This is a list of the highest natural points within the 1,569 km2 (606 sq mi) area of Greater London, England. The list includes all 21 peaks at least 100 metres high.
One is an isolated hill, at Harrow on the Hill – the other 20 summits are clustered on six ridges (escarpments) in London, four of which extend beyond London and are named: Blackheath Ridge, one of the North Weald Ridges, the North Downs ridge and the Grim's Ditch ridge.
The highest point of land, the 245 m (804 ft) Westerham Heights, was also higher than any man-made structure in London until 2012, when the 309 m (1,014 ft) tall Shard London Bridge was completed.
Rank | Name | London borough | OS grid reference | Height [1] |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Westerham Heights | Bromley | TQ436564 ( 51°17′17″N0°03′36″E / 51.288°N 0.060°E ) | 245 metres (804 ft) [1] |
2 | Sanderstead Plantation | Croydon | TQ343618 ( 51°20′20″N0°04′19″W / 51.339°N 0.072°W ) | 175 metres (574 ft) [1] |
3 | Stanmore Hill | Harrow | TQ164934 ( 51°37′37″N0°19′05″W / 51.627°N 0.318°W ) | 152 metres (499 ft) [1] |
4 | Big Wood peak north of Manor Hill/Corrigan Avenue Rec. Ground | Sutton | TQ282598 ( 51°19′19″N0°09′36″W / 51.322°N 0.160°W ) | 150 metres (492 ft) [1] |
5 | Arkley | Barnet | TQ219956 ( 51°38′42″N0°14′17″W / 51.645°N 0.238°W ) | 147 metres (482 ft) [1] |
6 | Highwood Hill/Moat Mount, Totteridge Fields | Barnet | TQ218941 ( 51°37′55″N0°14′24″W / 51.632°N 0.240°W ) | 145 metres (476 ft) [1] |
7 | Harrow Weald Common | Harrow | TQ149931 ( 51°37′26″N0°20′24″W / 51.624°N 0.340°W ) | 145 metres (475 ft) [2] |
8 | Hampstead Heath: West of Spaniards Road ‡ | Camden | TQ264869 ( 51°34′01″N0°10′37″W / 51.567°N 0.177°W ) | 137 metres (449 ft) [1] |
9 | Highgate: Gatehouse, North Road to Hillcrest, off the top of North Hill | Haringey | TQ282878 ( 51°34′26″N0°09′00″W / 51.574°N 0.150°W ) | 136 metres (446 ft) [3] [4] |
10 | Shooter's Hill | Greenwich | TQ438765 ( 51°28′08″N0°04′16″E / 51.469°N 0.071°E ) | 132 metres (433 ft) [1] |
11 | Pinner Hill | Harrow / Hillingdon | TQ107916 ( 51°36′43″N0°24′04″W / 51.612°N 0.401°W ) | 126 metres (413 ft) [5] |
12 | London part of Woodcock Hill north of Scratchwood | Barnet | TQ201953 ( 51°38′35″N0°15′50″W / 51.643°N 0.264°W ) | 125 metres (410 ft) [ citation needed ] |
13 | Harrow on the Hill (occ. Harrow Hill) | Harrow | TQ153874 ( 51°34′23″N0°20′10″W / 51.573°N 0.336°W ) | 124 metres (408 ft) [2] |
14 | Bournwell Hill | Barnet / Enfield | TQ256976 ( 51°39′47″N0°11′02″W / 51.663°N 0.184°W ) | 115 metres (377 ft) [1] |
15 | Sydenham Hill (Crystal Palace) | Lewisham / Southwark | TQ340721 ( 51°25′55″N0°04′19″W / 51.432°N 0.072°W ) | 112 metres (367 ft) [1] |
16 | Westow Hill (Crystal Palace) | Bromley / Croydon / Lambeth | TQ337707 ( 51°25′08″N0°04′37″W / 51.419°N 0.077°W ) | 110 metres (361 ft) [1] |
17 | Forest Hill | Lewisham | TQ350735 ( 51°26′46″N0°03′47″W / 51.446°N 0.063°W ) | 106 metres (348 ft) [6] |
18 | Orange Tree Hill, Havering-atte-Bower | Havering | TQ512930 ( 51°36′54″N0°11′02″E / 51.615°N 0.184°E ) | 105 metres (344 ft) [1] |
19 | Muswell Hill | Haringey | TQ283896 ( 51°35′24″N0°08′53″W / 51.590°N 0.148°W ) | 105 metres (344 ft) [7] [8] |
20 | Woodcock Hill, Harefield | Hillingdon | TQ067915 ( 51°36′43″N0°27′32″W / 51.612°N 0.459°W ) | 103 metres (338 ft) [ citation needed ] [9] |
21 | Ferny Hill (Enfield Chase) | Enfield | TQ280979 ( 51°39′54″N0°08′56″W / 51.665°N 0.149°W ) | 102 metres (334 ft) [ citation needed ] [10] |
‡ this summit in Hampstead Heath is the highest point in Inner London and was the highest point of the former County of London.
Grouped by London Borough, South Street, a hamlet in Bromley, is the highest at 220 metres (722 ft) above sea level. It is at the edge of the Surrey Hills AONB which covers the Surrey part of the North Downs and Greensand Ridge. The six next highest are all near-neighbours: Horns Green (216 metres (709 ft)), Berry's Green and Biggin Hill (both reaching 190 metres (623 ft)), Aperfield and Single Street (both 180 metres (591 ft)), and Luxted at 177 metres (581 ft).
Outside Bromley the highest settlements are Sanderstead and Selsdon (reaching 170 metres (558 ft) and five metres below that, respectively) in Croydon.
Arkley in Barnet is built up to 147 metres (482 ft). Lower neighbours are Monken Hadley and Chipping Barnet, both 131 metres (430 ft), and Barnet Gate 129 metres (423 ft).
The Vale of Health is a micro-locality in Hampstead Heath in Camden at (130 metres (427 ft). Harrow on the Hill in Harrow (124 metres (407 ft)) and Shooters Hill in Greenwich (120 metres (394 ft)) also have high positions.
Some have peaks or crests (in the table above) in their definitively built-up area (e.g. Sanderstead, Harrow on the Hill and Shooters Hill). Other settlements with a high central or near-centre elevation (over 100 metres (328 ft)) include Upper Sydenham, Upper Norwood, Chislehurst, Highgate, Muswell Hill, Hampstead, Harefield, Northwood, Mill Hill, Whetstone, Stanmore, Carshalton, Coombe, New Addington and Purley.
The North Downs are a ridge of chalk hills in south east England that stretch from Farnham in Surrey to the White Cliffs of Dover in Kent. Much of the North Downs comprises two Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs): the Surrey Hills and the Kent Downs. The North Downs Way National Trail runs along the North Downs from Farnham to Dover.
Leith Hill in southern England is the highest summit of the Greensand Ridge, approximately 6.7 km (4 mi) southwest of Dorking, Surrey and 40.5 km (30 mi) southwest of central London. It reaches 294 m (965 ft) above sea level, and is the second highest point in southeast England, after Walbury Hill in southwest Berkshire,. Leith Hill is the highest ground for 79 km (49 mi).
The Kent Downs is an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) in Kent, England. They are the eastern half of the North Downs and stretch from the London/Surrey borders to the White Cliffs of Dover, including a small section of the London Borough of Bromley. The AONB also includes the Greensand Ridge, a prominent sandstone escarpment which lies south of the chalk escarpment of the North Downs.
Sanderstead is a village and medieval-founded church parish at the southern end of Croydon in south London, England, within the London Borough of Croydon, and formerly in the historic county of Surrey, until 1965. It takes in Purley Downs and Sanderstead Plantation, an area of woodland that includes the second-highest point in London. Sanderstead sits above a dry valley at the edge of the built-up area of Greater London. Cementing its secular identity from the late 19th century until abolition in 1965 it had a civil parish council. The community had a smaller farming-centred economy until the mid 19th century.
Childs Hill is one of two areas at the south end of the London Borough of Barnet along with Cricklewood which straddles three boroughs. It took its name from Richard le Child, who in 1312 held a customary house and "30 acres" of its area. It is a mainly late-19th-century suburban large neighbourhood centred 5 miles (8 km) northwest of Charing Cross bordered by the arterial road Hendon Way in the west and south-west, Dunstan Road in the north, West Heath and Golders Hill Park which form an arm of Hampstead Heath to the east and the borough boundary as to the short south-east border.
London is the largest urban area and capital city of the United Kingdom. It is located in the southeast of Great Britain. The London region covers an area of 1,579 square kilometres (610 sq mi), and had a population of 7,172,036 in 2001 and a population density of 4,542 people per square kilometre. A larger area, referred to as the London Metropolitan Region or the London Metropolitan Agglomeration covers an area of 8,382 square kilometres (3,236 sq mi), and had a population of 12,653,500 and a population density of 1,510 people per square kilometre.
The River Ash is a small, shallow river in Surrey, England. Its course of 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) is just outside Greater London. Work has been carried out to re-align, clear, build up a small, Littleton head of water and create two backwaters. One backwater dates to the medieval period; the other to the 1990s decade. It flows as one of the six distributaries of the River Colne from the south of Staines Moor immediately south of the Staines Bypass eastwards through the rest of the borough of Spelthorne before meeting the River Thames.
The London League was a football competition that was held in the London and surrounding areas of south-east England from 1896 until 1964.
Grim's Ditch or Grim's Dyke or Grimes Dike is a linear earthwork in the London Borough of Harrow, in the historic county of Middlesex, and lends its name to the gentle escarpment it crowns, marking Hertfordshire's border. Thought to have been built by the Catuvellauni tribe as a defence against the Romans, it extended east-west about 6 miles (9.7 km) from the edge of Stanmore where an elevated neighbourhood of London, Stanmore Hill, adjoins Bushey Heath to the far north of Pinner Green – Cuckoo Hill. Today the remaining earthworks start mid-way at Harrow Weald Common.
The Norwood Ridge is a 10-square-mile (26 km2) rectangular upland which occupies the geographical centre of south London, centred 5 miles (8 km) south of London Bridge. Beneath its topsoil it is a ridge of London Clay that is capped on all sides with remaining natural gravel deposits mixed with some sandy soil, which in the South Thames basin is a material known as the Claygate Beds.
The A2022 is a non-primary road in England. It runs south-west into the foothills of the North Downs from West Wickham in the London Borough of Bromley through Selsdon, Sanderstead, Addington, Purley, the Woodcote part of that town, Banstead in Surrey and Epsom Downs through which it descends to a similar altitude as at its beginning to end at Epsom.
Botley Hill is a hill in Surrey and is the highest point of the North Downs with a height of 269.6 metres (885 ft). The Prime Meridian crosses the hill.
Betsom's Hill is a hill on the North Downs, and the highest point in the county of Kent at 251 metres (823 ft). Situated between Westerham and Tatsfield, at the western edge of the county, it lies close to where the A233 crosses the Downs en route to Biggin Hill. This is the highest part of the North Downs, with Botley Hill the highest point, nearby to the west. The hill lies at the western end of the Kent Downs, an area of outstanding natural beauty.
Hollyhock Island is an inhabited island in the River Thames in England on the reach between Bell Weir Lock and Penton Hook Lock.
Holmbury Hill is a wooded area of 261 metres (856 ft) above sea level in Surrey, England, and the site of an Iron Age-period hillfort. The Old Saxon word "holm" can be translated as hill and "bury" means fortified place. It sits along the undulating Greensand Ridge, its summit being 805 feet (245 m) from the elevated and tightly clustered small village of Holmbury St. Mary which was traditionally part of Shere, 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) away.
Mogador is a hamlet in the Reigate and Banstead district, in the English county of Surrey. It is at the edge of Banstead Heath, which provides it a green buffer from other communities, and about 1⁄2 mile (0.8 km) from the top of the north-facing dip slope of the North Downs. At an elevation of about 200 metres (660 ft) it is one of the highest settlements in south-east England. It is just north of the M25 motorway.
Colley Hill is part of the North Downs escarpment in the North Downs, Surrey, England. It is about 1 km east of Buckland Hills and 1 km west of Reigate Hill, all of which form part of the same escarpment. It is centred 30 kilometres (19 mi) south of London and forms a single scarp with Reigate Hill, peaking 2 miles (3 km) away at 235 metres above sea level. The scarp fluctuates in height but is continuous as far as Box Hill 5 miles (8 km) west. The term "Reigate Hill" also designates a neighbourhood of Reigate, and also a ward of Reigate and Banstead.