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Leith Hill, Surrey

 

Leith Hill Tower

Leith Hill, the highest point in south east England at 293 meters, is a beautiful wooded hill a few miles south of Dorking in Surrey. The hill's first notable role in history was as a battlefield in the ninth century struggle between the Saxons and the Danes. In 851AD the Danes planned a full scale invasion, after raiding the country regularly for many years. The Danes invaded up the Thames and burnt Canterbury and then London. The next target was Winchester, but on their march towards Winchester they met the army of Ethelwulf, father of Alfred the Great. Ethelwulf it seems took up a position on the slopes of Leith Hill, and was able to use this position to win the huge battle that followed. This battle ended the Danes immediate prospects of conquering the whole of Britain.

In later history Leith Hill was to become a symbol of peace. As the Industrial Revolution gathered pace in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, there was a romantic reaction against the new society. Wordsworth and Coleridge started portraying nature in an idealised light at the end of the eighteenth century, and this theme was soon taken up by Keats in the early nineteenth century. Now that nature was considered beautiful, people started taking trips to places where nature could be enjoyed. Leith Hill was a popular picnic spot for nineteenth century tourists. A tower, or "Prospect House" had been built here in 1766, by Richard Hull of Leith Hill Place. He'd built it with a Latin inscription over the door saying the tower had been created for his pleasure and that of other people. From then on visitors started to climb the hill to see the tower and use the "propect glasses" which Richard Hull had provided. Leith Hill Tower was rebuilt in 1796, and restored in 1864, and all the while tourists would escape the rigours of life below to visit the hill top. In 1835 one of these visitors was the poet Alfred Tennyson. Walking among the trees of Leith Hill he wrote The Sleeping Beauty and began The Black Bird and Sir Galahad. Sir Galahad, like Tennyson, climbs a hill in search of something:

 

I leave the plain I climb the height;

No branchy thicket shelter yields;

But blessed forms in whistling storms

Fly o'er waste fens, and windy fields

 

In the nineteenth century discoveries were being made, about evolution for example, that some would prefer had been left undiscovered. Sometimes the search seems better than the destination. On the hill Sir Galahad finds what he is looking for simply blowing about in the whistling storms. It's a nineteenth century version of Bob Dylan's lyric: "The answer my friend is blowing in the wind."

 

Leith Hill Tower and Leith Hill have been the property of the National Trust since 1923.

Opening Times: the woodland and hilltop are open all year. The tower is open 30th March 2008 to 25th October Friday to Sunday, 10am - 5pm, except for August when there is additional opening on Wednesday. During the winter period 26th October 2008 to 29th March 2009 opening is at weekends only, 10am - 3.30pm. Last admission is 30 minutes prior to closing. The tower may be closed in bad weather.

 

Directions: From Dorking take the A24 south towards Beare Green. At Beare Green turn onto the A29, and then take the second right towards Coldharbour. At Coldharbour turn left, and park in one of the National Trust car parks at the base of the hill. Click here for an interactive map centred on Leith Hill Tower.

Access: paths up the hill are steep and rough, and the tower has many steps.

Contact:

phone: 01306 711777

web site: http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-vh/w-visits/w-findaplace/w-leithhill/