July 2011 at theWayback Machine:The exact height of the benchmark on the tower, surveyed in 1972, is 293.8730 metres AMSL. The cut mark is 0.5 m off the ground, hence a height of 293.4 m. On the 1:50000 ordnance map this isroundedto 294 m.Dorking, Reigate and Crawley area(Map) (10GSGS ed.). 1:50000. Landranger 187. Ordnance Survey. 1991.ISBN0-319-22187-3.
  4. ^"Designated Sites View: Leith Hill".Sites of Special Scientific Interest. Natural England.Archivedfrom the original on 9 November 2018.Retrieved9 November2018.
  5. ^Bathurst, David (2012).Walking the county high points of England.Chichester: Summersdale. pp. 132–137.ISBN978-1-84-953239-6.
  6. ^abcHistoric England."Leith Hill Tower (1028808)".National Heritage List for England.
  7. ^surreyhills.orgArchived14 February 2012 at theWayback Machine
  8. ^Broomfield, Margaret (9 April 2014) [30 March 2014]."Lithic implement".The Portable Antiquities Scheme.Retrieved17 August2022.
  9. ^abcGrieves K (2008). "Leith Hill, Surrey: Landscape, Locality and Nation in the Era of the Great War".Landscapes.9(2): 45–69.doi:10.1179/lan.2008.9.2.45.S2CID145689873.
  10. ^"Lieutenant John Harcourt Chichester EVELYN. Princess Louise's (Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders)".The National Archives. 1914–1919.Archivedfrom the original on 23 January 2021.Retrieved28 July2020.
  11. ^Bailey J (23 March 1923). "Leith Hill: Tower and five acres purchased".The Times.No. 43297. London. p. 13.
  12. ^Ian Nairn and Nikolaus Pevsner, Buildings of England - Surrey, Penguin, 1962
  13. ^Historic England."Leith Hill Place (1028801)".National Heritage List for England.
  14. ^Leith Hill PlaceArchived20 March 2014 at theWayback Machine,accessed 18 October 2015
  15. ^"gardenvisit.com".Archivedfrom the original on 19 July 2012.Retrieved18 November2012.
  16. ^Bennison, GM; Wright, AE (1969).The geological history of the British Isles.London: Edward Arnold. p. 321.
  17. ^"Oil firm withdraws test drilling plans".BBC News.4 September 2018.Archivedfrom the original on 5 September 2018.Retrieved5 September2018.
  18. ^"Archived copy"(PDF).Archived(PDF)from the original on 26 October 2016.Retrieved27 February2016.{{cite web}}:CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)

Notes[edit]

  1. ^John H. C. Evelyn served as a lieutenant in theArgyll and Sutherland Highlanders(a British Armyline infantryregiment) duringWorld War I.[10]He was badly injured at the Western Front and his leg was amputated in October 1918. He died on 2 January 1922.[9]
  2. ^The MacAndrew family sold their stake in the business in June 1917. The company survives to this day as part of the French container transportation firmCMA CGM.
  3. ^Leith Hill forms thewatershedbetween the Mole (to the north east), the Wey (to the north west), and the Arun (to the south).

External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related toLeith Hill.
Wikivoyage has a travel guide forLeith Hill.
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