About the Telegraph Hill Society
The Telegraph Hill Society was originally founded by local residents as the Telegraph Hill Conservation Society to seek protected Conservation Area status for the Hill. With that aim successfully achieved, the Society now encourages local people to take an active interest in maintaining and improving the area — one of the nicest, and most under-rated, parts of central South London.
The area
The Telegraph Hill Conservation Area forms the southern part of the ancient manor of Hatcham. Purchased by the Haberdashers’ Livery Company in 1614, the area was a market garden for London until the coming of the railways in the 1840s.
Developed by the Haberdashers into a residential suburb through the later part of the nineteenth century, the area is the epitome of good Victorian development, still boasting schools, a church and parks all designed and built as an integral part of the neighbourhood.
The name “Telegraph Hill”, derives from an Admiralty semaphore station established on the hill in 1795 and used to convey, amongst other messages, news of Wellington’s victory at Waterloo to the nation.
The Society is run by local residents for local residents