Barnet High Street has become a showcase for Battle of Barnet banners – a heritage asset which might get international recognition

Painting and caring for the Battle of Barnet banners which are displayed along the High Street each summer is an historic legacy for the town which volunteers at Barnet Museum hope might gain international recognition.

An application has been made by the museum to see if the craft of making and maintaining replicas of these medieval banners can be recognised by UNESCO as an intangible cultural heritage – a practice which is part of the cultural identity of a community.

Unlike tangible heritage, such as monuments or artefacts, an intangible heritage is passed down from generation to generation and is continuously being recreated.

Almost a decade ago Barnet Museum took inspiration from the town of Tewkesbury which has been celebrating the 1471 Battle of Tewkesbury for the last 50 years with re-enactments, a medieval festival and a display of heraldic banners.

Volunteers at Barnet Museum followed their example and started researching the history of the coats of arms of royalty and noblemen whose troops fought in the Battle of Barnet on April 14, 1471, the month before the Battle of Tewkesbury on May 4, 1471.

The application to UNESCO for a listing of intangible cultural heritage is now being made in conjunction with Wars of the Roses enthusiasts at Tewkesbury.

One of the first heraldic banners to be reproduced in Barnet was that of King Henry VI – seen above in 2018 with the museum’s curator Mike Noronhan and the deputy curator Hilary Harrison.

Permission was granted for a display of banners in The Spires Shopping Centre and agreement was reached with Barnet Council for them to be hung from lampposts along Barnet High Street.

All told the museum volunteers have now researched and painted 106 banners – of which 76 currently hang in the High Street and another 26 are displayed in various locations around the town including The Spires.

Mike Noronha said that once the museum staff heard about the UNESCO scheme for registering an intangible cultural heritage they decided to work with Tewkesbury in making an application.

“Painting, maintaining and displaying the banners is a real craft which we think we have mastered and which we think should be recognised.

“Each winter the banners have to be repaired and sometimes repainted as they get damaged in high wind, so this is an ongoing task for the museum.”

Mounting costs involved in hanging the banners along the High Street has become an issue.

Last year when it seemed there was some doubt as to whether they would be able to go ahead the Chipping Barnet Town Team stepped in and agreed to pay half the cost of the installation, work which was carried out by Barnet Council’s street lighting contractor.

This summer the council stepped in to meet the installation cost of £3,500, for which Mr Noronha said the museum was “hugely grateful”.