Hydon's Ball is a hill covering most of Hydon Heath in Hydestile, Surrey, England.
Description
thumb|The [[memorial bench dedicated to Octavia Hill, on the summit of Hydon's Ball]]
The hill on Hydon Heath, Hydestile, reaches and is almost a quarter of the way between Gibbet Hill, Hindhead and Leith Hill in the Greensand Ridge.
Sometimes known as Hydon Ball or Cup Hill, the area is under the management of the National Trust. At its highest point is a large stone seat dedicated in 1915 to Octavia Hill, one of the Trust's founders.
It is believed that the term ball refers to a signalling station which once stood at the top of the hill.
Its shape is similar to other hills named as 'ball'; there are more than six on Dartmoor e.g. Cuckoo Ball, grid reference SX 717902.
There is a short poem associated with Hydon's Ball, which may explain its other alternative name:
Its slopes are planted with a range of tree species, including native oak, rowan, birch and pine. Two non-native shrubs, Amelanchier and Gaultheria, are said by oral history to have been planted there by landscape gardener Gertrude Jekyll, who lived approximately to the north at Munstead Wood, Busbridge.
Hydon's Ball is one of the top ten highest points in Surrey. An underground drinking water reservoir is beneath the summit.