Chipping Barnet or High Barnet is a

suburb A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area, which may include commercial and mixed-use, that is primarily a residential area. A suburb can exist either as part of a larger city/urban area or as a separ ...

market town A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village or city. In Britain, small rural ...

in north

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, 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 dow ...

, forming part of the

London Borough of Barnet The London Borough of Barnet () is a suburban 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 London borough ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

. It is a suburban development built around a 12th-century settlement, and is located north-northwest of

Charing Cross Charing Cross ( ) is a junction in Westminster, London, England, where six routes meet. Clockwise from north these are: the east side of Trafalgar Square leading to St Martin's Place and then Charing Cross Road; the Strand leading to the City ...

, east from

Borehamwood Borehamwood (, historically also Boreham Wood) is a town in southern Hertfordshire, England, from Charing Cross. Borehamwood has a population of 31,074, and is within the London commuter belt. The town's film and TV studios are commonly know ...

, west from Enfield and south from

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 ...

. Its population, including its localities East Barnet,

New Barnet New Barnet is a neighbourhood on the north east side of the London Borough of Barnet. It is a largely residential North London suburb located east of Chipping Barnet, west of Cockfosters, south of the village of Monken Hadley and north of O ...

Hadley Wood Hadley Wood is an affluent suburb in the north of Greater London, close to the border with Hertfordshire. It appears to be a stand-alone village surrounded by Green Belt land, however, under the Local Government Act 1972 it is part of the ...

, Monken Hadley, Cockfosters and Arkley, was 47,359 in 2011. Its name is very often abbreviated to just Barnet, which is also the name of the borough of which it forms a part; the town has been part of

Greater London Greater may refer to: *Greatness Greatness is a concept of a state of superiority affecting a person or object in a particular place or area. Greatness can also be attributed to individuals who possess a natural ability to be better than al ...

since 1965 after the abolition of

Barnet Urban District Barnet was a local government district in south Hertfordshire from 1863 to 1965 around the town of Barnet. Creation Barnet Local Government District was created on 25 September 1863, after the town's ratepayers decided to adopt the Local Governm ...

then in

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For gov ...

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 Chari ...

is also the name of the Parliamentary constituency covering the local area – the word "Chipping" denotes the presence of a market, one that was established here at the end of the 12th century and persists to this day. Chipping Barnet is one of the highest urban settlements in London, with the town centre having an elevation of about .

History

The town's name, recorded as ''Barneto'' in about 1070, ''Barnet'' in 1197, and ''La Barnette'' in 1248, is derived from

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th ...

''bærnet'': "the land cleared by burning". It refers to the clearing of land in an area that was once densely forested. In Saxon times the site was part of an extensive wood called Southaw, belonging to the Abbey of St Albans. Barnet's elevated position is indicated in one of its alternative names ("High Barnet"), which appears in many old books and maps, and which the Great Northern Railway company adopted for the railway station opened in 1872 (now High Barnet tube station). The area was historically a common resting point on the traditional Great North Road between the

City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London f ...

and

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

and

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

. This was the site of the

Battle of Barnet The Battle of Barnet was a decisive engagement in the Wars of the Roses, a dynastic conflict of 15th-century England. The military action, along with the subsequent Battle of Tewkesbury, secured the throne for Edward IV. On Sunday 14 April ...

in 1471 (more accurately, Hadley), where

Yorkist The House of York was a cadet branch of the English royal House of Plantagenet. Three of its members became kings of England in the late 15th century. The House of York descended in the male line from Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York, t ...

troops led by King

Edward IV Edward IV (28 April 1442 – 9 April 1483) was King of England from 4 March 1461 to 3 October 1470, then again from 11 April 1471 until his death in 1483. He was a central figure in the Wars of the Roses, a series of civil wars in Englan ...

killed the rebellious "Kingmaker" Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, and Warwick's brother,

John Neville, 1st Marquess of Montagu John Neville, 1st Marquess of Montagu (c. 1431 – 14 April 1471) was a major magnate of fifteenth-century England. He was a younger son of Richard Neville, 5th Earl of Salisbury, and the younger brother of Richard Neville, Earl of Warwi ...

. This was one of the most important battles of the

Wars of the Roses The Wars of the Roses (1455–1487), known at the time and for more than a century after as the Civil Wars, were a series of civil wars fought over control of the throne of England, English throne in the mid-to-late fifteenth century. These w ...

. Barnet Hill is said to be the hill mentioned in the nursery rhyme "The Grand Old Duke of York". It is also the site of an ancient and well-known

horse fair A horse fair is a (typically annual) fair where people buy and sell horses. In the United Kingdom there are many fairs which are traditionally attended by Romani people and travellers who converge at the fairs to buy and sell horses, meet with ...

, whence comes the

rhyming slang Rhyming slang is a form of slang word construction in the English language. It is especially prevalent among Cockneys in England, and was first used in the early 19th century in the East End of London; hence its alternative name, Cockney rhymi ...

of ''

Barnet Fair Barnet Fair is an annual horse and pleasure fair held near Mays Lane, Barnet, England, on the first Monday in September. The Fair takes place over three days starting on 4 September. It still operates under its royal Charter which is issue ...

'' or ''barnet'' for "hair". The fair dates back to 1588 when

Queen Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is sometimes referred to as the "Virgin Queen". Eli ...

granted a charter to the Lord of the Manor of Barnet to hold a twice yearly fair. The famous Barnet Market is now (2018) nearly 820 years old. On 23 August 1199 King John issued a charter for a market at Barnet to the Lord of the Manor, the Abbot of St. Albans, John de Cella. Barnet Civil Parish Map 1935

Chipping Barnet was historically a

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...

and formed part of the

from 1894. The parish was abolished in 1965 and the Chipping Barnet section of its former area was transferred from Hertfordshire 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 . By 1901 the parish was reduced to and had a population of 2,893. In 1951 the population was 7,062. Barnet belonged to the

County A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes Chambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

of Hertfordshire until 1965, when under the

London Government Act 1963 The London Government Act 1963 (c. 33) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which created Greater London and a new local government structure within it. The Act significantly reduced the number of local government districts in the ...

East Barnet Urban District East Barnet Valley was a local government district from 1863 to 1965 around the town of East Barnet. It was partly in the counties of Hertfordshire and Middlesex until 1889, when the Middlesex part was transferred to Hertfordshire. It was renamed ...

and Barnet Urban District were abolished and their area was transferred to

to form part of the present-day London Borough of Barnet. At the beginning 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.

Religious sites

St John the Baptist John the Baptist or , , or , ;Wetterau, Bruce. ''World history''. New York: Henry Holt and Company. 1994. syc, ܝܘܿܚܲܢܵܢ ܡܲܥܡܕ݂ܵܢܵܐ, Yoḥanān Maʿmḏānā; he, יוחנן המטביל, Yohanān HaMatbil; la, Ioannes Bapti ...

Church is a landmark for miles around and stands in what was the centre of the town. It was erected by John de la Moote,

abbot of St Albans {{Use dmy dates, date=April 2022 This is a list of abbots of St Albans Abbey up to its Dissolution in 1539. # Willegod (793–796) # Eadric # Wulsig # Wulnoth (Walworth) (c. 930) # Eadfrith # Wulsin (d. c. 968) # Aelfric # Ealdred # Eadmer # Leo ...

, about 1400, the architect being Beauchamp. Playing on its antiquity, it continues to call itself "Barnet Church", although this is not an official title. It is in fact the parish church of Chipping Barnet only, whilst Christ Church is the parish church of High Barnet, St Mark's is the parish church of Barnet Vale, St James's is the parish church of

, and

Holy Trinity The Christian doctrine of the Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the central dogma concerning the nature of God in most Christian churches, which defines one God existing in three coequal, coeternal, consubstantial divine persons: God th ...

is the parish church of the Lyonsdown district. In addition, St Mary the Virgin is the parish church of East Barnet and St John of

Friern Barnet Friern Barnet is a suburban area within the London Borough of Barnet, north of Charing Cross. Its centre is formed by the busy intersection of Colney Hatch Lane (running north and south), Woodhouse Road (taking westbound traffic towards North ...

. The parish church of St Mary the Virgin, Monken Hadley (rebuilt 1494) also has parish boundaries that include a significant part of High Barnet, including much of Barnet High Street. St John the Baptist, Chipping Barnet 07

The

living Living or The Living may refer to: Common meanings *Life, a condition that distinguishes organisms from inorganic objects and dead organisms ** Living species, one that is not extinct *Personal life, the course of an individual human's life * H ...

of Barnet is a

curacy A curate () is a person who is invested with the ''care'' or ''cure'' (''cura'') ''of souls'' of a parish. In this sense, "curate" means a parish priest; but in English-speaking countries the term ''curate'' is commonly used to describe clergy w ...

, held with the

rectory A clergy house is the residence, or former residence, of one or more priests or ministers of religion. Residences of this type can have a variety of names, such as manse, parsonage, rectory or vicarage. Function A clergy house is typically o ...

of East Barnet till the death of the last incumbent in 1866, when the livings were separated. The parish of Chipping Barnet, served by St John's Church, was provided with a chapel-of-ease in Victorian times; subsequently Chipping Barnet parish was split in two, and the chapel-of-ease (on Bells Hill, Barnet) raised to the status of a parish church, dedicated to St Stephen.

Geography

Chipping Barnet is designated as a Neighbourhood Centre in the

London Plan The London Plan is the statutory spatial development strategy for the Greater London area in the United Kingdom that is written by the Mayor of London and published by the Greater London Authority. The regional planning document was first pu ...

. 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 The Ural Mountains ( ; rus, Ура́льские го́ры, r=Uralskiye gory, p=ʊˈralʲskʲɪjə ˈɡorɨ; ba, Урал тауҙары) or simply the Urals, are a mountain range that runs approximately from north to south through western ...

to the east. However, the same has been said of numerous other points. Since the opening of the railway, development has increased considerably, especially in the west of the area near Arkley. For a London town, Barnet lies very high; the High Street is above sea level and the surrounding southern land no less than .

Demography

Chipping Barnet town centre is covered by the High Barnet ward. According to the 2011 census, the population was 82% white (68% White British, 11% Other White, 3% White Irish). Indians made up 4% of the population, and all black groups made up 3%. The whole town is defined as the Chipping Barnet parliamentary constituency, which takes up the eastern third of the wider borough. This data does not represent the town as a whole due to the fact that it contains six other wards.

Education

* Bodens Performing Arts College

Transport

Barnet Hill is a major hill on the historic Great North Road. In coaching days, 150 stagecoaches passed through Barnet daily. The modern Great North Road replacement, the A1, runs to the west of the town along Barnet Bypass.

Tube and train

High Barnet Underground station is on 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, t ...

while

New Barnet railway station New Barnet railway station is in the London Borough of Barnet in north London, England. It is down the line from , in Travelcard Zone 5. The station is managed and served by Great Northern. Oyster card pay-as-you-go can now be used to and ...

is on the

East Coast Main Line The East Coast Main Line (ECML) is a electrified railway between London and Edinburgh via Peterborough, Doncaster, York, Darlington, Durham and Newcastle. The line is a key transport artery on the eastern side of Great Britain running b ...

served by services from King's Cross and to . Totteridge and Whetstone Underground station serves the affluent areas bearing the same name southwest of High Barnet town centre.

Oakleigh Park railway station Oakleigh Park railway station serves Oakleigh Park in the London Borough of Barnet, north London, England. It is down the line from , in Travelcard Zone 4. The station is managed and served by Thameslink and Great Northern, Great Northern. Oy ...

serves the eastern extremity of the town. The Barnet Tunnel is also in the area.

Public services

Barnet is served by

Barnet Hospital Barnet Hospital is a district general hospital situated in Barnet, in North London. It is managed by the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust. Overview The original hospital on the site was the Wellhouse Hospital which was opened by Viscount H ...

, which is run by The Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust as part of the

English National Health Service The National Health Service (NHS) is the publicly funded healthcare system in England, and one of the four National Health Service systems in the United Kingdom. It is the second largest single-payer healthcare system in the world after ...

. There is also an NHS clinic in Vale Drive (near Barnet Hill and High Barnet station).

London Ambulance Service The London Ambulance Service NHS Trust (LAS) is an NHS trust responsible for operating ambulances and answering and responding to urgent and emergency medical situations within the London region of England. The service responds to 999 phone c ...

responds to

medical emergencies A medical emergency is an acute injury or illness that poses an immediate risk to a person's life or long-term health, sometimes referred to as a situation risking "life or limb". These emergencies may require assistance from another, qualified p ...

in Barnet. Home Office policing is provided by the

Metropolitan Police Service The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), formerly and still commonly known as the Metropolitan Police (and informally as the Met Police, the Met, Scotland Yard, or the Yard), is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement and ...

. Statutory emergency fire service is provided by the

London Fire Brigade The London Fire Brigade (LFB) is the fire and rescue service for London, the capital of the United Kingdom. It was formed by the Metropolitan Fire Brigade Act 1865, under the leadership of superintendent Eyre Massey Shaw. It has 5,992staff, inc ...

, which has a station on Station Road, built in 1992.

Sport and recreation

Barnet FC Barnet Football Club is a professional football club based in Edgware, North London. The team compete in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in Chipping Barnet, then part of Hertfordsh ...

is the local football team, currently in the

Vanarama National League The National League (named Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons) is an association football league in England consisting of three divisions, the National League, National League North, and National League South. It was called th ...

, the fifth tier of English football – at the end of the 2017/18 season Barnet were relegated from League Two, and have remained in the Vanarama National League since. They played at the Underhill Stadium until 2012/13 but from the 2013/14 season are playing at The Hive Stadium in

Stanmore Stanmore is part of the London Borough of Harrow in London. It is centred northwest of Charing Cross, lies on the outskirts of the London urban area and includes Stanmore Hill, one of the highest points of London, at high. The district, whi ...

in the

London Borough of Harrow The London Borough of Harrow () is a London borough in northwest London, England; it forms part of Outer London. It borders four other London boroughs Barnet to the east of ancient Watling Street (now the A5 road), Brent to the southeast, Ea ...

. They first reached the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in Association football around the wor ...

in 1991 as champions of the GM Vauxhall Conference but lost their status 10 years later with relegation, only to return four years later – again as Conference champions. London Lions F.C. is also based in Barnet, near Stirling Corner, but the 1st team plays midweek and some cup home games at Hemel Hempstead Town F.C. as its own ground is not floodlit and does not meet the requirements for some cup competitions. There are a number of amateur football clubs based in Barnet including East Barnet Old Grammarians and Ravenscroft Old Boys. Barnet Cricket Club and Old Elizabethans' Cricket Club have merged to form one club in Barnet and currently play their games at Gypsy Corner. Shaftesbury Barnet Harriers is a local athletics club. Chipping Barnet has a King George's Field in memorial to

King George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936. Born during the reign of his grandmother Qu ...

Old Court House Recreation Ground Old Court House Recreation Ground is a public park in High Barnet in the London Borough of Barnet. It is one of the borough's ''Premier Parks'' and received a Green Flag Award for 2009–2010. The park has six free tennis courts, a bowling green ...

is a park in High Barnet. Similarly to the cricket clubs, Barnet and Old Elizabethans rugby clubs merged to form Barnet Elizabethans RFC, playing in Byng Road, Barnet, near Queen Elizabeth's School. High Barnet is home to an Everyman cinema, the

Barnet Museum Barnet Museum is in the London Borough of Barnet. It has displays on topics including the Battle of Barnet, Barnet Fair and Barnet Market. It is a centre for local and family research and its archives, library and reference collection are av ...

, the All Saints Art Centre, the Ravenscroft local park and Barnet recreational park, a now disused

well A well is an excavation or structure created in the ground by digging, driving, or drilling to access liquid resources, usually water. The oldest and most common kind of well is a water well, to access groundwater in underground aquifers. The ...

that was frequented by, among others,

Samuel Pepys Samuel Pepys (; 23 February 1633 – 26 May 1703) was an English diarist and naval administrator. He served as administrator of the Royal Navy and Member of Parliament and is most famous for the diary he kept for a decade. Pepys had no mariti ...

, and many

restaurant A restaurant is a business that prepares and serves food and drinks to customers. Meals are generally served and eaten on the premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services. Restaurants vary greatly in appearan ...

s and

public house A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and wa ...

s. Cuisines on offer include Italian, French, Indian, Chinese and south east Asian. Amongst the most popular restaurants are branches of Melange and Pizza Express. High Barnet also has a number of coffee/snack outlets, both independent ones such as The Coffee Bean and Huddle, as well as branches of

Caffè Nero Caffè Nero is an Italian-influenced coffeehouse company headquartered in London, England. Founded in 1997 by Gerry Ford, currently the company runs more than 1,000 coffee houses in eleven countries: the UK, Ireland, Sweden, Poland, Cyprus, Croat ...

Costa Coffee Costa Coffee is a British coffeehouse chain with headquarters in Dunstable, England. Costa Coffee was founded in London in 1971 by Sergio Costa as a wholesale operation supplying roasted coffee to caterers and specialist Italian coffee shops. I ...

, and Nkora. A branch of Carluccio's occupied a site in The Spires but was replaced in 2021 by the brasserie Botannika. Local festivals include the traditional annual

, which was chartered in Medieval times, the High Barnet Chamber Music Festival, and Barnet Medieval Festival. A small nightclub operated for a few years in the 1980s in the premises now occupied by the Butchers Arms pub. The public houses and bars in High Barnet include: the Butchers Arms, The Red Lion, the King's Head, the Monk, the Black Horse, Ye Olde Mitre Inn, the Hadley Oak, the Nelson, and the Sebright Arms. The large number of inns in Barnet was a matter of note in

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian er ...

's novel ''

Oliver Twist ''Oliver Twist; or, The Parish Boy's Progress'', Charles Dickens's second novel, was published as a serial from 1837 to 1839, and as a three-volume book in 1838. Born in a workhouse, the orphan Oliver Twist is bound into apprenticeship with ...

''; it was here that Oliver met the

Artful Dodger Jack Dawkins, better known as the Artful Dodger, is a character in Charles Dickens's 1838 novel '' Oliver Twist''. The Dodger is a pickpocket, so called for his skill and cunning in that occupation. He is the leader of the gang of child criminal ...

Local papers

The principal local newspapers are ''The Barnet and Potters Bar Times'' and ''The Barnet Post'', which was established in July 2021. The ''Barnet Press'' operated until 2017. ''The Barnet Society'' also frequently publishes articles on local news as well as a quarterly newsletter.

Notable people

* Louis Blundell (born 1978), darts player, grew up in the town. * Geoffrey Chater (1921–2021), character actor, was born in the town. * Lenny Cooper (born 1981), English cricketer *

Nadine Coyle Nadine Elizabeth Louise Coyle (born 15 June 1985) is an Irish singer, actress and model. In 2002, Coyle was selected as a member of the girl group Girls Aloud, with whom she has been successful in achieving a string of 20 consecutive UK top te ...

(born 1985), singer, grew up in the town. * Paul Freeman (born 1943), actor, was born in the town. * Ravi Haria (born 1999), chess grandmaster * Stuart Holden (born 1955), darts player, was born in the town. *

Mark Kermode Mark James Patrick Kermode (, ; ; born 2 July 1963) is an English film critic, musician, radio presenter, television presenter and podcaster. He is the chief film critic for ''The Observer'', contributes to the magazine '' Sight & Sound'', pr ...

(born 1963), film critic and musician, was born in the town. *

Nicko McBrain Michael Henry "Nicko" McBrain (born 5 June 1952) is an English musician, best known as the drummer of the heavy metal band Iron Maiden since 1982. Having played in small pub bands since 1966 from the age of 14, McBrain paid his bills after grad ...

(born 1952), drummer, grew up in the town. *

Elaine Paige Elaine Jill Paige (née Bickerstaff; born 5 March 1948) is an English singer and actress, best known for her work in musical theatre. Raised in Barnet, Hertfordshire, Paige attended the Aida Foster Theatre School, making her first professiona ...

(born 1948), theatre actress and singer, radio host, was born in the town. * Mike Skinner (born 1979), rapper, singer-songwriter, musician, and record producer, was born in the town.

Neighbouring areas

References

External links

Barnet Residents Association

The Barnet Society

Love Barnet

High Barnet Chamber Music Festival

Barnet Medieval Festival
{{authority control Market towns in London District centres of London