Pole Hill is a hill in Chingford, East London, on the border between Greater London and Essex. From its summit there is an extensive view over much of east, north and west London, although in the summer the leaves of the trees in Epping Forest have a tendency to mask some of the view to the north and west.
The earliest recording of the name is as "Pouls Fee" or "Pauls Fee" in 1498. It is shown as Hawke Hill on the Chapman and André map of 1777. Hawke derives from the nearby Hawkwood. Hawk is the Old English for a nook, cranny or corner and so means wood at the corner of the parish (of Chingford).
It was named Paul because it was in the manor of Chingford Pauli, also known as Chingford St Paul's, which belonged to St Paul's Cathedral in London. Fee is from the Middle English fe which means a landed estate indicating it formed part of the manor. After the erection of the Greenwich Meridian obelisk mentioned below, it appears to have acquired the cognomen of Polar Hill, but this soon dropped out of use. [1]
The hill stands in Epping Forest at 0 degrees longitude, and 51 degrees 38 minutes north latitude. At its highest point it is 91 metres (299 ft) above sea level. It is noted for the fact that it lies directly on the Greenwich meridian and, being the highest point on that bearing directly visible from Greenwich, was at one time used as a marker by geographers at the observatory there to set their telescopes and observation equipment to a true zero degree bearing. [2]
On the summit of the hill is an obelisk made of granite and bearing the following inscription: [3]
This pillar was erected in 1824 under the direction of the Reverend John Pond, MA, Astronomer Royal. It was placed on the Greenwich Meridian and its purpose was to indicate the direction of true north from the transit telescope of the Royal Observatory. The Greenwich Meridian as changed in 1850 and adopted by international agreement in 1884 as the line of zero longitude passes 19 feet to the east of this pillar.
At that point (19 feet / 5.8 m east) there is an Ordnance Survey trig point placed here to mark the top of the hill.
T. E. Lawrence once owned a considerable amount of land on the western side of the hill. Lawrence first rented the land, then began buying it in small parcels after the war. He dreamed of setting up a private press to print fine-edition books with his friend from Oxford, Vyvyan Richards.
Enthused with the ideals of medievalism and craftsmanship in the style of William Morris, they planned to house their press in a medieval-style timber hall to be designed by the architect Herbert Baker and built himself a small hut there in which he lived for several years. [4] Lawrence's hut was dismantled in 1930 and rebuilt in The Warren, Loughton. [5]
The Royal Observatory, Greenwich is an observatory situated on a hill in Greenwich Park in south east London, overlooking the River Thames to the north. It played a major role in the history of astronomy and navigation, and because the Prime Meridian passes through it, it gave its name to Greenwich Mean Time, the precursor to today's Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). The ROG has the IAU observatory code of 000, the first in the list. ROG, the National Maritime Museum, the Queen's House and the clipper ship Cutty Sark are collectively designated Royal Museums Greenwich.
A prime meridian is an arbitrary meridian in a geographic coordinate system at which longitude is defined to be 0°. Together, a prime meridian and its anti-meridian form a great circle. This great circle divides a spheroid, like Earth, into two hemispheres: the Eastern Hemisphere and the Western Hemisphere. For Earth's prime meridian, various conventions have been used or advocated in different regions throughout history. Earth's current international standard prime meridian is the IERS Reference Meridian. It is derived, but differs slightly, from the Greenwich Meridian, the previous standard.
Chingford is a town in east London, England, within the London Borough of Waltham Forest. The centre of Chingford is 9.2 miles (14.8 km) north-east of Charing Cross, with Waltham Abbey to the north, Woodford Green and Buckhurst Hill to the east, Walthamstow to the south, and Edmonton and Enfield to the west. The town contains the areas of Chingford Green, Chingford Hatch, Chingford Mount, Friday Hill, Hale End, Highams Park, and South Chingford, and had a population of 70,583 at the 2021 census.
Walthamstow is a large town in the London Borough of Waltham Forest, around 7+1⁄2 miles (12 km) northeast of Central London. Traditionally part of Essex and now within Greater London for ceremonial and administrative purposes, the town borders Chingford to the north, Snaresbrook and South Woodford to the east, Leyton and Leytonstone to the south, and Tottenham to the west. At the 2011 census, the town had a population of approximately 109,424.
The London Borough of Waltham Forest is a London borough in north-east London, England. Its population is estimated to be 276,983 in 2019. It borders five other London boroughs: Enfield to the north-west, Haringey to the west, Hackney to the south-west, Newham to the south-east and Redbridge to the east, as well as the non-metropolitan county of Essex to the north.
Loughton is a town and civil parish in the Epping Forest District of Essex, England. It is reckoned part of the metropolitan and urban area of London. The town borders Waltham Abbey, Theydon Bois, Chigwell. Chingford, and Buckhurst Hill, and is 12 miles (19 km) northeast of Charing Cross.
Epping Forest is a 2,400-hectare (5,900-acre) area of ancient woodland, and other established habitats, which straddles the border between Greater London and Essex. The main body of the forest stretches from Epping in the north, to Chingford on the edge of the London built-up area. South of Chingford the forest narrows, and forms a green corridor that extends deep into East London, as far as Forest Gate; the Forest's position gives rise to its nickname, the Cockney Paradise. It is the largest forest in London.
John Pond FRS was a renowned English astronomer who became the sixth Astronomer Royal, serving from 1811 to 1835.
Buckhurst Hill is an affluent suburban town in the Epping Forest district of Essex, England. It is part of the Greater London Urban Area and adjacent to the northern boundary of the London Borough of Redbridge. The area developed following the opening of a railway line in 1856, originally part of the Eastern Counties Railway and now on the Central line of the London Underground.
Sewardstone is a hamlet in the south of the parish of Waltham Abbey, in the Epping Forest District of Essex, England. It is located between Epping Forest and the built-up areas of Waltham Abbey, Chingford and Enfield. It is 11.6 miles north-northeast of Central London and is in the London commuter belt.
Waltham Abbey is a town in the civil parish of Waltham Abbey, in the Epping Forest District of Essex, within the metropolitan and urban area of London, England, 14 miles (23 km) north-east of Charing Cross. It lies on the Greenwich Meridian, between the River Lea in the west and Epping Forest in the east, with large sections forming part of the Metropolitan Green Belt. The town borders Nazeing and Epping Upland to the north, Chingford to the south, Loughton, Theydon Bois and Buckhurst Hill to the east and south-east, and Waltham Cross, Cheshunt and Enfield to the west.
The Washington meridians are four meridians that were used as prime meridians in the United States which pass through Washington, D.C. The four that have been specified are:
Chingford was a local government district in south west Essex, England from 1894 to 1965, around the town of Chingford. It was within the London suburbs, forming part of the London postal district and Metropolitan Police District. Its former area now corresponds to the northern part of the London Borough of Waltham Forest in Greater London.
The River Ching is a tributary of the River Lea, flowing from Epping Forest, in southeast England.
Epping was a parliamentary constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament from 1885 to 1974. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election.
The land border of the state of Western Australia (WA) bisects mainland Australia, nominally along 129th meridian east longitude. That land border divides WA from the Northern Territory (NT) and South Australia (SA). However, for various reasons, the actual border deviates from 129° East, and is not a single straight line.
Chingford was a parliamentary constituency centred on the town of Chingford in the London Borough of Waltham Forest. It returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom by the first past the post system.
Great Monk Wood is a wood within Epping Forest, in Essex, England.
Hawkwood is a 25-acre estate in North Chingford, London Borough of Waltham Forest, North East London, England. It is about nine miles from central London, in the fertile Lea Valley on the western edge of Epping Forest. In the 19th century it formed the grounds of a large Elizabethan-style Victorian mansion, seat of Richard Hodgson, lord of Chingford St. Pauls. The mansion became derelict after bomb damage in 1944 and was demolished in 1951. Part of the site is now a nature reserve, a special school has been built on another part, and a large part of the site is being used by OrganicLea, a workers' cooperative growing and selling food and providing horticultural training.