East Finchley is a

London Underground The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or by its nickname the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent ceremonial counties of England, counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and He ...

station in

East Finchley East Finchley is an area in North London, immediately north of Hampstead Heath. Like neighbouring Muswell Hill it straddles the London Boroughs of Barnet and Haringey, with most of East Finchley falling into the London Borough of Barnet. It has ...

in 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 ...

, north

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. The station is on the High Barnet branch of the

Northern line The Northern line is a London Underground line that runs from North London to South London. It is printed in black on the Tube map. The Northern line is unique on the Underground network in having two different routes through central London, two ...

, between Finchley Central and

Highgate Highgate ( ) is a suburban area of north London at the northeastern corner of Hampstead Heath, north-northwest of Charing Cross. Highgate is one of the most expensive London suburbs in which to live. It has two active conservation organisati ...

stations, and is in

Travelcard Zone 3 Fare zone 3 is an inner zone of Transport for London's zonal fare system used for calculating the price of tickets for travel on the London Underground, London Overground, Docklands Light Railway and, since 2007, on National Rail Nationa ...

. The station was opened on 22 August 1867, on the Great Northern Railway's line between

Finsbury Park Finsbury Park is a public park in the London neighbourhood of Harringay. It is in the area formerly covered by the historic parish of Hornsey, succeeded by the Municipal Borough of Hornsey. It was one of the first of the great London parks ...

and

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 ...

stations. As part of London Underground's only partially completed

Northern Heights plan The Northern line is a London Underground line that runs from North London to South London. It is printed in black on the Tube map. The Northern line is unique on the Underground network in having two different routes through central London, two ...

, the station was completely rebuilt with additional tracks in the late 1930s. Northern line trains started serving the station on 3 July 1939 and main line passenger services ended on 2 March 1941.

History

Original station

East Finchley station was built by the

Edgware, Highgate and London Railway The Edgware, Highgate and London Railway was a railway in North London. The railway was a precursor of parts of London Underground's Northern line and was, in the 1930s the core of an ambitious expansion plan for that line which was thwarted by ...

(EH&LR) on its line from

Finsbury Park station Finsbury Park is an intermodal interchange station in north London. It serves a number of National Rail, London Underground and bus services. The station is the third busiest Underground station outside Zone 1, with over 33 million passengers u ...

Edgware station Edgware Station is a London Underground station in Edgware, in the London Borough of Barnet, in North London. The station is the northern terminus of the ''Edgware branch'' of the Northern line and the next station towards south is . Edgware ...

. Before the line was opened, it was purchased in July 1867 by the larger Great Northern Railway (GNR), whose main line from King's Cross ran through Finsbury Park on its way to

Potters Bar Potters Bar is a town in Hertfordshire, England,in the historic County of Middlesex Hertsmere Borough Council – Community Strategy First Review (PDF) north of central London. In 2011, it had a population of 21,882. In 2022 the population was ...

and the north. The station, originally named ''East End, Finchley'', opened along with the railway to Edgware on 22 August that year. The station was given its current name either on 1 February 1887 or, alternatively, in 1886. As a result of the 1921 Railways Act, which created the " Big Four" railway companies, the GNR amalgamated with several other railways to create the

London & North Eastern Railway London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a major se ...

(LNER) in 1923. At the start of the 1930s, the station had around 54 trains daily from High Barnet and a few through trains from Edgware. Services ran to Finsbury Park and then either King's Cross,

Moorgate Moorgate was one of the City of London's northern gates in its defensive wall, the last to be built. The gate took its name from the Moorfields, an area of marshy land that lay immediately north of the wall. The gate was demolished in 1762, b ...

or Broad Street.

Northern Heights project

In 1935, the

London Passenger Transport Board The London Passenger Transport Board was the organisation responsible for local public transport in London and its environs from 1933 to 1948. In common with all London transport authorities from 1933 to 2000, the public name and brand was Lond ...

(LPTB) announced a proposal, which became known as the

Northern Heights project The Northern line is a London Underground line that runs from North London to South London. It is printed in black on the Tube map. The Northern line is unique on the Underground network in having two different routes through central London, two ...

. This was to take over the LNER lines from Finsbury Park to Edgware, High Barnet and Alexandra Palace, and link them to both the

at East Finchley and to the

Northern City line The Northern City Line is a commuter railway line in England, which runs from Moorgate station to Finsbury Park in London with services running beyond. It is part of the Great Northern Route services, and operates as the south-eastern branc ...

at Finsbury Park. The construction of the first phase of this project involved extending tube train services from the Northern line's existing terminus at Archway station, through a new section of paired tunnels under the LNER's Highgate station to emerge south-east of East Finchley station, where track connections to the LNER line were made. East Finchley Station London 8287

For the introduction of London Underground services, the original station was completely demolished and rebuilt. The station was provided with two additional platforms, giving four in total. The platforms comprise two parallel islands with tracks on both sides. This was necessary as the intention of the Northern Heights project was that trains would be able to run south from East Finchley to Highgate via both the surface and the underground routes. The inner pair of tracks served the surface route, whilst the outer pair serve the tunnel route. Northern line trains first served the station on 3 July 1939. After completion of the electrification of the line to High Barnet, Underground services were extended northwards on 14 April 1940. The station continued to be served by LNER steam trains from Highgate until 2 March 1941 when that service was discontinued. The inner platforms are now used only by northbound trains entering service or southbound trains terminating at East Finchley on their way to or from Highgate Wood depot south of the station.

Post-war

After the war, plans to complete the Northern Heights project were reviewed but no work was carried out. Maintenance works and reconstruction of war damage on the existing network had the greatest call on London Underground funds. Funds for new works were severely limited and priority was given to the completion of the western and eastern extensions of the Central line to

West Ruislip West Ruislip is a station on Ickenham High Road on the borders of Ickenham and western Ruislip in the London Borough of Hillingdon in Greater London, formerly in Middlesex. It is served by London Underground (LU) and National Rail trains on ind ...

Epping Epping may refer to: Places Australia * Epping, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney ** Epping railway station, Sydney * Electoral district of Epping, the corresponding seat in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly * Epping Forest, Kearns, a he ...

and Hainault. Despite being shown as under construction on underground maps as late as 1950, work never restarted on the unimplemented parts of the Northern Heights project.

British Rail British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four British rai ...

(the successor to the LNER) freight trains continued to serve the station's goods yard until 1 October 1962, when it was closed.

Description of the building

East Finchley stn centre platforms look north

The new station was constructed in an ''

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...

''/''

Streamline Moderne Streamline Moderne is an international style of Art Deco architecture and design that emerged in the 1930s. Inspired by aerodynamic design, it emphasized curving forms, long horizontal lines, and sometimes nautical elements. In industrial design ...

'' design by

Charles Holden Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was " ...

with L H Bucknell. Like Holden's other designs for London Underground in the 1930s, East Finchley station was inspired by European architecture (particularly

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

) that Holden had seen on trips to the continent during that decade. The track here runs roughly north-west to south-east. The imposing station building, built on rising ground adjacent to the railway bridge over High Road ( A1000), has three entrances. The two main entrances to the ticket hall are on the north side of the tracks facing High Road and the third, minor entrance, is on the south side. The entrances are linked by a passage under the tracks which provides access up to the platforms. East Finchley Stn statue

A strong feature of the station is the semi-circular glazed stairways leading to the enclosed bridge over the tracks occupied by staff offices. Prominent from the platforms and dominating the main entrance façade is ''The Archer'', a statue by

Eric Aumonier Aubrey Eric Stacy Aumonier (5 May 1899 – 1974), was a British sculptor. Life Aumonier was born in Northwood, Middlesex (now northwest London); his family name is Huguenot (French Protestant). Eric's grandfather, William, founded the Aumonie ...

of a kneeling

archer Archery is the sport, practice, or skill of using a bow to shoot arrows.Paterson ''Encyclopaedia of Archery'' p. 17 The word comes from the Latin ''arcus'', meaning bow. Historically, archery has been used for hunting and combat. In mo ...

captured as if having just released an arrow. The archer is intended to commemorate Finchley's ancient association with hunting in the nearby Royal Forest of Enfield. The station 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 ...

Services and connections

Services

The station is in

Travelcard The Travelcard is an inter-modal travel ticket for unlimited use on the London Underground, London Overground, Elizabeth line, Docklands Light Railway, London Trams,_ "type":_...,_London_Buses_and_National_Rail.html" ;"title="London_Buses.html" ...

Zone 3, between Finchley Central and Highgate stations. Train frequencies vary throughout the day, but generally operate every 3–7 minutes between 05:40 and 01:01 northbound and 05:34 and 00:12 southbound (as of 2015).

Connections

London Buses London Buses is the subsidiary of Transport for London (TfL) that manages most bus services in London, England. It was formed following the Greater London Authority Act 1999 that transferred control of London Regional Transport (LRT) bus se ...

routes

102 102 may refer to: * 102 (number), the number * AD 102, a year in the 2nd century AD * 102 BC, a year in the 2nd century BC * 102 (ambulance service), an emergency medical transport service in Uttar Pradesh, India * 102 (Clyde) Field Squadron, Royal ...

, 143,

234 __NOTOC__ Year 234 ( CCXXXIV) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Pupienus and Sulla (or, less frequently, year 987 '' ...

263 __NOTOC__ Year 263 ( CCLXIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Albinus and Dexter (or, less frequently, year 1016 ' ...

603 __NOTOC__ Year 603 ( DCIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. The denomination 603 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era ...

and H3 and night route N20 serve the station.

Notes and references

Notes

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * *

External links

London Transport Museum Photographic Archive
** ** ** ** ** * * {{DEFAULTSORT:East Finchley Tube Station Northern line stations Tube stations in the London Borough of Barnet Art Deco architecture in London Art Deco railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1867 Former Great Northern Railway stations Grade II listed railway stations Grade II listed buildings in the London Borough of Barnet Charles Holden railway stations London Underground Night Tube stations