Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for BARNET

BARNET, a town, a parish a subdistrict, and a district, in Herts and Middlesex. The town is called also Chipping-Barnet and High-Barnet. It is partly in the parish of Barnet, Herts, and partly in the parish of South Mimms, Middlesex; and it stands on the top of an eminence, on the great north road, 1½ mile WNW of a station of its own name on the Great Northern railway, 9¼ miles N by W of King's Cross, London. It consists principally of one street upwards of a mile long. St. John's church is an edifice of 1400, erected by John Moot, abbot of St. Albans; has a square embattled tower; and contains monuments of the Ravenscrofts and others. Christ church, on Barnet common, is a recent erection. There are a chapel for Independents, a grammar-school, founded by Queen Elizabeth in 1573, two of alms houses, founded in the time of Charles II. and in 1729, charities altogether to the yearly value of £870, and a workhouse built at a cost of £3,757. The town has a head post office, a telegraph office at the railway station, and two chief inns; and publishes a weekly newspaper. A weekly market on Monday used to be largely attended, but has become nearly extinct. Fairs are held on 8,9, and 10 April, and on 4,5, and 6 Sept.; and races are run, on Barnet Heath, after the fairs. Much business arose, in the ante-railway times, from the daily transit of nearly 150 public coaches; but this has perished. Several fine seats are in the vicinity; and the place has become a resort for summer residence by the merchants of London. A mineral spring on Barnet Common was discovered in 1652. At the twelfth milestone from London, N of the town, stands a stone column, commemorative of the battle of Barnet Field, fought there in 1471, between the army of the House of York, headed by Edward IV., and that of the House of Lancaster, headed by the Earl of Warwick.

The parish of Barnet bears also the name of Chipping-Barnet; and lies wholly in Herts. Acres, together with the parish of East Barnet, 3,185. Real property, £10,829. Pop., 2,989. Houses, 475. The manor belonged to the abbots of St. Albans. The living is a rectory, with Arkley chapelry, in the diocese of Rochester. Value, £435. Patron, the Crown. Christ church is a separate p. curacy.-The subdistrict comprises the parish of Hadley in Middlesex, and the parishes of Barnet, East Barnet, and Totteridge in Herts. Acres, 7,312. Pop., 5,466. Houses, 929. The district comprehends also the subdistrict of South Mimms, containing the parish of South Mimms, in Middlesex and the parishes of Elstree, Shenley, and Ridge, in Herts; and the subdistrict of Finchley, containing the parishes of Finchley and Fryern-Barnet, in Middlesex.-Poor-rates in 1866, £10,392. Pop. in 1841, 13,759; in 1861, 19,128. Houses, 3,216. Marriages in 1866, 108; births, 552,-of which 14 were illegitimate; deaths, 570,-of which 127 were at ages under 5 years, and 6 at ages above 85 years. Marriages in the ten years 1851-60,596; births, 4,125; deaths, 4,179. The places of worship in 1851 were 16 of the Church of England, with 5,552 sittings; 5 of Independents, with 1,478 s.; 1 of Baptists, with 200 s.; 4 of Wesleyan Methodists, with 520 s.; and 1 of Roman Catholics, with 40 s. The schools were 31 public-day schools, with 2,107 scholars; 32 private day schools, with 644 s.; 15 Sunday schools, with 1,292 s.; and 3 evening schools for adults, with 56s.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a town, a parish a subdistrict, and a district"   (ADL Feature Type: "cities")
Administrative units: Barnet SubD       Barnet RegD/PLU       Hertfordshire AncC       Middlesex AncC
Place: Barnet

Go to the linked place page for a location map, and for access to other historical writing about the place. Pages for linked administrative units may contain historical statistics and information on boundaries.