please empty your brain below
Nice to finally see some actual hills! Very picturesque and pastoral.

John | Homepage | 21.08.14 - 3:49 a.m. | #

Finally, a post where I can say I've been to all three, although without knowing they're borough tops!

CP | 21.08.14 - 6:53 a.m. | #

I've always understood that the hills on Putney Heath are the spoil from the excavation of the Tibbet's Corner underpass, a kilometre to the northeast, where the A3 dives underneath a roundabout to become West Hill. If that's true then they're relatively recent and can only date to the first great road building wave of the inter war period.

Ed | 21.08.14 - 7:36 a.m. | #

Interwar highwaymen in Wandsworth?

Surely that was a Playmobil version of the Village People?

Andrew | 21.08.14 - 8:09 a.m. | #

Ed - I'd not heard that explanation although does sound reasonable as the mounds appear artificial. There was quite a bit of earlier development in that area, including the Victorian artillery range that used to be based on Jerry's Hill, plus the old gravel workings too. I'd guessed they might have been associated with either of those, so Tibbets fill is another explanation into the mix! The "Tumulus" shown there on post war maps always seemed a bit suspect, although there is the iron age hill fort just along the ridge to the south.

Another

geo_rich | 21.08.14 - 9:52 a.m. | #

You were fortunate to get the "Yarmouth Belle" Thames pleasure boat in you photo looking across Petersham meadows from Richmond Hill. It is heading towards Hampton Court.

John | 21.08.14 - 10:06 a.m. | #

Jimmy Batten an elderly gentleman who lives at Ham Common is the person who protected the view from King Henry's mound in the 1960 and 70s in the teeth of much opposition. He is an unsung hero.

Crinan Dunbar | 21.08.14 - 2:20 p.m. | #

> "Richmond's protected vista is the precise reason why the Cheesegrater retreats to a triangular point."

Not quite. You can see in the map you posted directly below that the Cheesegrater doesn't lie anywhere near Richmond's sight line. It's well to the south east of St Paul's.

What's more, it's already built, and while it's not "in the sight line", it's close enough that if you were at the right angle, it would definitely be visible in the telephoto you took of St Paul's.

Instead, the Cheesegrater is that shape to protect another – even odder – sightline, which is the one from outside the front of Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese pub on Fleet Street.

You can clearly see the building veering away from St Pauls in this picture: http://www.standard.co.uk/incoming/article9548642.ece/alternates/w620/leadenhall2.jpg

Notice how it is exactly one dome-width away at the base of the dome. That's not an accident!

Alex Hern | Homepage | 22.08.14 - 9:26 a.m. | #

I'm proud to say that I've taken almost exactly that same picture of St. Paul's from King Henry's Mound (OK, so has everyone) AND almost exactly that same picture of the Thames from Richmond Hill. I guess I have a decent eye for photos after all?

Josh | 08.09.14 - 9:10 p.m. | #











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