High Barnet or Chipping Barnet is a place in the London Borough of Barnet in North London, England. It is a suburban development built around a 12th century settlement and is located 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 2,000 miles to the east. However, the same has been said of numerous other points. Barnet Hill is a major hill on the historic Great North Road, although the modern Great North Road runs along Barnet Bypass.

High Barnet tube station is the terminus of the High Barnet branch of the Northern Line and is the northernmost station on the 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 dates 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.

Chipping Barnet was historically a civil parish of Hertfordshire and formed part of the Barnet Urban District from 1894. This parish was abolished in 1965 and the Chipping Barnet section of its former area was transferred to Greater London and the newly-created London Borough of Barnet. In 1801 the parish had a population of 1,258 and covered an area of 1,440 acres (6 km²). By 1901 the parish was reduced to 380 acres (1.5 km²) and had a population of 2,893. In 1951 the population was 7,062.

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). Barnet's elevated position is also indicated in one of its alternative names ('High Barnet'), which it bears in many old books and maps, and which the railway company restored. According to local belief, though not verified, "Barnet stands on the highest ground betwixt London and York." The area was historically a common resting point on the traditional Great North Road between the City of London and York and Edinburgh.

At the turn of the 21st century, a tongue-in-cheek movement calling for the name Barnet to be changed to "Barnét" began to gain the attention of the public and the national media, with many public road signs in the area regularly being altered to contain the accented character.. Despite some support from residents, Barnet Council has been treating any such alterations to public road signs as vandalism.

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, development has increased considerably, especially in the west of the area near 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.

Health

Barnet is served by Barnet General Hospital which is run by Barnet and Chase Farm NHS Hospitals Trust as part of the UK National Health Service. There is also a National Health Service clinic in Vale Drive (near Barnet Hill and High Barnet tube station).

Education

Primary

• Barnet Hill School
• Christ Church CE School
• Cromer Road Primary School
• Foulds School
• Underhill School
• Whitings Hill School
• St. Catherines School (RC)
• St. Marthas Junior School (Independent RC)

Secondary

• Queen Elizabeth's School for Boys
• Queen Elizabeth's School for Girls
• The Ravenscroft School
• St. Marthas Senior School (Independent RC)
• Susi Earnshaw Theatre School (Independent)

Further

Barnet College has one of its main sites in High Barnet (Wood Street campus) as well as other campuses throughout the London Borough of Barnet.

Shopping

Barnet High Street is a busy shopping area, and includes a small shopping centre (the Spires) behind which is a bus terminus. Shops of note include two branches of W H Smith, a medium-sized Waitrose supermarket, a number of coffee outlets and most recently a Body Shop. Over the past few years however there have been concerns about the closure of a number of premises in the High Street without replacement. This is a common concern in London suburbs where town-centre shopping areas can struggle to compete against larger shopping malls such as the nearby Brent Cross Shopping Centre.

Sport and recreation

Barnet FC are the local football team, currently in Coca Cola league 2. They play at the Underhill Stadium. Shaftesbury Barnet Harriers is a local athletics club. Chipping Barnet has a King George's Field in memorial to King George V.

High Barnet is home to an Odeon cinema, the Barnet Museum, the traditional annual Barnet Fair, the Ravenscroft local park and Barnet recreational park.

High Barnet today is a popular location for restaurants and public houses. Among the cuisines and food choices on offer are Chinese, Thai, Indian, Italian, a French brasserie, numerous fast food outlets and a pancake house.

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, Toby Carvery, The Kings Head, The Monken Holt, The Black Horse, Ye Olde Mitre Inn, After Office Hours, The Hadley Oak, and The Nelson.

Transport links

Buses

A Transport for London "Spider Map" of the routes through High Barnet can be found at map

• 34 - Barnet Church to Walthamstow Central bus/tube/railway station
• 84 - New Barnet railway station to St Albans
• 107 - New Barnet railway station to Edgware bus/tube station
• 184 - Barnet (Chesterfield Road) to Turnpike Lane bus/tube station
• 234 - Barnet (the Spires) to Highgate Wood (Sussex Gardens)
• 263 - Barnet Hospital to Archway tube station
• 307 - Barnet (Arkley Hotel) to Brimsdown railway station
• 326 - Barnet (the Spires) to Brent Cross Shopping Centre
• 383 - Barnet (the Spires) to Woodside Park tube station - Monday to Saturday except late evenings
• 384 - Barnet (Quinta Drive) to Cockfosters tube station
• 389 - Barnet (the Spires) to Barnet (Western Way) - circular service - Monday to Saturday shopping hours only
• 399 - Barnet (the Spires) to Hadley Wood railway station - circular service - Monday to Saturday shopping hours only
• 614 - Queensbury tube station to Hatfield Business Park - Monday to Saturday
• N20 - Trafalgar Square to Barnet Church - night service
• 606 - Ravenscroft School (Barnet) to Queensbury tube station - school service
• 626 - Dame Alice Owens School (Potters Bar) to Finchley Central - school service
• 634 - Muswell Hill Broadway to Barnet Hospital - school service

Tube stations

• - Northern Line

(trains run every 3-9 minutes to Morden via Bank, or to Kennington via Charing Cross, from three southbound platforms)

Nearby:

• Totteridge and Whetstone - Northern Line

Railway stations

There are no overground railway stations in High Barnet itself, but these stations are nearby/can be accessed from High Barnet by bus:

• New Barnet - First Capital Connect (84, 107, 184, 307, 326, 383, 384 buses)
• Oakleigh Park - First Capital Connect (383 bus)
• Hadley Wood - First Capital Connect (399 bus)

Notable residents

• Reginald Maudling local MP 1950 - 1979
• Cyril Bibby, who in 1958-59 was the prospective Labour Party candidate opposing Reginald Maudling
• Robert Carr (Baron Carr of Hadley), Conservative politician
• Sir Sydney Chapman local MP 1979 - 2005
• Peter Banks, 1st guitarist for the band Yes
• Stephen Douglas, Journalist, ITV
• Richard Baker, Broadcaster
• Simon Thomas, Super Awesome
• Samuel Pepys
• Harold Hopkins
• David Livingstone
• Spike Milligan
• John Strugnell Dead Sea Scrolls editor-in-chief and Harvard Professor
• Humphrey Lyttelton, who lived in nearby Arkley
• Norman Wisdom, who lived in nearby Arkley
• Emma Bunton
• David Crawley
• Stephanie Beacham
• William Cattley a popular orchid species cattleya was named after him due to his successful cultivation of lavender colored Cattleya Labiata
• Vincent Tewson
• Lee Thompson (Madness sax player) lives in Barnet
• Elaine Paige was raised in Barnet
• Kingsley Amis lived in Barnet with his son Martin Amis
• Trevor Howard lived in Arkley, frequented The Gate pub

Nearest places

• Monken Hadley
• Battle of Barnet
• Hadley Wood
• Arkley
• East Barnet
• Friern Barnet
• New Barnet
• Totteridge
• Whetstone

References

External links

• The Barnet Society
• Barnet Symphony Orchestra
• Barnet YHA local group