I’ve been wondering this for a a while now, but which is the biggest hill in Forest Hill, or the highest accessible point?
I thought the top of the Horniman clock tower might be a good bet, but I think the hill rises more behind it. Then there’s also Blythe Hill… and Church Rise… etc…
Before I go off and try to find out, does anyone already know?
I’m fairly sure the highest point is the top of the mast on the Horniman hill. And the highest publicly accessible point is near the foot of it.
Sydenham Hill is a bit higher but not in SE23.
This brilliant topographical map allows you to check the height of any point in London.
I think you are right. Here’s what my phone measured with GPS:
| Altitude ASL (metres) | Raw ASL(metres) | Location |
|---|---|---|
| ? | 105 | Top of Blythe Hill |
| 93 | 140 | One Tree Hill gun emplacement |
| 106 | 153 | Top of Cannonbie Road |
| 112 | 159 | Top of Rocombe Crescent |
| 110 | 157 | Base of Horniman Drive antenna |
The app I used gave raw heights which didn’t match the topography map you supplied, until I turned on ‘geoid correction’.
You can look down towards the Church Rise Church from the top of the Horniman gardens, so that must be much lower.
Rocombe Cresent is part of the same height as the Horniman Drive reading, but the GPS wanders a bit. Either way, the Rocombe Cresent triangle (looked after by Lewisham) looks really nice:
Why can’t Duncombe Hill green be like that!
I know it’s specific to SE23 but how does it compare to Crystal Palace? Ive really enjoyed wfh lunch spots overlooking the city
I am chuckling slightly at you spending the hottest day of the year climbing up and down hills to satisfy your curiosity! Hope you now have a 
to cool off with.
In terms of the highest point accessible to humans, surely it’s the top floor of the block of flats next door to Fairlawn primary school?
The Greystead block with the antennas on top… I did wonder that as I passed previously, but it’s hard to directly measure…
Either way, whichever part of the country you’ve blown into London from the one thing all us newcomers bleat on about to friends and family back home is how effing steep some of the hills in London really are. I suppose it’s because all the school trips we took to the capital focused on all the central landmarks in central London and we had to wait until adulthood until we’d be exposed to the peaks you’ll find on the Horniman side of the tracks or the trek to Crystal Palace.
There’s a tower in the back garden of a house in Liphook Crescent on the top of the Horniman hill. The top of that might be the highest point in Forest Hill.
Crystal Palace Parade has to be the highest elevation accessible to pedestrians in the SE & SW postcodes.
Parts of Sydenham Hill are a bit higher than that. The new flats at the top of Wells Park Road are on the highest ground I can find using that map.
Sydenham Hill is SE26 rather than SE23. The crystal palace transmitter and base of the former palace are the highest points on the ridge.
But within SE23 i think the highest point is close to the horniman transmitter. My experiments when younger suggested that 26 Liphook Crescent was the highest point of the road on the hill. The top of the folly is quite high but the roof terrace next door is probably one of the best 360 degree views in the area without climbing a transmitter. There are few other points where you can see the view in all directions.
But the highest building in se23 is probably Frobisher Court in Little Brownings and the views over Horniman and beyond are stunning (i’ve only seen photos).
We are down to very small differences - from the map, the base of the folly in Liphook is c.8m higher than the base of Frobisher Court.
Here’s the view from the 5 th floor of Frobisher Court.
I measured 114m at the tip of Crystal Palace triangle, at the boundary oak stump, so sadly that just beats SE23… not by much though!
This Folly is amazing!
I’ve never ever spotted it…I assume its in a private garden?
Anyone know its background? can the home owners access it?
I have a fascination with folly’s!
All will be revealed in the next edition of the Forest Hill Society Newsletter!
There is quite a good blog about the tower here.
And the highest point on the whole of the Forest Hill- Sydenham Hill- Crystal Palace ridge is Upper Norwood at the top of Beulah Hill, where the big mast is located. Great views towards the South Downs.
How does one get signed up to this newsletter? I recently discovered the Folly and would LOVE to know more / get inside it!
