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Chipping Barnet, Hertfordshire

Historical Description

Barnet, a market and union town, a parish, and the head of a county court district, Herts. The town is called also Chipping-Barnet and High-Barnet. It is partly in the parish of Barnet, and partly in the parish of South Mimms, Middlesex, and it stands on the top of an eminence on the great north road, 11 miles from London. There is a terminal station of the G.N.R. at High-Barnet, and a main line station at New-Barnet, about 1¼ mile E from the town. It consists principally of one street upwards of a mile long. The area of the urban sanitary district is 241 acres; population, 6496. The parish church of St John the Baptist is an edifice erected about 1420, and thoroughly restored and enlarged in 1875. It is a building of flint and stone in the Decorated and Perpendicular styles, has a square embattled tower, and contains monuments of the Ravenscrofts and others. Christ Church, on Barnet Common, was erected in 1845, and is a building of flint with dressing of stone in the Early English style. There are Roman Catholic, Baptist, Congregational, and Wesleyan chapels, a grammar-school, founded in the reign of Queen Elizabeth in 1573, four sets of almshouses, and several large and useful charities. The town is governed by a board of 12 members, under the Local Government Act, adopted in 1863; has a head post office, nine elementary schools, and publishes a weekly newspaper. A cattle market is held every Wednesday, and fairs on 8, 9, and 10 April, on 4, 5, and 6 September, and on 21 November. The two former are great cattle and horse fairs, which attract buyers and sellers from all parts of the country. Several fine seats are in the vicinity, and the country round is studded with pleasant villas inhabited by merchants and others from London. The town is supplied with water drawn from two artesian wells, which have been sunk in the chalk to a depth of 500 feet. A mineral spring on Barnet Common was discovered in 1652. At the twelfth milestone from London N of the town there stands a stone column commemorative of the battle of Barnet Field, which was fought there in 1471 between the army of the House of York, headed by Edward IV., and that of the House of Lancaster, headed by the Earl of Warwick.

The parish of Barnet bears also the name of Chipping-Barnet, and lies wholly in Herts. The living, which includes the chapelry of Arkley, is a vicarage in the diocese of St Albans; net yearly value, £443, in the gift of the Crown. The living of Christ Church, which is in the parish of South Mimms, is a perpetual curacy of the gross yearly value of £260. Population of the civil parish of Chipping-Barnet, 4563; of the ecclesiastical district, 4016.

Transcribed from The Comprehensive Gazetteer of England & Wales, 1894-5

Administration

The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.

Ancient CountyHertfordshire 
Ecclesiastical parishChipping Barnet St. John the Baptist 
HundredCashio 
Poor Law unionBarnet 

Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.


Church Records

Findmypast, in association with the Hertfordshire Archives & Local Studies have the Baptisms, Banns, Marriages, and Burials online for Chipping Barnet


Directories & Gazetteers

We have transcribed the entry for Chipping Barnet from the following:


Land and Property

A full transcript of the Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Hertfordshire is online.


Maps

Online maps of Chipping Barnet are available from a number of sites:


Newspapers and Periodicals

The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following Hertfordshire newspapers online:


Visitations Heraldic

The Visitations of Hertfordshire, 1572 and 1634. Edited by Walter C. Metcalfe, F.S.A. is available on the Heraldry page.

DistrictBarnet
CountyGreater London
RegionLondon
CountryEngland
Postal districtEN5
Post TownBarnet

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