Bukit Timah
Highest Hill in Singapore. Its ridge contains four summits higher than 140 m. For convenience, we shall name them the East, West, North and South summits. The highest Summit is the East Summit which most people visit as "Bukit Timah Summit". The other prominent summit is the South summit, occupied by the distinctive Telecom tower and facilities.
This page mainly concerns the whole Bukit Timah Ridge with a focus on the East Summit. For the other summits, check out the sub-pages.
Height:
East Summit: 163.63 m [Summit marker, determined by GPS]
West Summit: 162.8 m [My barometric measurements]
South Summit 146.6 m [Topographical map, Survey Department, Singapore, 1970]
North Summit: 142 m [My barometric measurements]
Location: 1°21'16.9"N 103°46'35.0"E (East Summit)
Summit Marker of the East Summit (2020-12-17).
Route(s) to Summit:
East Summit: Follow Summit Road.
West Summit: Off Jungle Fall Path.
South Summit: Protected area of Singapore Telecoms. No access. Furthest you can go is along Upper Quarry Road till the gates to the complex.
North Summit: Along North View Path
Other Names: Bukit Tima
History:
On the very first map, made in the early 1820s, that had the shape of Singapore island more or less correct [1], was recorded only one major feature in the interior of Singapore. In the Figure below, you can see this feature of a hill (a zoom-in version provided in the inset). The position matches the location of Bukit Mandai. The interesting bit is that in this early map, the name of this hill feature (See the zoomed in inset in the Figure) is labelled as 'Bukit Teemah' (a variation of 'Bukit Timah' undoubtedly)! Presumably, the hill when viewed from the survey ship circumnavigating the island, could have been misidentified as the current Bukit Timah [2].
In the 1846 Hydrographic Chart by S. Congalton and J.T. Thomson (See map below), Bukit Timah is represented as a group of three peaks. (Shown in the Figure below is the 1855 updated version of the 1846 edition, which I can't get a high enough resolution screen capture of) [3]. Initially, one may easily miss these details or simply attribute this to some form of fictional artwork. However, when I counter checked with more modern topographical maps, it confirms that these features on the 1846 maps are real and significant and the three peaks really do represent the real terrain of Bukit Timah.
Some more related information can be found here.
References
[1] Plan of the island of Singapore, including the new British Settlement and adjacent Islands. The settlement, environs, new harbour and adjacent islands surveyed by Lieutenant Colonel Farquhar. from NLB
[2] Mok Ly Yng "Franklin's Survey Map of Singapore", On Paper. Singapore before 1867, (National Library Board, Singapore, 2019), pg. 92.
[3] 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, Retrievable from National Archives of Singapore.
Other Information: Non currently
Picture Gallery:
View of the west flank of Bukit Timah Ridge. (Photo taken from the south slope of Bukit Gombak, 2020-10-25).
View of the south flank of Bukit Timah Ridge. View dominated by the South Summit with its VHF transmission tower. The slight bump on the left quarter of the picture is the West Summit. (Photo taken from Toh Yi Estate, 2020-12-29).
Updated: 24th July 2021