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Hadley
Hadley maps
Historic maps of Hadley and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Hadley maps
Hadley area books
Displaying 1 of 13 books about Hadley and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Hadley
Displaying a selection of personal
memories of Hadley.
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All Around Hadley
My early years were spent in Monken Hadley. When I see photos of Hadley I can say I have been there. There's a little row of cottages oppisite Hadley Church, St Mary's, and my aunty Molly Ratling (nee Longland) lived there. My granny lived in the Chauffer's Cottage by the church and next to the Grange? owned by the Death family. I have been inside the Grange to the bedrooms and the kitchen. It ws very large and grand in comparison to the small cottage we lived in next to Hadley Infants School on the common. That was during the Second World War and the cottages have been demolished now and the school extended onto that land. But what a playground it was, the common and the woods, for us children. I remember Mill Corner when the pub was a pub. Next to it was a garage, Ramsay's, and next to that a village store I think called Moffits. My gran's sister lived in one of the cottages before... Read more
Greater London memories
Shopping Memories.
On the left hand side of the photograph next to the zebra crossing is Eastwells, a greengrocers and fruiterers. My father Harold Besent who is in the window in a white coat was a partner and also the managing director from 1940 until he retired in the late 1970s. This photograph was taken before the shop was modernised, and a new door and windows fitted. The back of the premises was very large, there was a very large walk-in fridge and a boiler to boil the beetroots. Further at the back was the yard, home to many feral cats, who earned their keep by keeping the mice at bay.
Further down on the left was the Odeon picture house, the Salisbury Arms pub and Woolworths which had wooden floorboards covered in sawdust.
War Years in High Barnet / Family Connections
I was born in 1932. My father was William (Bill) Cowley, and my grandfather had a coal merchants business, 'Cowley & Sons'. The photograph of Barnet High Street c1955 brought back many happy memories - I well remember Eastwells near the junction with St Albans Road, the Red Lion Hotel, Timothy Whites, Sainsbury's, and Hudson Brothers, on the corner of Moxon Street, where I lived, with many members of the Cowley family until 1940.
We were 'bombed out' on the 16th September 1940, my father's 34th birthday, and we went to live with my aunt at her house in Marriott Road, until we found another house, months later in May's Lane. The war years were a hard time for everyone trying to carry on 'as usual' which was very difficult to do.
I still look back on my early life in Barnet fondly, it has changed so much now but still means a lot to me.
Barnet And Hadley
Hello Margaret, I knew the Cowleys and the Laidlaws, but only as acquaintances. I did work with a Miss Pauline Cowley and lived opposite a Mr and Mrs Cowley in Northfield Road near Cockfosters,New Barnet. I don't know how the Cowleys family tree looks, if you know what I mean. Were they also related to the Sunderlands of Hadley? I knew Barbara and Freddy Sunderland. I do remember the teachers of Byng Road. My class teacher was Miss Evans. My early years were spent in Hadley and Barnet. We moved about because of bomb damage. Lived in a tiny cottage by the infant school, Hadley Common, now demolished. Head Mistress was Miss Channer. I've so many memories of Hadley. Always wondered who lived in those lovely cottages by the pond and next to the big Georgian house. Do you recall the bomb craters that were in the park and on the green? The horse troughs? The many pubs? The fire station(s)? The bonfire nights?
From New Barnet to High Barnet
I remember being in the last year at Whitings Road School, and having our school 5-a-side picture taken on the back steps of the school. It is the earliest colour photo taken of me and the team, and I still have it. I remember John Brennan, John Hill, who turned out to be a pretty good footballer, John Hanratty who, for a skinny lad could boot the ball over 3/4 of the length of the pitch, myself, and Malcolm, sorry I can't remember his second name. In the front there is a silver cup, but I can't remember what cup it was. I lived at the bottom of Bells Hill, and our field we used to play in was the grazing field for the milkman's horse, 'Kitty'. Happy days until they built an estate on it. By 'our', I mean all us kids who were local to the fields up Bells Hill then. Melvyn Eyers, John Hill, Steve Anderson, Gerry Crochet, Bernard Clark, John Rugman me and my brother Martin.... Read more
Lee
Hi, I lived in Barnet, my father and grandfather and his father dates back 1879, their surname was Lee, from Taperster Street and Dexter Road. It would be great if anyone know my father Brian Lee, he died in 1973. He had a garage behind the Saibury Arms. Barnet has changed a lot.
Barnet Cinema And Gothic House
I'm sure Barnet Cinema is well remembered, but I cannot find any photograph of it.
Another building that I recall is GOTHIC HOUSE which stood at the top of Baker's Hill and overlooked Clifford Road golf course and the Northen railway line. It was a large mansion which was requisitioned to Reuters News. My mother worked there just after WW2 and I roamed freely around the house and grounds. The area has been developed into residential homes, and I wonder if Gothic House remains or was demolished.
