Shooter's
Hill adjoined Woolwich Common, and commanded a fine view of London from
the top of the hill. It boasted a handsome inn and gardens. The name
Shooter's Hill derives from the fact that London archers practiced their
skills atop the hill on grand occasions; Henry VIII and his queen Catharine
came here on one occasion to be entertained by two hundred archers all
clad in green and led by a captain impersonating Robin Hood.
Shooter's
Hill was once much overgrown with coppice wood, which used to be cut
into faggots and shipped to London via the Thames for use in fires and
stoves in the city until coal became widely used. In the early eighteenth
century the hill was notorious for robberies, the road being very narrow
and bounded on either side by thick woods, but since the road was widened
in 1739, promoted by an act of parliament, the spate of robberies ceased.
In the late eighteenth century there was a scheme to build a fine town
atop the hill, but the scheme fizzled away after only a few homes were
built.
On
the brow of Shooter's Hill was an elegant tower, surrounded by elegant
gardens, gravelled walks and sloping lawns. Built in 1784 by Lady James
to commemorate her husband's gallant achievements in the East Indies,
particularly his conquest of the Castle of Severndroog on the coast
of Malabar in 1755.
