Summary: The hill of Bukit Panjang first appeared on maps in 1846 1848. By 1898, the long ridge that originally bears the name of Bukit Panjang has two marked peaks on it, Bukit Gombak (437 ft) and Bukit Panjang (434 ft), making them the 2nd and 3rd highest hill in Singapore, respectively. By 1974 or 75, quarrying activities have reduced Bukit Panjang's height to 113 m. On maps, the hill seem to have lost its name by 1983. By 1993, it was further reduced to a height of 112 m.
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| Figure 1. On this 2010 topographical map of Singapore [1], Bukit Panjang the new town is situated at the topof the picture, straddling Bukit Panjang Road. Diagonally across the junction is the contours of a ridge. Although there marked a trigonometrical point '133 Bt. Gombak I', there is no mention of any hill here named Bukit Panjang. Where then, is Bukit Panjang Hill? |
The new town of Bukit Panjang is named after a hill called Bukit Panjang. That much is obvious, but what is less obvious is the location of this hill. There is indeed a hill nearby, opposite from the new town of Bukit Panjang across Upper Bukit Timah Road (where the the Singapore Ministry of Defence sprawls over). However, on recent topographical maps of Singapore (See for example the 2010 topographical map featured in Figure 1) [1], you do not actually see the hill marked as Bukit Panjang, rather, it is labeled as Bukit Gombak. So where then, is Bukit Panjang? An interesting blog page answered this question [2]. But the story rather intrigued me, and I started to dig into the old maps of Singapore to try to figure out more of the history of Bukit Panjang the Hill. So here I make a report of the rise and fall of Bukit Panjang through the ages, according to maps...
The earliest mention of Bukit Panjang on maps is in the "Map Of The Old Straits, Or Silat Tambrau And The Creeks To The North Of Singapore Island" [3] (Figure 2), surveyed by J.T. Thomson, the Straits Settlement's Government Surveyor (and the 'Thomson' of 'Thomson Road'), in April 1848. (See Addendum below)
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| Figure 2. Portion of "Map Of The Old Straits, Or Silat Tambrau And The Creeks To The North Of Singapore Island" [3] dated 1848, that shows Bukit Panjang, together with Bukit Timah and Bukit Mandai. |
Subsequently, in 1849, was published "Map Of Singapore Island And Its Dependencies" [4], the earliest map that shows the whole island, plus its interior development [5]. The map (See Figure 3), also depicts Bukit Panjang (and the other Bukits) rather similar to the 1848 map (Figure 2). Apart from the Bukits, you can also see Bukit Timah Road linking the City to the interior and northwards to the Straits of Johore.
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| Figure 3. Portion of "Map Of Singapore Island And Its Dependencies" (J.T. Thomson, 1849) [4]. |
This 1849 "Map Of Singapore Island And Its Dependencies" is the first of a long series of maps of the same name that successively show more and more development and details of the interior of Singapore island. The next in the series, from 1852 (See Figure 4), depicts the hill in a long form, befitting its name "Panjang" which means "long". Curiously, the name of the hill was corrupted to "Bukit Panjallang" in this map.
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| Figure 4. Portion of "Map Of Singapore Island And Its Dependencies" (J.T. Thomson, 1852) [6] that shows 'Bukit Pan jallang'. The feature of the hill is also distinctively long. as expected of the descriptive name of 'panjang'. |
In the 1873 edition [7], a village has also popped up at the foot of Bukit Panjang (See Figure 5), which can be counted as the direct ancestor of Bukit Panjang, I suppose.
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| Figure 5. Portion of "Map Of the Island of Singapore And Its Dependencies" (1873) [7]. A 'Village' appeared along the Bukit Timah Road, at the foot of Bukit Panjang. I guess we can call this the ancestor of Bukit Panjang new town. |
The 1898 edition of the "Map Of the Island of Singapore And Its Dependencies" [8] shows a dramatic change (See Figure 6). Along the long hill feature that was Bukit Panjang, is now labelled two 'Bukits'. Bukit Panjang still remains but is now more specifically a point on the northern part of the ridge, while a "Bukit Gombak" occupies a point on the southern part of the ridge. This seems to be the earliest mention of "Bukit Gombak" on maps. To add salt to the wound, not only did Bukit Panjang lose its 'monopoly' over the whole ridge, it was now not even the tallest on the ridge. You can see on the map, the heights of the hills have also been added, with Bukit Gombak at 437 ft (133.2 m) dethroning Bukit Panjang at 434 ft (132.3 m). This made Bukit Gombak and Bukit Panjang, the second and third tallest hills in the country [9]. Incidentally, Bukit Batok also made its debut on this map.
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| Figure 6. Portion of "Map Of Singapore Island And Its Dependencies" (1898) [8]. It shows the original Bukit Panjang Ridge has now two peaks. At the north end of the ridge, Bukit Panjang at 434 ft (132.3 m) and at the south end of the ridge, Bukit Gombak at 437 ft (133.2 m). This is the first time Bukit Gombak appears on maps. Incidentally, Bukit Batok (South of the Bukit Gombak), also made its debut. |
In an early topographical map of Singapore dating from 1932 [10] (Figure 7), you can get a better idea of the terrain of the Bukit Panjang/Gombak ridge (Left of the north-south going railway line (black and white) and Bukit Timah road (red). Right of the rail and road, you can see 'BT. Panjang Village'. Although Bukit Panjang has been dethroned, it does have the consolation of having a village named after it, and the general area of the long ridge marked as part of the Bukit Panjang Forest Reserve (BT. PANJANG F.R.).
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| Figure 7. Portion of the 1932 Topographical Map Of Singapore Island [10]. Contours showing the terrain of the original Bukit Panjang/Gombak Ridge (Top left area of map). |
Through World War II till independence, the terrain stayed pretty much the same, although development, especially after 1950s, will soon drastically change the landscape. Fast forward to 1966. On the 1:25000 topographical map of 1966 (See Figure 8), Bukit Panjang is still marked as 434 ft. However, beside it, you can also see "Lian Hup Quarry". Ominously, you can see features that resemble teeth biting into the hill, detailing the results of quarrying activities. In fact, quarrying on Bukit Panjang has been on going for a while, and Lian Hup Quarry has already appeared on maps since as early as 1953.
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| Figure 8. Portion of the 1966 Topographical Map Of Singapore Island [11]. Inside the blue box is Bukit Panjang still at 434 ft (132 m) but threatened by the quarrying activity of 'Lian Hup Quarry'. |
Thanks to the quarrying activities, by 1974, the top of the hill was no more. The 1:25000 topographical map of 1975 [12] (Figure 9) shows that in place of the hill top, a big hole has appeared, and the high point, denoted by a dot, has shifted east a bit and reduced to 113 m.
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| Figure 9. Portion of the 1975 Topographical Map Of Singapore [12]. Lian Hup Quarry has erased the top of Bukit Panjang. The new highpoint of 113 m is on its eastern flank, as pointed out by the arrow. |
Bukit Panjang Hill suffered further humiliations. It seemed to have lost even its name on maps from 1983 onwards. In Figure 10, in the blue box is the remnant of the hill with its 100 m contour line devoid of any name or label, while Bukit Gombak lies unscathed, and thriving.
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| Figure 10. Portion of the 1983 Topographical Map Of Singapore [13]. Within the blue box, the 100 m contour line representing the remnant of the hill, devoid of any name or label. |
By 1993, further quarrying scrapped away the northern part of the remnant summit of Bukit Panjang, and the highpoint shifted slightly south and further reduced to a height of 112 m (as pointed out by the arrow in Figure 11).
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| Figure 11. Portion of the 1993 Topographical Map Of Singapore Island [14], with further reduced summit and a new highpoint of 112 m. |
That pretty much remains as it was till the present, it seems. In the meantime, the ridge has been overtaken by the Ministry of Defence (MINDEF), and sealed off from public access. Figure 12 is a screenshot taken (30th Aug. 2020) from Google Map of the Bukit Panjang/Gombak ridge. 'BP' and 'BG' marks Bukit Panjang (where the 112 m point is) and Bukit Gombak respectively. BP is now right behind the "National Security Coordination Centre" which looks like it is the main building of MINDEF (Our Pentagon). The blue circle beside is the quarry hole where the original Bukit Panjang summit used to be. Although reduced to 112 m presently (it is still marked as 112 m in the 2017 edition of the 1:50,000 topographical Map Of Singapore Island), it still retained its '3rd tallest hill' title in Singapore [15] due to the fact that Bukit Mandai, which was originally at 129 m suffered a worse fate than Bukit Panjang, but that will be another tale to tell in another later blog page.
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| Figure 12. Google map (retrieved 30th Aug. 2020), the marker labelled BP shows the location of the 112 m peak of the reduced Bukit Panjang. BG = Bukit Gombak. The blue circle marks the remnants of the quarry that 'ate up' the original summit of Bukit Panjang. |
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| Figure 13. Portion of the 1846 Hydrographic Chart by S. Congalton and J.T. Thomson. Note that Bukit Panjang's name is "Bukit Pandan" on the map [16]. |
