Oak of Honor
Posted on: June 05, 2020 by Louie Christie
One Tree Hill, despite the name, has at least two trees. Because it’s a woodland.
The Oak of Honor at the top of the hill was given that name by Queen Victoria after she had a nice nap under it. Who knew Victoria of the Industrial Age was a tree hugger?
Look out for the ghost of “Brockley Jack”, a highwayman robber who used this place as a lookout.
It can be found near Honor Oak Park train station, what with the station being named after the tree.
It’s a bastard of a hill to cycle up, especially if you have a heavy electric bicycle battery. There are several sets of steps on the path to push around.
WW2 Gun Emplacement. Sadly the gun is missing so you can’t have a go. The steps from Honor Oak Rise road are less steep. I saw a young mum bumping her pram down making a baby rollercoaster
I once did training with the London Wildlife Trust to survey for butterflies here. It’s one of the longest running surveys of its type of all time. We were told to survey on sunny, still days, because that’s the only time the butterflies come out.
On the day I wrote this I bumped into a London Wildlife Trust volunteer. The day had started out sunny so she came out looking for butterflies. By the time we got there it’s cloudy and windy and there were bugger all butterflies.
As is the weather in the great British summertime, it was sunny again by the time I left 🌤. It pissed it down on the cycle home 🌧️.
Hilly Fields Stone Circle is nearish.
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