The North London Coroner's Court is a municipal building located at 29 Wood Street,

Chipping Barnet Chipping Barnet or High Barnet is a suburban market town in north London, forming part of the London Borough of Barnet, England. It is a suburban development built around a 12th-century settlement, and is located north-northwest of Charing Cr ...

, London. The building, which served as Barnet Town Hall, is a Grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

History

In the early 20th century Barnet Urban District Council was based at council offices at No. 40 High Street in Chipping Barnet. After the existing council offices were deemed inadequate for their needs (the building was a narrow terraced building in a row of commercial properties), civic leaders decided to procure purpose-built council offices: the site selected had previously been occupied by the Old Barnet Brewery Company for which liquidation proceedings started in 1909 and were completed in 1912. The new building, which was designed by William Bartlett Chancellor in the English Baroque style, was completed in 1915. The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with five bays facing onto Wood Street; the central section featured a doorway with a stone surround flanked by

Ionic order The Ionic order is one of the three canonic orders of classical architecture, the other two being the Doric and the Corinthian. There are two lesser orders: the Tuscan (a plainer Doric), and the rich variant of Corinthian called the composite or ...

columns and an arched pediment bearing the town's

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central ele ...

above; there was a window with projecting flagpole on the first floor and semi-circular pediment bearing an

oculus Oculus (a term from Latin ''oculus'', meaning 'eye'), may refer to the following Architecture * Oculus (architecture), a circular opening in the centre of a dome or in a wall Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Oculus'' (film), a 2013 American ...

above; a

turret Turret may refer to: * Turret (architecture), a small tower that projects above the wall of a building * Gun turret, a mechanism of a projectile-firing weapon * Objective turret, an indexable holder of multiple lenses in an optical microscope * Mi ...

was erected on the roof. The building was subsequently extended at the rear. The building continued to be the headquarters of Barnet Urban District Council for much of the 20th century but ceased to be the local seat of government when the

London Borough of Barnet The London Borough of Barnet () is a suburban London boroughs, London borough in North London. The borough was formed in 1965 from parts of the ceremonial counties of Middlesex and Hertfordshire. It forms part of Outer London and is the largest ...

was formed in 1965. The building was then used for a variety of purposes including as a location for the television drama series ''

Midsomer Murders ''Midsomer Murders'' is a British crime drama television series, adapted by Anthony Horowitz and Douglas Watkinson from the novels in the '' Chief Inspector Barnaby'' book series (created by Caroline Graham), and broadcast on two channels of I ...

'' broadcast in June 2002. It also served as the home of the Barnet register office until it moved to

Burnt Oak Burnt Oak is a suburb of London, England, located northwest of Charing Cross. It lies to the west of the M1 motorway between Edgware and Colindale, located predominantly in the London Borough of Barnet, with parts comprising the London Boroughs ...

Edgware Edgware () is a suburban town in northern Greater London, mostly in the London Borough of Barnet but with small parts falling in the London Borough of Harrow and in the London Borough of Brent. Edgware is centred north-northwest of Charing Cros ...

in around 2008. After a major programme of refurbishment works costing £275,000, the north London Coroner' Court, which had previously been based at Myddelton Road in

Hornsey Hornsey is a district of north London, England in the London Borough of Haringey The London Borough of Haringey (pronounced , same as Harringay) is a London borough in North London, classified by some definitions as part of Inner Lo ...

, moved into the building in October 2009.

The court

The court covers the London boroughs of Barnet, Brent, Enfield, Haringey and Harrow. Notable cases included a hearing in May 2015, when the coroner, Andrew Walker, ruled that the death of Jeremiah Duggan, who had been attending a "youth cadre school" organised by the

LaRouche movement The LaRouche movement is a political and cultural network promoting the late Lyndon LaRouche and his ideas. It has included many organizations and companies around the world, which campaign, gather information and publish books and periodicals. ...

was not suicide, and a hearing in September 2015, when relatives of Anni Dewani appeared at the court to request that an inquest be heard in England into her death in South Africa.

References

{{Reflist Grade II listed buildings in the London Borough of Barnet Coroner's courts in London Wood Street, Chipping Barnet City and town halls in London Government buildings completed in 1915