Yes, this small south London district, located to the south of Peckham, was actually named for an oak.
In this case it was an oak which stood atop the 90 metre high One Tree Hill – the last in a line of hills which stretch north from Croydon.
There’s a couple of possible explanations for the name – the first is that the oak in question once marked the southern boundary of the estates or “honour” of the 12th century Earls of Gloucester – hence ‘Honor Oak’.
The second is that Queen Elizabeth I apparently had a picnic with Sir Richard Bulkeley of Beaumaris under its branches on May Day, 1602. Hence again ‘Oak of Honor’ or ‘Honor Oak’.
Sadly, the original tree is gone – it was apparently hit by lightning in the 1880s – and a replacement, which can still be seen today, was subsequently planted nearby.
There’s a few stories surrounding the hill and its oak including that it was here that the Roman general Paulinus overcome Boudicca in 61AD. Another says that the highwayman Dick Turpin used it as a lookout.
Its height did see the hill put to use as a beacon by the Admiralty during the Napoleonic Wars and as a semaphore station by the East India Company. A beacon on top of the hill was erected to commemorate the Silver Jubilee of King George V in 1935 and subsequently used for celebrations including the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II and the Queen’s silver and golden jubilees.
There was also a gun emplacement built upon the hill during World War I.
The area around the hill was largely rural until the late 18th century. In 1809, the Croydon Canal Company constructed a canal which ran from Croydon north to New Cross and which included numerous locks. It was taken over almost 30 years later by the Croydon and London Railway for its new line (the current railway line, the stops on which include Honor Oak Park (opened in 1886), runs along the same course).
There was a bid to incorporate One Tree Hill into a golf course in the late 1800s but following a protest, this was halted and in 1905 the hill was acquired by the Camberwell Borough Council as public open space. It remains so today.
The Church of St Augustine was built to the designs of William Oakley on the hill’s east side in the late 19th century.
Famous residents in the streets around the hill have included Spike Milligan.
The Honor Oak Reservoir lies just to the north of the hill. It was constructed between 1901 and 1909 and was the largest brick built underground reservoir in the world. The roof of the still-in-use reservoir is grassed over and used as a golf course. A rather grand pumping station stands nearby.
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