News from The Barnet Society

Such was the enthusiastic response to a real-life re-enactment of the Battle of Barnet that military re-enactors, organisers and visitors were unanimous in their hope that the first-ever Barnet Medieval Festival can become an annual event.

Barnet High Street is flying heraldic banners from the Wars of the Roses to promote the town’s first-ever medieval festival which is being held this weekend (Saturday and Sunday, 9 and 10 June) to commemorate the 1471 Battle of Barnet.

A cup of Battle of Barnet tea or a pint of Battle of Barnet bitter are just two of the tempting offers that are being lined up to promote the Barnet Medieval Festival at the Byng Road playing fields over the weekend of Saturday & Sunday, June 9 & 10.

Scenes from the battles of St Albans (1461) and Barnet (1471) – two of the engagements in the Wars of the Roses – are to be re-created as part of the Barnet Medieval Festival to be held over the weekend of June 9 and 10 at the Byng Road playing fields.

Replica copies of four of the heraldic banners of the dukes, earls and knights who fought in the 1471 Battle of Barnet are now on display in the Spires shopping centre.

A replica of a late medieval helmet of a kind worn by a knight or man-at-arms at the 1471 Battle of Barnet is the latest acquisition for an exhibition that is being planned at Barnet Museum to celebrate Barnet’s role in the Wars of the Roses.

A re-enactment of armed combat from the time of the Battle of Barnet of 1471 filled the garden in front of the parish church of St John the Baptist to promote Barnet’s role in the Wars of the Roses, as the launch of the Barnet 1471 Battlefields Society and to encourage efforts to discover more

An unrivalled display of images of Richard III, from his role in the 1471 Battle of Barnet until his death in 1485 at the Battle of Bosworth Field, has been amassed by photographer Geoffrey Wheeler.

Barnet’s first medieval festival is to be held at the Old Courthouse Recreation Ground at the rear of Barnet Museum on Sunday 11 June. A demonstration by the members of the Medieval Siege Society -- in Wars of the Roses military attire – and a medieval food tasting will be just two of the attractions.

Helen Giles, who has wide experience as a museum curator and consultant for numerous heritage projects, has been appointed project co-ordinator for the programme to promote and explain the Battle of Barnet of 1471. Her appointment by the Battle of Barnet Project has been made possible by a grant of £98,600 from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

The job of promoting and explaining the Battle of Barnet of 1471 is to be undertaken by a project co-ordinator whose appointment has been made possible by a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

Dr Alice Roberts presents the BBC4 program 'Digging for Britain' Two promising pointers towards locating the precise site of the 1471 Battle of Barnet were examined in the final television programme of the current archaeological series, Digging for Britain on BBC4.

A grant of almost £100,000 has been awarded by the Heritage Lottery Fund towards the cost of promoting and celebrating the 1471 Battle of Barnet.

After an extensive search with metal detectors a highly-experienced team of military archaeologists has unearthed a host of medieval items that might be linked to the 1471 Battle of Barnet.

Fragments of pottery and tiles found during an excavation of land within Wrotham Park has confirmed that the hamlet of Kitts End did exist during the 1471 Battle of Barnet – and that in fact there was probably habitation there as early as the 11th century.

A survey to assess the size and shape of the lost hamlet of Kitts End could assist the ongoing archaeological investigation to determine the precise site of the Battle of Barnet of 1471.

A series of test pits are to be dug on land inside Wrotham Park as part of an investigation to locate the possible site a chapel that was erected to commemorate men killed in the Battle of Barnet of 1471.

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.

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.

Dr Gillian Gear, who fought a heroic battle to save and maintain Barnet Museum when Barnet Council withdrew its financial support, has died after undergoing treatment for some weeks at Watford General Hospital.