King George's Fields is a Site of Borough Importance for Nature Conservation, Grade II, in

Monken Hadley Monken Hadley is a place in the London Borough of Barnet. An ancient country village north of Barnet, it is now a suburban development on the very edge of Greater London north north-west of Charing Cross, while retaining much of its rural cha ...

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 ...

. It is one of many

King George's Fields A King George's Field is a public open space in the United Kingdom dedicated to the memory of King George V (1865–1936). In 1936, after the king's death, Sir Percy Vincent, the then-Lord Mayor of London, formed a committee to determine a ...

all over the country, established as memorials, following the death of

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 Que ...

in 1936. The King George's Fields Foundation was established to give grants for the establishment of playing fields, the work of the foundation is now undertaken by charity

Fields in Trust Fields in Trust, is a British charity set up in 1925 as the National Playing Fields Association (NPFA), by Brigadier-General Reginald Kentish and the Duke of York, later King George VI, who was the first president, which protects parks and green s ...

. King George's Fields (Monken Hadley) has been legally protected since July 1955.

Habitat

The site consists of a patchwork of fields, intersected by overgrown hedgerows, narrow strips of woodland and small streams. There are a number of magnificent old oaks, and breeding birds include

sparrowhawk Sparrowhawk (sometimes sparrow hawk) may refer to several species of small hawk in the genus ''Accipiter''. "Sparrow-hawk" or sparhawk originally referred to ''Eurasian sparrowhawk, Accipiter nisus'', now called "Eurasian" or "northern" sparrowha ...

stock dove The stock dove (''Columba oenas'') is a species of bird in the family Columbidae, the doves and pigeons. It is widely distributed in the western Palearctic. Taxonomy The stock dove was first formally described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Li ...

bullfinch Bullfinch is a name given to two groups of passerine birds. True bullfinches The true bullfinches are thick-billed finches in the passerine family Fringillidae. They comprise the genus ''Pyrrhula''. These birds are restricted to the Old World, an ...

willow warbler The willow warbler (''Phylloscopus trochilus'') is a very common and widespread leaf warbler which breeds throughout northern and temperate Europe and the Palearctic, from Ireland east to the Anadyr River basin in eastern Siberia. It is strongly ...

and

chaffinch The common chaffinch or simply the chaffinch (''Fringilla coelebs'') is a common and widespread small passerine bird in the finch family. The male is brightly coloured with a blue-grey cap and rust-red underparts. The female is more subdued in ...

. There are also a number of common butterflies and the uncommon

chimney sweeper A chimney sweep is a person who clears soot and creosote from chimneys. The chimney uses the pressure difference caused by a hot column of gas to create a draught and draw air over the hot coals or wood enabling continued combustion. Chimneys ...

moth. The

Shirebourne brook The Shirebourne is a brook that rises in King George's Fields (Monken Hadley), King George's Fields, Hadley, and eventually joins the Pymmes Brook. It may have marked the historic county boundary between Hertfordshire and Middlesex. Location The ...

runs north-south through the fields.

Location

There are entrances from Hadley Green Road, Burnside Close and South Close. On the other side of Hadley Green Road is Hadley Green, the traditional 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 the

War 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 ...

in 1471. The

London Loop The London Outer Orbital Path — more usually the "London LOOP" — is a 150-mile (242 km) signed walk along public footpaths, and through parks, woods and fields around the edge of Outer London, England, described as "the M25 ...

walk passes through the site.

References

External links

{{Nature reserves in Barnet Nature reserves in the London Borough of Barnet Parks and open spaces in the London Borough of Barnet King George's Fields Monken Hadley Chipping Barnet

Habitat

Location

See also

References

Further reading

External links