Summary: Mount Faber, Telok Blangah Hill Park, Alkaff Mansion and Henderson Waves are famous landmarks in the Southern Part of Singapore. We explore the various different names and fables (pun intended) that have been attached to some of these hills through the ages.
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| Figure 1. Portion of the 1846/1855 Hydrographic Chart by S. Congalton and J.T. Thomson [1]. Mt Faber denotes the whole ridge with the Flagstaff labelling the place where a signal station was constructed by Charles Edward Faber. The Flagstaff is not at the Mt Faber summit (Faber Point) but at a summit right beside the cable car station . |
Mount Faber is of the highest hills in Singapore and one of the most well known landmarks in the southern part of Singapore, with its cable car links to Sentosa island. The cable car station however is not situated at Mount Faber's highest summit. Mount Faber summit, also known as Faber Point, is about 300 meters to the northwest of the cable car station.
The modern day Telok Blangah Hill (TBH) is situated in its namesake park, Telok Blangah Hill Park, and is about 1 km west-northwest of Mount Faber Summit. The summit is decorated (disfigured) with a series of attractive terraces with good views. TBH is surrounded by several subsidiary summits that host other well known landmarks, such as Alkaff Mansion and the western end of the Henderson Wave bridge.
The current dividing line between Mount Faber and TBH seem to be Henderson Road. However, in the old days, these two hills and its many subsidiary summits seem to be known as being part of a long single hill ridge. We will try to look into the many names, old, new, disused and reused, throughout the ages. Since 'Telok Blangah Hill' is going to appear again and again and have different locations through the ages, to avoid confusion, I will use TBH to denote the current Telok Blangah Hill, and use the other variations as they appear in history.
As far as I can tell, the name 'Mount Faber' first appeared on maps in the 1846 Hydrographic Chart by S. Congalton and J.T. Thomson [1] (Shown in Figure 1 is an excerpted portion of the 1855 updated version of the 1846 map. I can't get a high enough resolution screen capture of the 1846 map).
Before 1845, the long ridge that includes today's Mount Faber and TBH was simply called "Tulloh Blangan Hills" or other variations of 'Telok Blangah Hills', after the area along the southern coast of Singapore (See Figure 2). In 1845, the hills were renamed Mount Faber after Charles Edward Faber of the Madras Engineers [link], who had overseen the building of a road leading to one of the summits of the hill (Not the Mount Faber Summit, but one near to the cable car station), and establishing there a signal station and flagstaff.
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| Figure 2. Portion of the 1844 "Plan of Singapore Town and Adjoining Districts" by John Turnbull Thomson [2]. |
From 1850s onwards, the names "Tulloh Blangan Hills" or other variations of 'Telok Blangah Hills' gradually seem to fall out of favour, and the hills were increasingly being known as Mount Faber, and that includes the hill(s) that make up today's TBH. 'Telok Blangah' Hill did not quite disappear though...
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| Figure 3. Excerpt of "Map Of the Island of Singapore And Its Dependencies" (1873) [3] showing the measured height of Mt. Faber at 291 ft (~88.7 m). This is probably the altitude of the summit that housed the signal station and flagstaff (right next to the current cable car station). |
The height of Mt Faber was reported as 291 ft (~88.7 m) according to the 1873 edition of "Map Of Singapore Island And Its Dependencies" [3], although I suspect that that is the altitude measured for the summit that housed the signal station and flagstaff (right next to the current cable car station).
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| Figure 4. Excerpt of "Sketch plan of Mount Faber and Pasir Panjang" (1891) [4]. TBH appears as 'Green Hill'. |
The hill that is today's TBH made its mark on a map in "Sketch plan of Mount Faber and Pasir Panjang" (Figure 4) [4], published in 1891 by H.E. McCallum, the surveyor general at that time. In this map, TBH is named 'Green Hill' with an altitude of 304 ft (92.7 m). In the same map, we also have "Mount Faber" covering the whole ridge and a more specific "Mt. Faber" denoting the position of the summit hosting the flagstaff and signal station, while the real Mount Faber summit is marked in red ink as 'Faber Redoubt" with an altitude of 343 ft. This map is an important documentation on the early defence of Singapore. 'Green Hill' appeared in several other maps up till the 1910s.
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| Figure 5. Excerpt of "Map Of Singapore Island And Its Dependencies" (1898) [5]. In this map, we have (Name on map = present location/name): Mt Faber 1 = Mount Faber Summit or Faber Point, Mt Faber 2 = TBH, Telok Blanga 1 = Bukit Purmei, Telok Blanga 2 = Henderson Park. |
The 1898 edition of the "Map Of the Island of Singapore And Its Dependencies" [5] contains several interesting details (See Figure 5), TBH appears in this map as 'Mt Faber 2' with an altitude of 312 ft (~95.1 m) , while on the same map, 'Mt Faber 1' denotes Faber Point, with an altitude of 350 ft (~106.7 m). Interestingly, there is also on the map, two shorter hills away from the main ridge, 'Telok Blanga 1' and 'Telok Blanga 2', at 113.5 ft (34.6 m) and 111 ft (33.8 m), respectively. Comparing with more recent maps, this peaks correspond to today's Bukit Purmei and Henderson Park, respectively.
Another hill name of interest is 'Mount Washington'. Starting from sometime in the early 1900s, The name 'Mount Washington' started to be associated with a hill very near to TBH. In 'Map Of Singapore Town Within Municipal Limits 1906' (Figure 6) [6], Mount Washington denotes a spot, east of the summit of TBH (marked by a triangle in Figure 6) with a house on it. In 1906, the house shown is one probably belonging to Cheng Keng Lee. A newspaper advertisement in 1916 explicitly equate Mount Washington with this property [7]. The plot was later sold to the Alkaffs, and Alkaff mansion was then built there, which still stands there today. Numerous references of Alkaff mansion through the decades mention that it is located on Mount Washington.
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| Figure 6. Excerpt from 'Map Of Singapore Town Within Municipal Limits 1906' (1909) [8], showing the location of Mt Washington and a house located there. The triangle to its left is where the summit of TBH is. Mount Faber summit on the bottom right corner of the figure. |
There are also maps that label TBH as Mount Washington. For example, a 1918 'Map Showing The Swamps And The Chinese Burial Grounds Near Alexandra Road' by RH Young shows Mt Washington to be TBH [8]. Perhaps it is not really that surprising to extend the grand sounding name to this higher peak (relative to the location of the Alkaff Mansion).
Sometime in the 1960s, TBH acquired an unofficial name as Qianfo Shan (千佛山), or 'Thousand Buddha Mountain'. TBH may have have acquired this unofficial name when a temple structure by the name of 'Thousand Buddha Hall' was built in the 1966 on the summit. An interesting short article on this can be found in this blog.
Officially it seems however, 'Mt Faber 2' continued to be the name of TBH for a very long time, it appeared on military topographical maps from 1939 [9] onwards, up till as recently as on the 1987 1:50000 Topographical Map Singapore [10]. In the 1980s, the new town of Telok Blangah was built on the foot of the whole of TBH/Mount Faber Ridge, and a new park "Telok Blangah Hill Park" was completed in 1988 [11] which included TBH. In the process, the 'Thousand Buddha Hall' was demolished, and a gazebo and terraces replaced the TBH summit area (See Fig. 7 and 8). Although there are no 'official' names on subsequent maps to denote this peak as 'Telok Blangah Hill', I assume here that the 'Hill' in 'Telok Blangah Hill Park' must have the same name as the park, and that TBH, Telok Blangah Hill 're-acquired' its current name with the creation of the namesake park in 1988.
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| Figure 7. Photo of the summit of TBH. (from Google Map Street View) |
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| Figure 8. View of the summit of TBH from Faber Point (Summit of Mount Faber)[Copyright H.-S. Tan]. |
To summarize, TBH has acquired many names throughout history and include: Green Hill, Mount Faber 2, Mount Washington, Qianfo Shan (Thousand Buddha Mountain) and finally, Telok Blangah Hill.
References
[1] This Survey Of The Straits Of Singapore, Is Respectfully Inscribed To The Honourable Colonel Butterworth, C.B. Governor of Prince of Wales Island, Singapore & Malacca, by his most obedient servants, Samuel Congalton, Comm: H. C. Steamer, Diana, J. T. Thomson, Government Surveyor, 1846. (James M. Richardson, London, 1846). Retrievable from National Archives of Singapore. For Figure 1, I have used instead the updated 1855 edition, Retrieved from National Archives of Singapore.
[2] Plan of Singapore Town and Adjoining Districts from Actual Survey by John Turnbull Thomson, Governor Surveyor (J. T. Thomson, Singapore, 1844). Retrieved from National Archives of Singapore.
[3] Map Of the Island of Singapore And Its Dependencies. (J.F.A. McNair, 1873). Retrieved from National Archives of Singapore.
[4] Sketch plan of Mount Faber and Pasir Panjang. (H.E. McCallum, Colonial Engineer and Surveyor General, Straits Settlements, 1891). Retrieved from National Archives of Singapore.
[5] Map Of the Island of Singapore And Its Dependencies. (A. Murray, 1898). Retrieved from National Archives of Singapore.
[9] Singapore and Johore Nos. 3L/11, 3L/12, 3L/15, 3L/16. [1:63,360 Topographical Map] (Surveyor General F.M.S. and S.S., 1939). Retrieved from National Archives of Singapore.
[10] Singapore 1:50,000 Series SMU 075, Edition 4 (Mapping Unit, Ministry of Defense, Singapore, 1987). Retrieved from https://libmaps.nus.edu.sg/
[11] Singapore 1989, Ed. Tan Han Hoe (Ministry of Communications and Information, Singapore 1989).
