Barnet Gate
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2019}}
{{Use British English|date=June 2025}}
{{Infobox UK place
| country = England
| region = London
| population =
| official_name = Barnet Gate
| coordinates = {{coord|51.643083|-0.240570|display=inline,title}}
| post_town = BARNET
| postcode_area = EN
| postcode_district = EN5
| post_town1 = LONDON
| postcode_area1 = NW
| postcode_district1 = NW7
| london_borough = Barnet
| dial_code = 020
| static_image = The Gate - geograph.org.uk - 384654.jpg
| static_image_width = 230
| static_image_caption = The Gate public houseMartin Addison, Geograph, 1 April 2007.
}}
Barnet Gate is a hamlet on the northern edge of the London Borough of Barnet to the west of Arkley, in England. There was a settlement there during the Roman occupation of Britain and in the Anglo-Saxon period it was known as Grendeles Gatan (Grendel's Gate or Grendelgate) after Grendel, the monster in the epic poem Beowulf. Manor courts were held there and brickmaking was an important local industry. It was on the edge of Southaw wood which was cleared when nearby Chipping Barnet was developed after which it was known as Barnet Gate. The Gate referred to no longer exists but was either a gate used to prevent cattle straying onto Barnet Common or a gate that marked the boundary between Hertfordshire and Middlesex.
History
Barnet Gate was a settlement as early as the Roman occupation of Britain and Hendon Wood Lane may have been a Roman road.[https://web.archive.org/web/20110124001206/http://www.barnet.gov.uk/index/leisure-culture/libraries/archives/archives-histories/archives-barnethistories/archives-barnet-arkley.htm Arkley and Barnet Gate.] Richard Nurse, London Borough of Barnet, 18 December 2007. Retrieved from archive.org
During the Anglo-Saxon period, Barnet Gate was known as Grendeles Gatan (Grendel's Gate or Grendelgate) and referred to as such in a c.975 charter giving the northern bounds of Hendon, a reference to the monster killed in the legend of Beowulf.{{cite book|author=Mills, A. D.|title=A Dictionary of London Place-names|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UWKcAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA14|edition=2nd|year=2010|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford|isbn=978-0-19-956678-5|page=14}} The gate referred to no longer exists but was either a gate used to prevent cattle straying onto Barnet Common,Willey, Russ. (2006) Chambers London Gazetteer. London: Chambers. p. 25. {{ISBN|9780550102591}} or a gate that marked the boundary between Hertfordshire and Middlesex which ran through the locality. Manor courts were held in the area and the British Library hold a book in their collection titled Barnet Court BookBL Add MS 40167. which records a manor court held in Barnet Gate in 1354. It had the name Greensgate in 1574 and Grinsgate in 1754.
The settlement was on the edge of Southaw (or Suthawe) wood which belonged to the Abbey of St Albans but which was cleared when Chipping Barnet was developed to the east. The word barnet is derived from the Old English word bærnet, or "the land cleared by burning".[https://books.google.com/books?id=UWKcAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA13 Mills, p. 13.]
Industry
There is a history of brickmaking in the area with a brickworks recorded in the 13th century. A late 19th century Ordnance Survey map shows a brick field, two wash mills and a tile works on the south side of Barnet Road adjacent to Barnet Gate Lane. Brickfield Lane runs north from Barnet Road where Hadley Football Club, whose nickname is "the bricks", play at Barnet Gate Sports Ground.[https://hadleyfc.co.uk/ground-address/index.html Hadley Football Club.] Retrieved 2 July 2021.
Buildings
The Gate public house, originally The Bell, is on the corner of Barnet Road and Hendon Wood Lane and was built during the Victorian era.[https://hidden-london.com/gazetteer/barnet-gate/ Barnet Gate, Barnet.] Hidden London. Retrieved 29 June 2021.[https://thegatearkley.co.uk/ The Gate.] Retrieved 29 June 2021.
Barnet Gate Mill, also known as the Arkley Windmill, is a grade II* listed tower mill in private ground between Windmill Lane and Brickfield Lane.{{NHLE|num=1359022|desc=Arkley Windmill|accessdate=2 July 2021}} The associated barn for storing grain for the windmill is grade II listed in Brickfield Lane.{{NHLE|num=1078858|desc=The Barn in the Grounds of the Windmill|accessdate=3 July 2021}}
The entrance to the grade II listed Hyver Hall is on the south side of Barnet Road on the western side of Barnet Gate.{{NHLE|num=1078857|desc=Hyver Hall|accessdate=2 July 2021}}
Winifred House, a convalescent hospital for children, moved to a purpose-built building in Barnet Gate in 1938 on the corner of Barnet Road and Hendon Wood Lane. It originally had charitable funding but joined the new National Health Service in 1948. From 1962 it began to accept mentally handicapped children and in 1971 became devoted solely to cases of mental handicap. It closed in 1999 after which Winifred House was demolished and a development of luxury homes built. The hospital is remembered with two plaques in the modern Winifred Close.[https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/hospitalrecords/details.asp?id=2741 Winifred House, Zachary Merton Convalescent Hospital Home for Children., Barnet] National Archives. Retrieved 6 July 2021.{{cite web |title=Winifred House Convalescent Hospital, Arkley, Barnet|url=http://www.formerchildrenshomes.org.uk/winifred_house_convalescent_hospital.html |website=www.formerchildrenshomes.org.uk |access-date=6 July 2021}}[https://ezitis.myzen.co.uk/winifredhouse.html Winifred House Convalescent Hospital for Children.] Lost Hospitals of London. Retrieved 6 July 2021.
Natural environment
Barnet Gate Wood is south of Barnet Road and to the west of Hendon Wood Lane. Immediately to the south of the wood is Moat Mount Open Space, a nature reserve that was originally part of the Forest of Middlesex before it was deforested.[https://designatedsites.naturalengland.org.uk/SiteLNRDetail.aspx?SiteCode=L1009275&SiteName=moat%20mount&countyCode=&responsiblePerson=&SeaArea=&IFCAArea= Scratchwood and Moat Mount Open Spaces LNR.] Natural England. Retrieved 3 July 2021. The Dollis Brook rises at Mote End Farm before running eastwards under Hendon Wood LaneHewlett, Jan; Ian Yarham & David Curson. (1997) Nature Conservation in Barnet. Ecology Handbook No. 28. London: London Ecology Unit. pp. 70-72. ISBN 1871045274 and the ten-mile Dollis Valley Greenwalk, which broadly follows the route of the brook, starts at Moat Mount Open Space.[https://web.archive.org/web/20110716085220/http://www.walklondon.org.uk/uploads/File/sections/Loop_16_leaflet_web(1).pdf Walk London Loop 16.] Archived at the Internet Archive 16 July 2011.
Maps
File:Barnet Common on an 1805 map by William Hyett.jpg|Barnet Gate (left) and Barnet Common (centre) on an 1805 map[http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/ordsurvdraw/c/002osd000000009u00103000.html Chipping Barnet.] British Library. Retrieved 3 July 2021.
File:Arkley & Barnet Gate on Map of Middlesex Sheet 006, Ordnance Survey, 1868-1883.jpg|Barnet Gate and Arkley on a late 19th century Ordnance Survey mapMap of Middlesex, Sheet 6, Ordnance Survey, 1868-1883.
File:Map of Barnet Gate.jpg|Modern area mapOpenStreetMap, 3 July 2021.
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{commons category inline|Barnet Gate}}
{{Geographic Location
|title = Neighbouring areas
|Northwest = Borehamwood
|North = South Mimms
|Northeast = High Barnet
|West = Elstree
|Centre = Barnet Gate
|East = Arkley
|Southwest = Edgware
|South = Mill Hill
|Southeast = Totteridge
}}
{{LB Barnet}}
{{Areas of London}}