THE ROYAL ARTILLERY INSTITUTION. 
275 
At the top of this cliff, in the pasture known as “ Whitehouse Field/' 
are appearances of an ancient camp. My late friend. Colonel Dundas, held 
with strong conviction that it was a Eoman intrenchment. Whether 
Eoman or Celtic, there certainly do appear great indications of a fortified 
work. Now that we are on the spot, we may add that the locality is 
interesting also in its botanical aspect. Hasted (Hist, of Kent) tells us :— 
“ The gravel pits at Woolwich have been for many years the common place 
for simpling among the apothecaries and druggists of London." And, 
apropos of Eoman works, the large camp at Barking, with its curious 
Specula, is well deserving the short walk it involves. 
Eeturning to our Map: Woolwich Common and Charlton Common 
appear to *The south, the latter being the more extensive; and it may be 
remarked that it is still a disapproved fact among the Charltonians that 
the minority should have carried the day in the matter of naming the whole 
expanse. It should have been called " Charlton Common," they say. The 
road running along the east edge of the common must not be confounded 
with the present road passing by the Eeservoir: it is that now named 
Lion Lane. Parallel to it eastward is Shrewsbury Lane and its continua¬ 
tion, Plum Lane. By this name of Plum Lane and the analogous one of 
Plumstead, may it not be assumed that the Plum was the staple fruit of 
this neighbourhood, as the Apple and Cherry now are in the Maidstone 
district ? The Pottery (or “ Pott Houses " of the map) has disappeared 
within the last dozen years. It stood within the angle of the present 
Herbert Eoad, Eipon Eoad, and Eglinton Eoad. The little w r ood above it 
was famous for its nightingales, and the ceramic proprietor of the spot 
for his surly deportment towards any poetically-disposed intruder on his 
land. 
Shooters' Hill, it will be seen, is surrounded by woods and copses. It 
was this advantage of covert which made the spot so pleasant to highway¬ 
men. To recount the many sensational deeds that have illustrated this 
locality would require a volume. Indeed, it is strange that a volume has 
not been written on a subject so congenial with the feelings of modern 
writers and modern readers. We are not without the hope of yet seeing 
the popular drame of “ Shooters' Hill," in five acts and fifteen tableaux , 
including of course Woolwich Common by moonlight, the Bobbers' 
Parlour at the “ Jolly Shipwright," and the chamber of Annette at 
the “ Pox under the Hill." By the bye, this Pox-under-the-hill was a 
little public-house at the foot of Shooters' Hill, where the road to Eltham 
turns off. When the more aspiring “ Lord Moira " tavern appeared, the 
Pox broke cover and squatted in the dead flat of the London Eoad, a mile 
further west. Hence the present misnomer. 
On the top of the Hill was formerly a Beacon. This beacon, with others 
leading out eastward, is noticed in Ogilby's Boad-book of 1720, and an 
old villager tells me that he well remembers it, and that it stood on the 
south side of the road. In the old Accounts of the Churchwardens of 
Eltham various payments are recorded "for watchinge the beacon on 
Shutters Hill." My old villager also remembers six men being hanged here 
for robbery with murder, four on the top of the hill by the waterworks, and 
two down by the Eltham road. The shooting party of Henry the Eighth 
at this spot has often been described* If he had been hanged (either at 
