News from The Barnet Society

A question mark hanging over the future ownership of Barnet’s many historic almshouses has finally been resolved after the government gave an assurance they would not be included in the extension of the right-to-buy scheme for housing tenants.

Farmland to the west of Wrotham Park, alongside Kitts End Lane and the St Albans Road, is emerging as a likely site of the Battle of Barnet.

It is not well enough known that British cinema was born in Chipping Barnet 120 years ago.  Moving images were then as revolutionary as virtual reality seems now.

A medieval silver farthing that might have been in use at the time of the Battle of Barnet of 1471 is the most dramatic find discovered so far during searches with metal detectors on farm-land beside Kitts End Lane.

When workmen removed the last wooden panels covering up tiling on the walls of 89 High Street, Barnet, they were able to solve the mystery surrounding the painting of a dairy maid.

 Two Victorian measuring jugs from a former public house in High Barnet have turned up mysteriously in the archives of St Peter’s Church at Formby on Merseyside.

A set of painted wall tiles revealed during building work at 89 High Street Barnet depict a dairy maid holding her pail, with cows and chickens in the background.

A training weekend for local metal dectorists in a freshly ploughed field off Kitts End Lane has kicked off an archaeological investigation to determine the precise site of the Battle of Barnet of 1471.

Decorating the High Street with the banners of medieval noblemen might be one of the ways to celebrate the anniversary of the Battle of Barnet of 1471 if support can be obtained from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

Queen Elizabeth I’s charter of 1573 provided for ‘boys and youth’, but it was not until 1888 that Barnet got a school for girls.  Its oldest buildings are not just a gentle monument to a pioneering educational movement, but fine examples of the Arts and Crafts style.

A re-enactment of scenes from a medieval battlefield was the highlight of the official launch of the Battle of Barnet Project – a two-year survey to determine the exact site of one of the grisliest battles of the Wars of the Roses.

Torchlight tour of Barnet’s historic physic well but is another historic building at risk?  Local residents had a rare opportunity to see inside Barnet’s historic physic well when Barnet Museum organised an open day at the well house, a short walk from Barnet Hospital.

Barnet Society member Sheila Durchslag has issued an alert over two missing George V plaques from the entrance to the fields off Barnet Lane. Has anyone photographs of the original metal insignia badges?

Military archaeologists from Huddersfield University hope to start work in May surveying the possible site of the Battle of Barnet of 1471, in preparation for a full-scale investigation.

Consultations have started on proposals to redevelop part of the course of the Old Fold Manor Golf Club, across land that is currently included in the registered site of the Battle of Barnet.

Barnet Museum is to take the lead in a fresh application to the Heritage Lottery Fund for a grant towards the cost of an archaeological dig to determine the site of the Battle of Barnet of 1471.

A Battle of Barnet heritage trail starting at Hadley Highstone is just one of the ambitious plans for providing a lasting legacy if funding can be obtained from the Heritage Lottery Fund for an archaeological excavation of the battlefield site.

Barnet Museum is drawing up plans for a possible extension to its Wood Street premises and a programme of community activities if the go-ahead is given for an archaeological excavation on the site of the 1471 Battle of Barnet.

Descendants of the family that established the Thomas Watson Cottage Homes, which are tucked away at the end of Leecroft Road, have unveiled a commemorative stone to mark their centenary.

Tucked away at the end of Leecroft Road, unseen by many local residents, are the Thomas Watson Cottage Homes, which celebrate their centenary this July.  Barnet’s charitable housing for the poor and elderly has a long and distinguished history, and a special place in the local townscape.