A guide to notable streets within the London Borough of Barnet, main;y gleaned from the various Conservation Area guides to the borough.
Certain streets augmented by material from the Wikipedia.
ABBOTS ROAD
In 1890, the Housing of the Working Classes Act was passed by Parliament. This paved the way for a government programme of inner city slum clearance and replacement house building. Following the First World War, with soldiers returning home in need of houses and jobs, and a precarious post war economy, the government made a promise of ‘Homes for Heroes’. This resulted in pressure to accelerate and expand the house-building programme. In 1919, a new Housing and Town Planning Bill was presented to Parliament. This established the provision of working class housing as a statutory duty of local authorities.
As part of this programme of house building, the London County Council (LCC) built several large housing estates.
The first LCC estates were within the then existing London metropolis. However land prices and space restrictions soon meant that these areas could not accommodate the low density, relatively self contained estates encouraged by the planning and design ethos of the time. The LCC therefore looked to out of town sites along the new underground lines that had made such areas accessible. Watling
Estate was one of the largest of these estates.
The decision to build at Watling Estate, to the designs of the architect George Forrest, was taken in 1924. By April 1927 the first residents moved in. Within 12 months 2,100 families lived on the estate and by 1930 all 4000 dwellings were finished. Although a lot of thought went into the design of the houses and street layouts the estate was not built or designed as a self-contained community. Tenants moved in before schools, roads, churches, shops or any community facilities were provided.
The estate was built for families leaving the overcrowded slums of central London, and Watling Estate was a very alien environment for many of the first residents. Early residents complained of
the quiet, the lack of facilities and the cost. Although the houses were subsidised by the LCC, rents were often higher than people were used to whilst the cost of travelling to jobs further into London and of acquiring furniture often resulted in real hardship.
The London County Council’s allocation policy provided homes only for people living within the existing conurbation of Greater London. This meant that local people, and those growing up on the estate, could not get houses of their own. By 1936 each home housed an average of 4.7 people, but as the first estate children grew up and married, and had to share houses with their parents, overcrowding became a real problem. Over time with older family members passing away, and new housing being built in the area, this problem diminished.
ADAM AND EVE, MILL HILL
The Adam and Eve Public House is set back from the road. It is thought to date from the 17th century. It was once used as a coaching inn but was rebuilt in its present form in 1906.
AYLMER ROAD
Lyttelton Road and Aylmer Road were built in 1931-2.
BANCROFT AVENUE
Bancroft Avenue was laid out in in 1933.
BARNET HIGH STREET
The medieval roads and livestock market at the junction of Wood Street and Barnet High Street gave the area its original importance. During the 18th century, this was superseded by the many inns and taverns along the High Street which served the coaching trade. The area, largely untouched by railway-based suburbanisation, has survived relatively undeveloped, and modern planning and conservation area policies have helped to secure its preservation.
Barnet High Street, later known as The Great North Road, is part of the important route from London to St. Albans (and thence to Holyhead and Ireland) dating from the late 11th century or early 12th
century. Chipping Barnet was one day’s ride from London and, conveniently, half way to St Albans.
WOOD STREET
Wood Street was part of an important medieval east-west route and runs from its junction with Barnet Hill across Barnet Common to Watling Street and on to Watford. It follows a ridge across several hilltops (including Woodcock Hill and Deacons Hill) before joining Watling Street at Brockley Hill, and traces the 130 metre contour with the land to the south falling away steeply to Dollis Brook. The area is largely made up of London clay which, because of its poor draining quality, did not lend itself easily to clearance and agriculture. Consequently, apart from those areas around the road junction, present evidence suggests it remained wooded and unsettled until Tudor times.
BISHOPS GROVE
Bishops Grove was probably the earliest cul-de-sac off of The Bishops Avenue, the roadway being visible on the 1935 Ordnance Survey map (but no houses built at that time). Houses and plots are of a generous size. Byron Drive and White Lodge Close followed and, after Canons Close, Arden Court Gardens. The houses in these cul-de-sacs are smaller and sit within more modest plots. The cul-de-sacs tend to have a secluded air with building sizes on a smaller domestic scale resembling the adjacent Hampstead Garden Suburb.
BRUCE ROAD
Occupying part of the same block, and adjacent to Barnet market along St Albans Road, is Bruce Road. Bruce Road contains three, two storey properties, with commercial/retail use on the ground floor. These are certainly as old as the market, but would appear to have been extended and altered.
BURNT OAK BROADWAY
Burnt Oak Broadway runs directly to the west of the Watling Estate. It is along the route of the pre-Roman part of Watling Street, which crossed the Thames around Lambeth and by Roman times ran on to St Albans. Such long distance roads did not necessarily generate settlements except where there was some local reason for growth such as a market. This was not the case at Burnt Oak. Little development was attracted to the area until the last century. The Hyde, to the south of Watling Estate, was recorded in 1281 and for about 600 years appears to have been the only settlement along the Edgware Road between Cricklewood and Edgware.
CAMLET WAY
The tree-lined Camlet Way branches off to the north east from Hadley Green Road.
It is believed that the transverse cross-country route from Brockley Hill to Colchester, built by the Romans, corresponds with the alignment of Camlet Way. Indeed, the Roman name for Colchester is Camulodunum.
It is a narrow lane, but with a pedestrian walkway and green verge on the built side. The southern side remains an open boundary with sweeping views onto the Common and across towards the houses on the other side of Hadley Common and Hadley Woods to the east.
CAMPION TERRACE
Campion Terrace was built at a later date from the other Railway Terraces.
When the terraces were first built the influence of the railway pervaded every aspect of the area. All but Midland Terrace were named after prominent railway officials of the time and there is evidence that each row was allocated to workers doing a specific job, for example, drivers or firemen. The Railway Company could control many aspects of its workers lives, for example there were ‘knockers up’ who made sure workers were not late for their shifts. Until 1952 all the roads were private and once a year a gate at the junction of Gratton Terrace and Cricklewood Broadway was closed to legally ensure their private status. In October 1952 the roads and footpaths were adopted as public highway. Campion Terrace, the last to be built, is approximately a third of the length of the other terraces. The space now left at the end of Campion Terrace appears to have originally formed part of the railway yard. This area appears to have been used as allotments before 1939, later becoming redundant and was used as an informal dump until it was converted back to allotments in the late 1970’s. There are now twenty four plot holders working plots of various sizes. The allotments are very well used by local residents and act as a buffer between the terraces and the industrial units and railway beyond.
CANONS CLOSE
In the mid 60s when Canons Close and the houses on it were built on the north and east grounds of the Bishop’s Avenue house called East Weald. Similar cul-de-sac developments at White Lodge Close, Bishop’s Grove, Byron Close and Arden Court Gardens followed to meet the high demand for an address on The Bishop’s Avenue whose fame had now spread abroad.
COLLEGE TERRACE
College Terrace is a descent from Hendon Lane into Regents Park Road. It is a narrow, quiet, residential street with a pavement on one side only. Small Victorian terraced housing fronts the street
whilst large London plane trees enclose the other side, set along the boundary of Pardes House School.
CRICKLEWOOD BROADWAY
Edgware Road, (of which Cricklewood Broadway forms part) is within the pre-Roman part of Watling Street which crossed the Thames around Lambeth and by Roman times ran on to St Albans. Such long distance roads did not necessarily generate settlements except where there was some local reason for growth such as a market – not the case for Cricklewood. The Place Name Society records ‘le Crickelwode’ as existing in 1294 and by 1860 Cricklewood was a small rural settlement.
DEANSWAY
Deansway was laid out in 1928.
DURY ROAD
Dury Road and Hadley Green Road provide the northern and eastern boundaries respectively on Hadley Green.
Dury Road branches off from Hadley Green in a south-easterly direction and contains many high quality and listed properties.
ENFIELD CHASE
Enfield Chase was owned by the Duchy of Lancaster and was a favourite hunting ground of James I. Some 300 head of deer roamed feely and without enclosure. Records show that the landscape was wild and remained uncultivated for centuries, containing only isolated hamlets, cottages and dwellings. By 1777, Enfield Chase was enclosed.
FORTESCUE ROAD
The Watling Estate lies close to the line of Watling Street, a pre-Roman Road. In 1971 excavations on the estate revealed 3rd and 4th century pottery, animal bone, building material and a small bronze coin dated about AD 270-300. It has been suggested that the Roman settlement of Sullonicae, usually presumed to have been at Brockley Hill, was in fact further south on the Watling Estate.
Subsequently, an area around Watling Avenue enclosed by Fortescue Road, Gunter Grove, Thirleby Road and Gervase Road is an Area of Special Archaeological Significance.
GLENHILL CLOSE
Glenhill Close is located due south of Finchley Central Tube station. This small estate of privately-owned flats lies between Lichfield Grove and The Avenue, an historic footpath running between Regents Park Road and Manor View.
The land on which Glenhill Close now sits was formerly part of the Bibbesworth Manor, the sub-manor of Finchley, first called a manor in 1319. Thomas Allen was the squire of the manor who owned much of the land around Church End. Bibbesworth manor house stood at the centre of the estate, between Church End and East End (now East Finchley). It was the largest house in the parish in 1664. The existing manor house on the site dates from 1723 and is used by the Sternberg Institute.
In the latter part of the 19th century the land on which Glenhill Close now stands had not been developed but fell within the curtilage of a Victorian villa called ‘The Limes’ on Regents Park Road, owned by Hugh Taylor a Justice of the Peace.
This building was demolished between 1912-15 and was replaced by the New Bohemia Cinema, built in 1920. This cinema survived until 1959 and stood on the site now occupied by Gateway House.
Glenhill Close was developed in two distinct phases, the first and most architecturally impressive phase was in 1936 when 46 flats were constructed.
At this time the Cymric Tennis Club, which dates from the 1920s, occupied the south-western part of the site and thus limited this first phase to six 2-storey blocks. The tennis club disappeared in the late 1950s and in 1961 the second phase of development consisting of four, 2-storey blocks containing 20 flats, commenced.
The flats at Glenhill Close were designed at a time when the Modern Movement was in vogue, and the buildings reflected this architectural style which was initiated by Walter Gropius and others in Germany and Holland in the 1910s. In London the Modern Movement came to the notice of the general public principally through Dr. Charles Holden’s underground stations of the 1930s, including Southgate, Arnos Grove and East Finchley.
Initially, English modernist architects designed detached houses for wealthy clients and it wasn’t until around 1932 that London’s speculative builders took up the fashion.
The typical speculative builder tended to look upon the use of an architect as something of a luxury and therefore, once familiar with the layout and design of a house the builder would proceed by rule of thumb to save architects fees.
Also, once architectural designs had been acquired they would be used time and time again on different sites. This appears to be the case at Glenhill Close where no reference is made to the architect in the council’s Building Control records. The builder Messrs. George Payne & Co. of Lyttelton Road, London N2 used the same design of building on two other sites in the local area (at Gainsborough Court, Nether Street, N3 and at Ossulton Way, N2) both of which were constructed at around the same time as Glenhill Close was built.
Blocks of self-contained flats first began to appear in the London suburbs from about 1934 frequently with the name ‘. . . Court’ (in fact the Glenhill Close flats were originally named Glenhill Court). These flats were often erected in areas which had not previously been developed, as well as on sites formerly occupied by large Victorian villas.
GOLDERS GREEN ROAD
Golders Green at the end of the 18th Century was a widened area of common land on either side of the road to Hendon. This area, known as the ‘waste’, was approximately 400 – 500 yards wide and one mile long. The two larger landholders were the Dean & Chapter of Westminster and the Eton College Trustees. Minor enclosure of the ‘waste’ had been happening since 1700 but with the creation of the new road (Finchley Road), the land near Temple Fortune was added to adjoining fields between 1826 and 1860. By 1880 most of the open land had been enclosed but the area was still defined by modest country villas and farms surrounded by fields. The new Finchley Road had surprisingly little development impact at Golders Green but did make a major difference at Tally Ho, further north. The only major development up to the end of the 19th Century was the Jewish Cemetery (1897) and the Golders Green Crematorium, the first of its kind in London, which opened in 1902.
The creation of Golders Green as we see it today came with the arrival of the underground railway. Early attempts to bring the railways through this part of London had failed and it was largely thanks to the energy and vision of Charles Yerkes that the underground railway came into being. He was an American financier and entrepreneur responsible for the building of street and elevated railways in Philadelphia and Chicago. Experience had convinced him that people and homes followed the railways and it was thanks to his foresight that the proposed underground railway from Charing Cross to Hampstead extended through the Northern Heights to terminate at the road junction at Golders Green.
Development pressure followed this decision and predated the opening of the station in 1907 by about two years. Finchley Road was provided with sewers and also widened, and local buildings’ byelaws were amended, all in readiness for the anticipated housing. In addition this was also the period when the tram system was developed and tracks were laid along the Finchley Road for the trams which ran from the end of 1909.
Estate agent and entrepreneur Ernest Owers and others quickly saw the potential and between 1907 and 1911 roads were laid out and some 744 homes were built. To the north, Dame Henrietta Barnett, together with Parker and Unwin, was laying out Hampstead Garden Suburb, but with no shops there, the opportunity for the development of shopping parades at Golders Green was evident. The parades were built between 1909 and 1918. The developers were Ernest Owers, A. J. Edmonson, and James and Leslie Raymond of Hodford Farm; the architects were Herbert A. Welch, working with H. Clifford Hollis and T. Merrison Garrood for the main parades, and others for individual shops. They were widely held to be the finest shops outside of the West End and were hugely popular.
Entertainment came with the Ionic Cinema (now the Sainsbury’s site on Finchley Road) and the Hippodrome Theatre, both in 1913. The Great War however brought this first phase of development to an end.
The second phase of development took place between 1924 – 1930 when the railway was extended to Hendon and then to Edgware, forming the arches and bridges which are important aspects of the character of the area. This brought new shops further along Golders Green Road, and infill development near the station, again largely by Herbert A. Welch and his partner H. Clifford Hollis. Welch had also secured the commission to design the centrepiece War Memorial that was unveiled in 1923. By 1930 the area was substantially complete with St Albans the Martyr Church, begun in 1909 and completed in 1933, a slightly later addition.
A key characteristic of the area is that, by and large, the same people built it all, in a relatively short period of time, in two phases 1907 – 1918 and 1924 – 30. This contributes considerably to its architectural and planning cohesion.
GRATTON TERRACE
When the Midland Railway built the St Pancras to Bedford line in the 1860s, it purchased 150 acres of former agricultural land in Cricklewood. Part of this land was used to build an extensive depot and marshalling yard to service the London end of the line. The depot sat by the junction of the main line and the Cricklewood Curve, a line which ran from Cricklewood to Acton where, by 1884, it connected with the Great Western and London and South Western lines. Work started on the depot with the building of a large engine shed in 1882 followed by sidings and dispatching sites for coal
and other goods.
Directly south of what was the depot, construction of the Railway Terraces as housing for rail workers commenced in the late 1860s. There are five terraces in all; Gratton Terrace, facing Cricklewood
Broadway, and Midland, Johnston, Needham and Campion Terraces behind. An institute for the education of workers was built at the end of Gratton Terrace but has since been demolished and replaced by Dorchester Court. There is also a former railway hostel at the end of Gratton Terrace which was built after 1894, and is now the Sindhi Centre.
Gratton Terrace consists entirely of larger houses, built for higher grade railway workers. These houses face onto Cricklewood Broadway, are built on a grander scale with more ornate architectural detailing and feature large rear gardens.
A row of six shops with flats above, known as Burlington Parade, was built fronting Cricklewood Broadway and backing onto Gratton Terrace in 1908.
Originally Gratton Terrace was divided into four blocks of ten houses and the access roads which divide the back terraces, passed between these blocks to reach the grass bank running along Cricklewood Broadway. At some point between 1915 and 1936 however, houses were built as infill development on two of these access roads linking three of the earlier blocks to create a continuous
block of 34 houses on Gratton Terrace.
GRAVEL HILL
Gravel Hill provides a steep descent, to the junction with East End Road. With pavements on both sides of the road, a few street trees of mediocre quality surround St. Phillip the Apostle Catholic Church complex at its south-eastern end.
The village pond at the junction of Hendon Lane with Gravel Hill was filled in on 1 January 1885.
In 1888, Finchley Council established a voluntary fire brigade near the top of Gravel Hill which remained at this location until 1933. From 1940 onwards the centre of Church End moved closer to the station, where newer shops had emerged along Ballards Lane. Parades of shops were built along the route from 1899 onwards.
GREAT NORTH ROAD
St-Mary-at-Finchley Church is first mentioned in 1274. Finchley Church End derives its name from this.
In 1350 a new northerly route from London was opened as the Bishop allowed travellers to pass through his park. This ran from the north of the city, through Highgate, Finchley, and Chipping Barnet and on to St Albans. A small settlement grew up near a gate at the foot of the hill. This became known as East End (now known as East Finchley). North End (which is now known as North Finchley) developed when the road from Totteridge met the new highway. The enhancement of The Great North Road provided the stimulus for the establishment of inns, smithies and other supporting services along the route and clusters of development such as Finchley Church End began to grow.
HADLEY COMMON
By 1777, Hadley Common was allotted to the freeholders and copyholders of Hadley.
Hadley Common, which includes Hadley Woods, is managed under its own Act of Parliament made in 1777. The freehold of the Common is vested in the church wardens of Monken Hadley Church in perpetuity in trust for the commoners who have their own rules concerning vehicular access, grazing and use of the woods by the public. Therefore, although it is used by the public for recreational purposes the Common is not in public ownership.
The five gates exist as points of access and must remain as long as grazing rights exist.
HAMMERS LANE
Hammers Lane accommodates the Linen and Woollen Drapers Cottages Homes (now known as The Retail Trust). The Retail Trust serves a specific sector of the local elderly population i.e. assisting retired people from the Drapery trade with a minimum of 15 years service. It is a semi institutional development, which sits either side of the road and is comprised of compact one and two storey cottages in the Arts and Crafts tradition. A central two – storey building (Marshall Hall) sits within the development on the eastern side of the road and is complemented by a number of new buildings providing both residential and community type uses for the residents.
HENDON LANE
In 1659 Hendon Lane, running from Hendon to Church End was known as Finchley Hill. Around this time the common was gradually tamed and put to pasture. In turn small dairies grew up, each one serving a hinterland of about five miles, but the most important crop was hay for the large horse population of London. Apart from a scattering of services to support the north-south route, Finchley Church End was inhabited, in the main, by agricultural labourers associated with these crops. The Anglican community set up a National School in 1813. It was later established as St. Mary’s School. The infant school building still remains on the site. The Queens Head Public House was located next to the Church in Hendon Lane but it burned down in 1833 and was eventually relocated to the junction of Regents Park Road and East End Road.
In 1911, King Edwards Hall replaced Clements Nursery at the junction of Hendon Lane and Regents Park Road.
JOHNSTON TERRACE
1890s. Johnston Terrace and Midland Terrace together comprises two perfectly straight lines of 40 and 44 two-storey houses facing each other across a communally managed grassed swathe. The terraces are divided into four equal blocks by access roads running from south-west to north-east. Each line of houses is backed by a service road.
KITTS END ROAD
The Battle of Barnet took place in 1471 between the Earl of Warwick and King Edward IV. This was the last but one battle in the Wars of the Roses and took place within sight of the church. An obelisk to commemorate the battle was erected in 1740 by Sir Jeremy Sambrook at the original junction of the Great North Road and the old road to St Albans, now known as Kitts End Road. This was before Telford constructed the present Great North Road route in 1826 through the yard of the Green Man public house, by-passing the thriving hamlet of Kitts End. Before this road was built, up to 150 coaches a day would have crossed Hadley Green, fostering a plague of highwayman, including Dick Turpin. The degree of bustle and activity along the route may well have been comparable to conditions pertaining today.
LAWRENCE STREET
As London grew, the pressure of a rising urban population nearby led to farming in the Mill Hill area, despite the poor soil. Farming focused increasingly on pasture, including dairy cattle and as London’s horse population increased, hay production also expanded. Without refrigeration, meat had to be brought as far as possible on the hoof, and was then sold on by drovers. The combination of roads for access and manorial wastes for grazing was ideal. The fields along Lawrence Street, then known as Gladwyn Street, produced hay for the Cumberland Market in London. Mill Hill still has examples of the surviving hay meadows and pastures which form some of the richest grassland communities in London.
LICHFIELD GROVE
The suburbanisation of Finchley began in earnest in 1867 with the opening of an overland railway line from Finsbury Park through Church End to Mill Hill and Edgware. A branch from Church End to Woodside Park and High Barnet opened in 1872.
Soon after the arrival of the railway, a wave of new housing was built in the area around the station, including Lichfield Grove (in 1869), Long Lane and Station Road. It wasn’t until 1939 however, that a tunnel was built to connect East Finchley with Archway and thus provide direct access to the West End of London.
LYTTELTON ROAD
Lyttelton Road was built in 1931-2. The houses near to the crossing of The Bishops Avenue are more modest than elsewhere in this area of the ‘super-rich’. Many of the buildings follow vernacular styles, using traditional materials and design features.
MARKET PLACE
Market Place, in Finchley, was the site of the largest pig market in Middlesex, founded in the late 17th Century. Pigs would be fattened on grain left over from London’s gin distilleries before being sold on to London butchers. In the 19th Century the market declined in importance and was only held once a week, and towards the end of the century was reduced to occasional auctions.
From the earliest days, the market had a reputation for squalor and immorality. The notorious highwayman and burglar Jack Sheppard was held at the George Inn on Market Place following his fourth arrest whilst disguised as a butcher.
Following heavy bombing during World War II the market was extensively rebuilt, with most of the shops closing. The last shops closed on the street in 1973, and the only commercial premises remaining is a single pub, the Duke of Cambridge. However, the area maintained its association with pig farming well into the 20th Century, with a herd of 25 pigs kept on nearby Prospect Place as late as 1955.
No trace of the market now exists other than the road name.
MIDLAND TERRACE
Built in 1869 or slightly before. Gratton, Midland and Needham Terraces were the first to be built of Cricklewood’s Railway Terraces with Johnston Terrace being added between Midland and Needham Terraces by the 1890s and Campion Terrace being built at a later date.
The conservation area has few access points and is therefore isolated and self-contained. It is made up of three parallel terraced roads bisected at points by perpendicular Ways namely, Hudson Way,
Rockhall Way and Allotment Way.
MILL HILL SCHOOL
Mill Hill School was founded as a Protestant Dissenters Academy in 1807 on the estate of noted botanist Peter Collinson. Many of the shrubs and trees still to be found on the Mill Hill estate date from Collinson’s time.
MONKEN HADLEY
The character of Monken Hadley stems from a long association with a predominantly rural society. It was originally part of Middlesex, then later part of East Barnet District in Hertfordshire between 1895 and 1965. It is now part of the London Borough of Barnet.
Notable historical buildings, large areas of rough poorly drained common land, winding lanes and scattered groups of oaks and other native trees are reminders of early activity and settlement.
The church of St Mary the Virgin is the focal point in Monken Hadley and lies close to the crossing of ancient roads.
The earliest references to the area are Anglo-Saxon and it is thought to be of this origin. Before the Norman Conquest it was known as Suthawe – Borham, meaning ‘South Wood’ and at that time formed part of the Edmonton Hundred. Hadley is the Saxon name for high places which it is thought may refer to Hadley as being part of middle Saxon country, then Middlesex. However, no Saxon dwelling sites or other works have been found. Monken is said to refer to the Abbey of Walden, Essex – a hermitage at Hadley along with a church at Edmonton was given to the Abbey in the 12th century.
The existing building on the site of St Mary the Virgin is very ancient and was built in 1494 and refaced in the 19th century. The tower has a famous cresset beacon, originally used to guide travellers across Enfield Chase and reputed to have signalled the approach of the Spanish Armada.
Nowadays it is lit to celebrate coronations and royal jubilees. The original use of the beacon is reputed to have been in the day rather than night and through producing smoke, not fire, which was visible from a considerable distance.
NEEDHAM TERRACE
The terraces to the rear of Gratton Terrace are smaller dwellings, featuring a minimum of architectural detailing and small back yards facing onto narrow service roads. There is currently an open green swathe between Midland and Johnston Terrace and individual garden plots between Needham and Campion Terraces. In 1894 the green swathe was in existence but Campion Terrace was not built and the houses in Needham Terrace did not appear to have front gardens. At some time before 1962 the green swathe between Midland and Johnston Terrace was divided into individual garden plots, possibly during the Second World War as part of the war effort to grow food.
OLD FOLD CLOSE
Old fold Close branches off from Old Fold Lane and contains handsome locally listed properties.
On one side is the listed Old Fold Manor Golf Club House, two houses dated c.1820. It was adapted in the early 20th century by Charles Weymouth as a clubhouse with an added central link with four columns. Next door, the listed Old Ford Manor House of c1750 is also a fine stuccoed five bay building. There are the remains of a moat to the west. The Manor faces (although set back) onto the Green
and there is a path which leads onto the Green along the front of the Manor.
OLD FOLD LANE
Old Fold Lane contains a group of attractive Victorian terraced properties on one side only, facing the high boundary vegetation of the golf course, although, there are glimpsed views beyond.
REGENTS PARK ROAD
In the 1820s the look of the area was changed by the development of London’s transport network. Until this time the only route from Temple Fortune to Finchley was along a road called Ducksetters Lane. This ran parallel to the present Regents Park Road, to the west, and terminated where Gravel Hill is today. The road then passed along the very top part of Hendon Lane, before continuing north as Ballards Lane. In 1826 an Act of Parliament meant the construction of a new turnpike road between Marylebone and North Finchley. Today, in Church End, this road is called Regents Park Road, which replaced Ducksetters Lane.
The area still provided for the needs of travellers until the coming of the railways in the 1830s, when the local economy began to suffer following a decline in coaching. At this point new development began to appear, in particular market gardens.
In 1867, the Edgware, Highgate and London Railway opened a station at Finchley, now known as Finchley Central Station, on the Northern Line. This provided the stimulus for the rapid development of
new housing estates. News of the creation of a tramline between Golders Green and North Finchley encouraged further suburban development as it provided ordinary people with a means of travelling into central London for work. From 1874 a nursery, known as Clements Nursery, was trading at the junction of Regents Park Road and Hendon Lane.
RISING SUN, MILL HILL
Rising Sun Public House in Highwood Hill was once part of the Highwood House estate. Like all such taverns in Mill Hill, it was a dwelling house, with the owner or tenant licenced to sell ale. It is
surrounded by listed buildings and a picturesque setting.
ST ANDREW’S CHURCH, TOTTERIDGE
The origin of Totteridge is as an agricultural settlement and its importance for the local economy continued into the early 20th century. Totteridge still has some of London’s richest surviving hay pastures and three 18th century barns. The early farmhouses scattered across the ridge were modest, timber framed buildings, rural in character. Several still survive contributing to the character of the area.
The medieval feudal system with its ecclesiastical overlord led to the building of a 13th century chapel in Totteridge. It was dedicated to the patron saint of Ely. The chapel encouraged the bishops of Ely to use Totteridge as a stopping point from London to Ely. St. Andrew’s Church is built on the site of the earlier chapel and is still important as a focal point for the village and the local community. St Andrew’s Church is of 13th century origins and was originally name St Etheldreda (Latin) or St Audrey’s (in the vernacular) after the founder of Ely Cathedral. It became St Andrew’s in
1570 following the dissolution of the monasteries to remove this link with the Roman Catholic church. The current building is a Regency style church in 1790 on the same site as the original church. The wooden tower, constructed of Hertfordshire weatherboarding, possibly dates from the Elizabethan era.
SYDNEY CHAPMAN WAY
Sydney Chapman Way divides the eastern side of Hadley Green.
TAYLORS LANE
Taylors Lane leads off Hadley Highstone (on the west side), around to Old Fold Lane and contains pretty, modest cottages notable as a group and built in close proximity.
THE AVENUE
The Avenue is derived from a line of trees planted by Elizabeth King whose husband was Lord of the Manor in 1600.
The Avenue now runs on to the Avenue House Estate, running east off Regents Park Road, separating the modern office blocks from the large red brick residential complex of Spencer Court.
Avenue House was built in 1859, with its neighbour Hertford Lodge built in 1869. Both villas were built in a similar style in stucco and slate with tall chimneys in the Italianate style. Avenue House was owned by Henry Charles Stephens, the ink manufacturer, and was left to the people of Finchley on his death. Today the estate comprises of a picturesque collection of buildings and landscaped grounds used as a local park.
THE BISHOP’S AVENUE
The Bishop’s Avenue runs north to south from the Great North Road, Cherry Tree Hill at East Finchley to Hampstead Lane and is crossed by Lyttleton Road, the A1. It is part of Hampstead Garden Suburb Conservation Area and forms its eastern boundary. There are approximately 110 properties on The Bishops Avenue and its cul-de-sacs.
The Bishop’s Avenue was constructed in 1887 on land which had at one time been part of the Bishop of London’s hunting park (The Bishop of London was Lord of the Manor of Finchley until the transfer of all episcopal land to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners in 1868).
As the whole of this area was owned by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners this allowed for a cohesive approach to the layout of the road. A nicely judged use of the topography of the land took the winding road through Bishop’s Wood to the south and the farm land to the north. Prior to its creation no development is known of except Bishop’s Lodge to the east. The first buildings were mainly in various aspects of the vernacular revival and Arts and Crafts style.
The Bishop’s Avenue is a wide road which gently meanders along its length. The land rises to the south and west. These characteristics allow for an interesting variation in views along its length with many enticing deflected views and elevated positions. The sweep up to Hampstead Lane is particularly impressive which, when viewed from the south, becomes a strong elegant entrance. This is enhanced by the lines of trees which form a link between the treed bank within Kenwood and the Arcadian quality of the Avenue itself. Hampstead Lane forms a strong visual stop to enclose this end of the Avenue. Breaks between trees allow for glimpsed views of the buildings and grounds with the horizon filled with roof scapes and trees behind, further enclosing the Avenue.
From the north the sweep of the road guides the viewer into the Avenue but, unlike Hampstead Lane, the Great North Road is not such an effective view stop. Here the houses are closer to the road as in the rest of Hampstead Garden Suburb, although this more intimate relationship to the east is off-set by the elevated position of the houses to the west.
From the beginning it was intended to be the setting for expensive houses. The area around East Finchley station had already been urbanised with many new inhabitants coming from inner London, but the open spaces of land that is now the Hampstead Heath extension, Hampstead Garden Suburb and the Hampstead Golf Course helped to provide an exceptionally rural setting which has continued to make for high house prices. Plots were originally let on 99 year and, more rarely 999 year leases and in 1894, building began. Twelve houses with large grounds existed by 1906.
The Ordnance Survey map of 1912 shows the group of Hampstead Garden Suburb Trust houses (which had bought plots to the north of Deansway), the convalescent home at East Finchley, a scattering of unnamed houses to the west along the middle and, grouped together at the southern (Hampstead) end by far the largest houses and plots; East Weald, Bishop’s Mead, Baron’s Court, Kenmore and Dane Court.
To the south of Bishop’s Mead the area is identified as a Sports Ground, while opposite, and completing the southern end of The Bishop’s Avenue, the land had been divided into three plots featuring Eaglecliff, Chelwood and Heath Lodge. Along the centre most plots had been built on, notable houses included Wyldewood, Oak Lodge, Kenstead Hall, Gable Lodge, Stratheden , Turquoise, White Walls and the original Wacousta and the Towers. North of Deansway the Hampstead Garden Suburb Trust had built a number of smaller houses in its more restrained vernacular revival style. With the exception of one or two plots, The Bishop’s Avenue street scene was largely complete.
Development had proceeded during these years at a fairly leisurely pace yet despite becoming known as Millionaires Row (largely because of the mansions built for famous stars of the time like Gracie Fields), the road remained untarmacked until 1935.
Although some of the houses built between the wars are of high architectural quality (some by Hepworth, Smith and Brewer, Sutcliffe and Soutar) and all carried forward vernacular revival details and materials, a number fail to exhibit the architectural skill to be found at Hampstead Garden Suburb. Indeed some are a little architecturally showy, no doubt influenced by the styles of the homes of the stars in Hollywood.
The Bishop’s Avenue continues to be the setting for homes for the rich and was already known as ‘Millionaires Row’ by the 1930s. Early residents of The Bishop’s Avenue were often successful in business or showbusiness stars and, from the beginning, public attitudes were tinged with a certain snobbery about new money and poorly educated taste.
For a while ‘East Finchley’ (that is The Bishop’s Avenue) was the butt of Variety show jokes.
The Avenue has long had an exclusive atmosphere which separates it, and its residents, from many of the surrounding areas. Such riches quickly became the target of criminals and the Avenue was known for a while as ‘Burglars’ Avenue. Equally, scandal and notoriety have long been associated with The Bishop’s Avenue, its history being embellished with many famous incidents and, some infamous residents.
The Bishop’s Avenue acts as a well-defined boundary between the surrounding neighbourhoods whilst at the same time the road acts as a link, in terms of both access and built form and character. This unique position is illustrated by the surrounding borough boundaries. Three boroughs meet at the southern end of The Bishop’s Avenue: the London Boroughs of Barnet, Camden and Haringey. The boundary between Haringey and Barnet runs northward along the eastern side of The Avenue at the rear boundaries of the properties, whilst the boundary with Camden is at Hampstead Lane.
THE RIDGEWAY
Most of Mill Hill lies over heavy clay soil which whilst good for supporting woodland, is far from ideal for crops. Due to land drainage problems early settlement tended to be close to the top of rising land. Early settlers connected early roads (often using the gravel capped ridge ways). This development pattern is still evident today with The Ridgeway and the primary ancient track way running the length of Mill Hill (with few interconnecting roads to the valley floor).
The Mill was mentioned as far back as 1321 in the Black Survey of Hendon. In 1353, Stephen Nicoll, a founder of one of the oldest families in Hendon is recorded in Westminster Abbey Manorial Accounts as the Miller and owner of a farm on Le Ridgeway. In 1353, there were identifiable communities forming along the road, one at the top of Milespit Hill ‘the village,’ a group of buildings around the Angel Pond and quarter of a mile north a community centred around the mill at the junction of Hammers Lane and The Ridgeway. For a long time, Highwood Hill remained distinct from Mill Hill.
The Ridgeway today is a green, open and spacious main road which curves gently through lush surroundings. The scale and formality of the large institutional buildings tend to dominate the neat and tended wide grass verges and pavements, dominant tree line and numerous green openings along its length.
TOTTERIDGE LANE
Totteridge Lane was virtually undeveloped until the late 19th century and as it was built over a relatively short period of time (between 1884 and 1914) it has a more defined and cohesive character than other areas.
UNION STREET
Union Street, laid out in 1835, was conceived as a short cut between Barnet High Street and Wood Street to avoid the congestion at ‘The Squeeze’, Middle Row and the market around the front of St
John the Baptist Church. Union Street was so named to lead the destitute to the Union Workhouse (now part of Barnet Hospital) thus avoiding their use of Wood Street.
WINTERSTOKE GARDENS
Winterstoke Gardens at the southern end of Hammers Lane is a small development of sizeable two storey properties in the Arts and Crafts tradition, reminiscent of Garden City planning.