Discover Barnet: History and Green Spaces

Barnet combines tangible urban history with extensive green spaces. Here you can visit a local museum, trace the history of the Wars of the Roses and explore paths through Hadley Green and Monken Hadley Common. When looking for a holiday apartment in Barnet, it is therefore worth deciding early what you want to focus on: should the trip primarily offer culture and history, or should it also include plenty of time outdoors?

Local History at Barnet Museum

Barnet Museum is a free local history museum in North London and is run by volunteers. Its collection comprises hundreds of artefacts relating to the history of Barnet and its residents. The items date from the Bronze Age to the present day, providing a broad chronological framework for exploring the area.

You can reach the museum by walking north up Barnet Hill, turning left at Barnet Church and then continuing into Wood Street. This specific guidance is helpful if you would like to include a cultural attraction in your day’s itinerary. Other historical themes in Barnet can be seen in its buildings and sites: the Church of St John the Baptist was built in the 13th century as a chapel of ease for St Mary the Virgin in East Barnet. It also incorporates a mid-15th-century structure as a double north aisle.

Historic Sites and Notable Buildings

Hadley Green and the adjoining areas are traditionally regarded as the site of the Battle of Barnet, fought on 14 April 1471 during the Wars of the Roses. The battle is considered one of the most significant of that conflict. Anyone interested in English history will find here a tangible opportunity to connect historical events with today’s landscape.

Barnet Physic Well also tells part of the area’s past. It consists of an underground well chamber dating from the 17th century, above which the council built a Tudor-style building in 1937. The mineral water spring is associated with the former attribution of healing properties. There were also regular public openings organised by volunteers from Barnet Museum. Tudor Hall, in turn, is the original building of Queen Elizabeth's School, which opened in 1573. For a multigenerational trip, these different historical themes provide topics for conversation and a range of options, without everyone having to prefer the same attraction.

Green Spaces and Paths Around High Barnet

Ravenscroft Park was established in 1883 as High Barnet’s first public park. The Barnet Environment Centre is located on the northern edge of High Barnet, near the lower end of Byng Road. It is situated within a 7.5-acre conservation area designated as a “Site of Interest for Nature Conservation”.

For longer periods outdoors, Hadley Green and Monken Hadley Common offer different types of landscape. Hadley Green lies between High Barnet and Monken Hadley and is used for informal outdoor recreation. Monken Hadley Common consists of grassland and woodland and extends from High Barnet to Cockfosters. The Barnet section of the London Outer Orbital Path, also known as the LOOP Metropolitan Walk, leads from Monken Hadley Common through Hadley Green and beyond the nature reserve.

High Barnet Tube station, located at the end of the Northern line, is suggested as the starting point for the Barnet-and-Hadley Walk. When choosing accommodation in Barnet, you can therefore weigh up a more culture- and history-focused itinerary against a stay involving longer walks through green spaces. For more travel ideas, you can also look at Golders Green.

For the higher-level travel overview: Barnet.