High Willhays of the highest hill on nearby Bodmin Moor, and suggested that a watch for beacon fires used to be kept here. He also posited a possible link to the word "gwili" meaning winding or tortuous, but said it was unlikely this was where it originated from. "The Place-Names of Devon" (1931) notes that the peak was named "Hight Wyll" in a document of 1532, and was known in 1827 as "High Willows". The authors state that the name may simply be a compound of "high" and "well" (meaning "spring"), though they admit that the additional syllable at the end is
County of London Government Act 1963 replaced the county with the much larger Greater London administrative area. The county occupied an area of just under and lay within the London Basin. It was divided into two parts (north and south) by the River Thames, which was the most significant geographic feature. It was bordered by Essex to the north-east, Kent to the south-east, Surrey the south-west and Middlesex to the north. The highest point was Hampstead Heath in the north of the county at , which is one of the highest points in London. In 1900 a number of boundary anomalies were abolished.