Telegraph Hill is a largely residential conservation area bounded by Nunhead and Brockley and is an electoral ward just south of New Cross in the London Borough of Lewisham in southeast London, England.
For many years Telegraph Hill was covered by market gardens owned by the Worshipful Company of Haberdashers, one of the ancient livery companies of London. In the late 19th century the Haberdashers decided to develop Telegraph Hill for housing. It commissioned a study of the development potential of Telegraph Hill in 1859. The surveyor recommended ‘the erection of dwelling houses of a high standard’ on wide tree-lined streets’, which we still enjoy to this day.
Most construction took place in the following decade with homes being distinctive in style and streets featuring harmonious architectural unity.
Haberdashers’ Aske’s School for boys and girls (named after one of its members Robert Aske, and now Haberdasher’s Aske’s Hatcham College) was added in 1875, with a separate Haberdashers’ Aske’s girls’ school completed in 1891 and St Catherine’s Church in 1894.
In the 1895 the London County Council opened Telegraph Hill Park to the public.
