Denmark Hill takes its name from Queen Anne’s husband Prince George of Denmark (1653–1708), who hunted here.
Originally Camberwell’s High Street, the ’Denmark Hall’ pub and attached tea room (which continued in operation after the public house failed in the 1790s), was built by Luke Lightfoot on the site of what was later ’the Fox on the Hill’, in about 1770.
The greater part of the land on the west side of the roads now known as Denmark Hill and Herne Hill was bought in 1783 by Samuel Sanders, a wealthy timber merchant. Shortly afterwards he built himself a large house at Denmark Hill, and began to grant long leases of the land fronting the road.
By 1843 an almost unbroken line of large houses stretched from St. Matthew’s Church, Denmark Hill, to the south end of Herne Hill.
