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Friern Barnet

Friern Barnet photos (6 available)

Old photo of Friern Barnet

Friern Barnet maps (2 available)

Old map of Friern Barnet

Friern Barnet books (18 available)

Friern Barnet memories

Family weddings

Friern Barnet, St James' Church c1965

My parents were married In St James Church, Christmas Day 1935. Both my mother's sisters & her brother were also married there, as was myself, two sisters, a cousin & nephew. He being the last, in June 1990. Before I moved away my eldest daughter was baptised there, along with myself & siblings, plus two cousins, (one at St John's), a nephew & niece. There could possibly be more, these are all I know of.
My maternal grandparents are buried in the churchyard, by the gate on the corner of Friary Road. When my mother's generation were married they all lived in Park Way. My grandmother died when I was eight, so my grandfather came to live with us eventually, & ...read more here
Contributed by dorothy stock

London memories

Family weddings

Friern Barnet, St James' Church c1965

My parents were married In St James Church, Christmas Day 1935. Both my mother's sisters & her brother were also married there, as was myself, two sisters, a cousin & nephew. He being the last, in June 1990. Before I moved away my eldest daughter was baptised there, along with myself & siblings, plus two cousins, (one at St John's), a nephew & niece. There could possibly be more, these are all I know of.
My maternal grandparents are buried in the churchyard, by the gate on the corner of Friary Road. When my mother's generation were married they all lived in Park Way. My grandmother died when I was eight, so my grandfather came to live with us eventually, & ...read more here
A memory of Friern Barnet contributed by dorothy stock

Moving to New Southgate

I was born in Islington in 1968. When I was 12 we moved to New Southgate and I fell in love with the whole area instantly. New friends introduced me to Southgate and I was shown the Minchenden Oak for the first time. I was overwhelmed by the size and age of this beautiful tree surrounded by a bench to sit on and think. I attended Arnos School (now Broomfield) and used to, on occasion, sit daydreaming about all the people over the centuries who have seen that tree, walked along the street in Southgate, or been pulled along in horse-drawn carriages. I have a deep-set love of Enfield, Southgate and Palmers Green now as a 40 year old. I go ...read more here
A memory of Palmers Green contributed by gaynor marsh

War Years

Palmers Green, The Triangle c1965

I was born in at 72 Bowes Rd on 7th Jan 1940, after being bombed out we moved to 72 Bowes Rd and then to 62l Ulleswater Rd and then to 14 Eaton Park Road. My earliest memories start from when I was on the pot - not the smoking kind, that came later - and when I could not reach the door handles. My brother, who could, had great fun annoying me and then running out the door and shutting it knowing I couldn't follow. In the war years I would go with my mum into Palmers Green. We would go up Ullswater Rd into Conway Rd and then turn into Fox Lane and walk down over the railway bridge ...read more here
A memory of Palmers Green contributed by Richard Watson

Extracts From Friern Barnet & London books

Friern Barnet, Halliwick Hospital, Friern Barnet Road c1965

This functional machine for healing people, quite new when the photograph was taken, contrasts dramatically in its simple, almost domestic design with its very close neighbour, the Colney Hatch Asylum to its south-east. Here is a pauper asylum of gigantic proportions, built to house 1,000 patients and designed by S W Daukes in 1851. As with Hanwell Asylum, the humanitarian principles evolving from revised scientific thinking were implemented, but even so, the long, cold corridors were seriously intimidating. Much of this remarkable building has been demolished over the past decade to accommodate a not particularly complimentary flat conversion.
An extract from from"North London Photographic Memories".

Friern Barnet, St James' Church c1965

In the 12th century Friern Barnet belonged to the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem, and the church, notwithstanding extensive mid 19th-century additions, dates from around that time. Picturesque in its remarkably rural surroundings, its building materials include examples of a geological oddity: blocks of iron cemented gravel-stone (Fericrete), which is also to be seen in the base of Manor Farm barn, Harmondsworth and in St Mary’s Church, Bedfont, close to Heathrow.
An extract from from"North London Photographic Memories".

East Ham, High Street c1965

High Street North is a relatively undistinguished and typical London suburban shopping street: the exuberance of the Town Hall complex is forgotten. The Midland Bank on the corner of Caulfield Road (right) is one of their 1920s Classical-style single-storey buildings that add quality to many High Streets. On the left the taller Victorian brick buildings were demolished in the 1970s and replaced by bland flat roofed ones.
An extract from from"London Living Memories".

East Ham, North Circular Road c1965

We pass under the River Thames via the Blackwall Tunnel - the northbound side dates from the 1890s, an early project of the LCC, which was established in 1888. East Ham was in Essex until 1965, but since the mid 19th century very much a part of greater London. Here we approach East Ham’s town centre along the busy North Circular Road, which seems in places merely a casual linkage of suburban roads. These terraces of neat Edwardian bay-windowed houses survive, and lead towards the Town Hall with its tower.
An extract from from"London Living Memories".

Greenwich, the Royal Naval College and Riverside Walk 1951

Our tour now heads north-east to Greenwich to a much grander building. The Royal Naval Hospital, a counterpart to the Chelsea Hospital for soldiers, began as a rebuild of Greenwich Palace by Charles II in the 1660s, but it changed direction in the 1690s. The second pediment from the right is Webb’s 1660s work. In 1873 it became the Royal Naval College; when that closed, in the 1990s it became part of Greenwich University. In the distance are the chimneys of Greenwich Power Station of 1902-10.
An extract from from"London Living Memories".