Borough in London, England
Barnet
Cockneys have been saying Barnet for hair since the Victorian era, thanks to a horse fair, and the town's Wars of the Roses battle was fought in thick fog.
Key information
- County
- Greater London (historically Hertfordshire and Middlesex)
- Nation
- England
- Population
- about 389,000 (2021 Census)
- Area
- about 87 square km
- Known for
- Barnet Fair, the 1471 Battle of Barnet, Hendon's aviation history, the Northern line terminus at High Barnet
- Famous people
- Margaret Thatcher (MP for Finchley), Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, Claude Grahame-White
- Football clubs
- Barnet FC (The Bees)
About Barnet
Why your hair is called your barnet
Barnet Fair is the reason a London head of hair is a "barnet". Cockney rhyming slang turned "Barnet Fair" into "hair", and the second half was eventually dropped, leaving the word that's still used across Britain. The fair itself is a real one. It grew out of a horse and cattle market, was chartered by Elizabeth I in 1588, and still turns up every September. Drovers and dealers once poured in along the Great North Road, which is how the name came to be known to every Londoner. The town's other name has a story too. "Chipping" means market, and Chipping Barnet got its market in the Middle Ages. The name Barnet itself comes from Old English and refers to land cleared by burning.
The battle fought in a fog so thick armies killed their own
On Easter Sunday, 14 April 1471, Edward IV's Yorkists met the Lancastrian forces of Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, just north of the town. It was one of the decisive battles of the Wars of the Roses. The fog was heavy, and the armies could barely see each other. The standard story is that the Earl of Oxford's men, wearing a star badge, were mistaken for Edward's men, who wore a sun, and were attacked by their own side. The confusion became a Lancastrian disaster. Warwick, nicknamed the Kingmaker, died in the fighting. Edward then consolidated his restoration to the throne by defeating the Lancastrians at Tewkesbury on 4 May 1471. A stone obelisk at Hadley Highstone, put up in 1740, marks the spot where the battle is traditionally said to have been fought.
A coaching town on the road north
Barnet sits on the Great North Road, the main route between London and York and beyond. That made it a natural stop for travellers who wanted a fresh horse and a hot meal before the climb up Barnet Hill. The coaching inns that once lined the High Street left a legacy of pubs, and the town still has a famous cluster of them. The old market area, with its tight streets and the Tudor Hall, still feels like a country town that London gradually swallowed. The Northern line did the swallowing in 1940, when High Barnet became the terminus of one of its branches. Barnet Museum is the place to look for the local story.
Britain's first airmail took off from Hendon
Hendon is the part of the borough that belongs to aviation. Claude Grahame-White set up a flying ground there before the First World War, and in September 1911 the first official UK airmail flight left Hendon for Windsor. The airfield later became part of the story of the RAF. Today the Royal Air Force Museum sits on the old aerodrome, with historic aircraft on display, including exhibits from the Battle of Britain. Hendon also trains the police. The Metropolitan Police training college opened there in 1934 under Lord Trenchard, and generations of London officers have started their careers in the area.
One borough, many villages
Barnet is a big place made up of distinct neighbourhoods. Finchley was Margaret Thatcher's constituency from 1959 until 1992. Golders Green has one of London's best-known Jewish communities and a reputation for excellent bakeries and delis. Mill Hill has a village feel, and Totteridge has some of the greenest streets in London. Football is the local passion. Barnet FC, known as The Bees, first reached the Football League in 1991 after winning the Conference. They played at Underhill, near the foot of Barnet Hill, from 1907 until moving to The Hive in 2013. Queen Elizabeth's School, founded in 1573, is another long-standing local institution, so a town that is famous for an Elizabethan fair also has an Elizabethan school.