News from The Barnet Society

A new planning application is in for the Whalebones site. The plans have been scaled back from 152 to 114 homes, but in most other respects are similar to the one we objected to in 2019.

The London Festival of Architecture (LFA) is a month-long celebration of architecture and city-making that takes place every June across London. This year, for the first time, Barnet is an official destination in the LFA’s exciting and varied programme of events around the theme ‘In Common’. Several are coming up in the north of our Borough.

Back in February the Barnet Society thought it had helped save this remarkable Locally-Listed Victorian villa, when the Council unanimously refused its demolition in favour of 20 flats. But the developer has appealed against the decision, and you have until Wednesday 29 September to add your voice to preserve this building from the wrecking ball.

A 1960s self-built house, described by the Barnet Society as being "uncompromisingly modern" for its period, was used for shooting scenes for a six-part thriller Ragdoll from the producers of Killing Eve.

Probably the oldest transport cafe in Barnet - the Hole in the Wall on the Great North Road - has ceased trading, a victim of the difficulties which lockdown has imposed on the catering trade.

Barnet Council's highways department is preparing a new set of policies for the future safeguarding and maintenance of historic structures such as horse troughs and street signs.

A warehouse on the Queen's Road industrial estate off Wood Street, High Barnet, is being converted into a temporary studio for filming scenes for a new six-part television thriller Ragdoll from the producers of Killing Eve. Technicians have spent several days unloading equipment for Sid Gentle Films, a BBC Studios-backed independent production company.

Nearby residents and pillar box enthusiasts are urging the Royal Mail to replace one of High Barnet's historic post boxes which was demolished during a car crash at the junction of Manor Road and Wood Street.

A hunt is on for women, children and former staff who might be able to unlock memories of one of the less publicised roles of 33 Lyonsdown Road, New Barnet, the listed Victorian villa that is under the threat of demolition.

The future of 33 Lyonsdown Road New Barnet hangs in the balance as the last the property guardians have left the villa. This locally listed building has been threatened with demolition by its owners, Abbeytown Ltd, who unsuccessfully applied to build a five-storey block of flats on the site.

Land Registry documents hold the answer to at least some of the mystery surrounding the ownership and future of High Barnet's vacant market site: the land is now owned by Aberdeen City Council which purchased the site for £4 million in April 2019.

Resident guardians who are having to leave a Victorian mansion in New Barnet that has been their home for the last five years fear for the safety of the building while a planning dispute drags on.

Winning a national award is another accolade for Barnet calligrapher Gwyneth Hibbett whose skills are on display on five historic information boards which have been installed in the High Street by Barnet Museum.

A report into the four-year project to discover the site of the 1471 Battle of Barnet explains why a team of military historians still cannot provide answers to the mystery surrounding the precise location of an epic confrontation during the Wars of the Roses.

The Bull Players' performance of Fog of War -- their contribution to the commemorations to mark the 550th anniversary of the Battle of Barnet -- is to be staged in mid-September in the historic setting of the garden of Monken Hadley church.

A commemorative booklet has been published by Barnet Museum and Local History Society to mark the 100th anniversary of the erection of the Chipping Barnet war memorial.  Sadly, a clean-up of the Portland stone base, plinth, and column, will not take place in advance of a planned Act of Commemoration which it is hoped will mark

Cleaning and repairs to Hadley Highstone herald the start of what promises to be a year of events to mark the 550th anniversary of the Battle of Barnet which will include the return in September of the Barnet Medieval Festival.

Research by a local historian provides a fascinating insight into the occupations and everyday life over a century ago among the several hundred families who lived in a respectable working-class enclave close to Barnet town centre.

Family historians keen to research the lives of people living in Barnet in the 1920s have only twelve months to wait before the release of the much-anticipated 1921 census and its wealth of information about life in the aftermath of the First World War.

Efforts are underway to identify and map the many alleyways and footpaths that add so much to the local landscape and help make High Barnet such an attractive place to live.