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Chipping Barnet

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For other uses, see Barnet (disambiguation).
Barnet
OS grid referenceTQ245955
London borough
Ceremonial countyGreater London
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townBARNET
Postcode districtEN5
Dialling code020
PoliceMetropolitan
FireLondon
AmbulanceLondon
UK Parliament
London Assembly
List of places
UK
England
London

High Barnet or Chipping Barnet is a town in the London Borough of Barnet. It is a suburban development located 10 miles (17 km) north north-west of Charing Cross.

Geography

The tower of Barnet parish church - St John the Baptist - at the top of Barnet Hill claims to be the highest point between itself and the Ural Mountains to the east. However, the same can be said of numerous other points. [citation needed] Before the building of the Barnet bypass, Barnet Hill was a major hill on the Great North Road. High Barnet tube station is located at the northern end of the Northern Line.

History

The town was the site of the Battle of Barnet in 1471, where Yorkist troops led by King Edward IV killed the rebellious "Kingmaker" Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick and Warwick's brother, John Neville, 1st Marquess of Montagu.

It is the site of an ancient and well-known horse fair, hence the Cockney rhyming slang of "Barnet" for "hair". The fair goes back to 1588 when Queen Elizabeth I granted a charter to the Lord of the Manor of Barnet the right to hold a twice yearly fair.[1]

Chipping Barnet was a civil parish of Hertfordshire and formed part of the Barnet Urban District from 1894. It was abolished in 1965 and its former area was transferred to Greater London.[2] In 1801 the parish had a population of 1,258 and covered an area of 1,440 acres. By 1901 the parish was reduced to 380 acres and had a population of 2,893. In 1951 the population was 7,062.[3]

In Saxon Times the site was part of an extensive wood called Southaw, belonging to the Abbey of St Albans. The name of the town appears in early deeds as Bergnet, the Saxon word Bergnet signifies a little hill, monticulus. Its elevated position is also indicated in its alternate name of High Barnet, which it bears in many old books and maps, and which the railway company restored. It is the belief of the older natives the "Barnet stands on the highest ground betwixt London and York."

Church

Barnet High Street, viewed from the tower of St John the Baptist Church

Chipping Barnet Parish church of St John the Baptist (1560)

"The town consists of a straggling street over a mile long, chiefly of small commonplace houses, with two or three shorter streets diverging from it. From its situation on the main road, as the centre of an agricultural district, the seat of a county court and petty sessions, and having a barracks close at hand., Barnet is a busy-looking place, and has some good shops; one or two excellent inns, Red Lion and Old Salisbury Arms, and an undue proportion of public-houses; but on the whole it is a shabby and not a very picturesque appearance"

In coaching days, 150 stage coaches passed through Barnet daily. Since the opening of the railway, the town has increased considerably, especially on the west about the Common; or as it is now called, Arkley.

Barnet Church, St John the Baptist, which stands in what was the centre of the town, was erected by John de la Moote, abbot of St Albans, about 1400, the architect being Beauchamp. It consists of a nave and aisles separated by clustered columns which support four pointed arches; a chancel with an east window of good Perpendicular tracery; a vestry, built in the reign of James I by Thomas Ravenscroft; and at the west end, a low, square embattled tower. The living of Barnet is a curacy, held with the rectory of East Barnet till the death of the late incumbent in 1866, when the livings were separated. The town also includes parts of the parishes of Monken Hadley and South Mimms.

Education

Primary

Secondary

Further

Barnet College has one of its main sites in High Barnet and is spread out through the London Borough of Barnet.

Sport and recreation

Barnet FC are the local football team, flitting between league and non-league football. They play at the Underhill Stadium. Shaftesbury Barnet Harriers is the a local athletics club. Chipping Barnet has a King George's Field in memorial to King George V.

High Barnet is home to one Odeon cinema, the Barnet museum, the traditional annual Barnet Fair, the Ravenscroft local park and Barnet recreational park. High Barnet is a popular location for Restaurants and Public houses. A small nightclub operated for a few years in the 1980s in the premises now occupied by The Misty Moon. The Public houses in High Barnet include: The Misty Moon, The Dandelion, The Kings Head, The Monken Holt, Ye Olde Mitre Inn, and The Red Lion.


Tube stations

Nearby:


Famous residents

See also

References

  1. ^ www.barnet4u.co.uk - Barnet Fair
  2. ^ Vision of Britain - Chipping Barnet parish (historic map)
  3. ^ Vision of Britain - Chipping Barnet parish - population


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