The Banyan of Signal Hill Garden

This banyan grows on a 40 metre hill that used to be a cape. Before land reclamation pushed Tsim Sha Tsui out into the harbour, Blackhead Point was the shoreline, and on top of it stands the Signal Hill Tower of 1907. From 1908 to 1933 a time ball dropped from its mast once or twice a day so ships' officers could check their chronometers; in the Second World War the tower stored ammunition, and in 2015 it was declared a monument. The tree is on the slope below, beside the garden's access road off Minden Row. It is an Indian laurel fig, 18 metres tall, with a crown 21 metres wide and a trunk 1.95 metres across at chest height. That trunk is thicker than the Garden Road banyan across the harbour and thicker than the tallest banyan in Hong Kong Park, though this tree is shorter than either. Because it grows on a slope by the access road rather than beside a lawn, you may see it better from the road than from under the crown, and how close the paths bring you is something to judge on the day. Signal Hill Garden is public and free, run by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department, and the tree was inspected in July 2026 and recorded alive. The King Banyan in Kowloon Park is about a kilometre away. Nobody has dated this tree. If you know its age, tell us.