Pymmes Brook - Oakleigh Park
Pymmes Brook
Pymmes Brook flows south east through Oak Hill Park
Post to the north East Barnet
Post to the east Osidge
Post to the west Whetstone
Burlington Rise
Church Farm School. This was an industrial school, established in 1860 for destitute boys which had been originally in Euston Road, St Pancras. It was bought by Colonel William Gillum, a patron of William Morris circle, and he employed Philip Webb to build here. It eventually became an approved school under the Approved Schools Act in 1933, when industrial schools were merged with reformatory schools for boys. It eventually closed in 1938, and moved to Godstone,
Church Farm Special School for children with behavioural difficulties opened on the Church Farm site and closed in 2000 following a damming Ofsted report.
Oak Hill Campus on the site of Church Farm School which is part of Mill Hill County High School. The campus caters for students with emotional and behavioural difficulties and was opened in 2000. There are still white-painted brick buildings of a schoolhouse of 1868, schoolroom of 1878 and playroom of 1880, both by Philip Webb's friend C.G. Vinall. Wings were added in 1925-6 plus a copper-clad clock turret.
1 -2 cottages in Philip Webb’s style perhaps by C.Vinall,
2a- 3 cottages by Charles Nicholson. This was originally one house built 1912 in pink brick, with ground-floor windows under Gothic arches
Water tower, in reinforced concrete clad in brick and tile. Built 1912, with C. Mellis, as engineer, and Charles Nicholson as consultant on architectural detail
Church Farm Swimming Pool. Now run by GLL and open to the public.
Church Hill Road
St.Mary the Virgin. The church was consecrated in 1080 and is the oldest church in the area with a Norman nave, still recognisable despite later additions. The nave still stands on the foundations of the original chapel more than 925 years later and the north wall remains from the original church. This was the first parish church of the later settlement of Chipping, or High, Barnet and once belonged to St Alban's Abbey. There are doorways are both of Reigate stone which date from 12th and graffiti on them which probably dates from the Commonwealth. At the reformation the Crown retained the avowdson, and retains it still. The tower was built in 1829 by R. Kelsey and was originally free-standing – the present bells date from 1960 and were recast from the original Whitechapel bells. Internal works by George Street in 1850-1 and extensions and alterations in the late 19th enlarged the church and improved facilities. Stained glass window 1880 by Clayton & Bell and there are some small ancient fragments of 13th glass reset in the windows. During the Second World War the church was bomb damaged and a window was installed in 1950 as a war memorial.
Churchyard. Lych Gate was erected in 1872 with an inscription ’Both High and Low, Rich and Poor together’ and a stile beside it was to stop animals entering the churchyard. Memorial to Sir Simon Houghton-Clark is sited so that it can be seen from Oak Hill House where he died in 1832. Among the yew trees is a young tree which is a cutting from the 2000 year old Eastling Yew in Kent, planted here in the year 2000. There are Hertfordshire grave boards on the north side of the churchyard and a series of tombstones to the Grove family, all of the same design, with putto heads and obelisks.
106 Lodge to demolished Trevor Park. By Philip Webb, 1868-70. Square, with a steep tile-hung gable on each side.
Gallants Farm Road
Building in the 1920s by New Ideal Homesteads on 45 acres of Gallants Farm.
Oak Hill Park
Oak Hill Park is one of Barnet's premier parks with a wide range of facilities - outdoor gym, a bowling green, football, golf, tennis courts, and a play area for toddlers. The area was in private ownership until it was bought by East Barnet Council in 1930 and the park opened in 1933. It includes a nature reserve and Pymmes Brook runs through the park and the flood plain was raised with spoil from the Piccadilly Line extension. It is said that Joanna Southcott used to sit under a tree here, which mysteriously burst into flames in the 1930s.
Oakleigh Avenue
Originally called All Saints Road. Still an empty track in 1920.
St.Mary’s Road
Church Hill Primary School
Stuart Road
Trevor Park lay on the north west side of the road. Before 1610 a medieval Manor House stood next to St., Mary’s church which was replaced by Church Hill House in 1610. In 1690 Thomas Trevor renamed it Trevor Park. This was replaced by a second Church Hill House in 1860 which was taken down in the 1930s.
The Ridings
Oakleigh Park Station. Opened in 1873 it lies between New Barnet and New Southgate on Great Northern Railway. The name of the station was at the insistence of the Whetstone Freehold Estate Co in an agreement made in 1866 for it to be called Whetstone – but by the time it was built they had changed the name of the estate. The old blue LNER pattern running-in boards once stated 'Oakleigh Park for East Barnet'. For many years its gas lamps, displayed the station's name. It has since been refurbished but parts of the old structures remain. The original station was very cheaply built. Allegedly with second hand items from Finsbury Park,
Goods Yard. Cars were shipped from here to Tilbury. The down goods yard was in place by the 1880s but the up yard was the result of spill tipping in the 1900s.
Signal boxes. There were two signal boxes built in 1892, and one was replaced in 1901. Both were replaced by one second hand box in 1924 which was abolished in the 1970s.
Sidings - down siding was put in in 1881 at the north end for general goods and coal sheds built alongside it. An up siding was put in alongside later. these sidings were used for Vauxhall and Bedford cars being moved between Luton and the docks.
From New Southgate, the main line plunges into Barnet Tunnel, then through a short cutting before reaching here.
Source material for this section
Articles in Greater London Railway Record
GLIAS Newsletter
Field - Place names of Greater London
Pevsner & Cherry. London North
Walford Village London
Hertfordshire Churches
London Borough of Barnet Pocket Histories web site
British Histories. County of Hertfordshire web site
Pymmes Brook flows south east through Oak Hill Park
Post to the north East Barnet
Post to the east Osidge
Post to the west Whetstone
Burlington Rise
Church Farm School. This was an industrial school, established in 1860 for destitute boys which had been originally in Euston Road, St Pancras. It was bought by Colonel William Gillum, a patron of William Morris circle, and he employed Philip Webb to build here. It eventually became an approved school under the Approved Schools Act in 1933, when industrial schools were merged with reformatory schools for boys. It eventually closed in 1938, and moved to Godstone,
Church Farm Special School for children with behavioural difficulties opened on the Church Farm site and closed in 2000 following a damming Ofsted report.
Oak Hill Campus on the site of Church Farm School which is part of Mill Hill County High School. The campus caters for students with emotional and behavioural difficulties and was opened in 2000. There are still white-painted brick buildings of a schoolhouse of 1868, schoolroom of 1878 and playroom of 1880, both by Philip Webb's friend C.G. Vinall. Wings were added in 1925-6 plus a copper-clad clock turret.
1 -2 cottages in Philip Webb’s style perhaps by C.Vinall,
2a- 3 cottages by Charles Nicholson. This was originally one house built 1912 in pink brick, with ground-floor windows under Gothic arches
Water tower, in reinforced concrete clad in brick and tile. Built 1912, with C. Mellis, as engineer, and Charles Nicholson as consultant on architectural detail
Church Farm Swimming Pool. Now run by GLL and open to the public.
Church Hill Road
St.Mary the Virgin. The church was consecrated in 1080 and is the oldest church in the area with a Norman nave, still recognisable despite later additions. The nave still stands on the foundations of the original chapel more than 925 years later and the north wall remains from the original church. This was the first parish church of the later settlement of Chipping, or High, Barnet and once belonged to St Alban's Abbey. There are doorways are both of Reigate stone which date from 12th and graffiti on them which probably dates from the Commonwealth. At the reformation the Crown retained the avowdson, and retains it still. The tower was built in 1829 by R. Kelsey and was originally free-standing – the present bells date from 1960 and were recast from the original Whitechapel bells. Internal works by George Street in 1850-1 and extensions and alterations in the late 19th enlarged the church and improved facilities. Stained glass window 1880 by Clayton & Bell and there are some small ancient fragments of 13th glass reset in the windows. During the Second World War the church was bomb damaged and a window was installed in 1950 as a war memorial.
Churchyard. Lych Gate was erected in 1872 with an inscription ’Both High and Low, Rich and Poor together’ and a stile beside it was to stop animals entering the churchyard. Memorial to Sir Simon Houghton-Clark is sited so that it can be seen from Oak Hill House where he died in 1832. Among the yew trees is a young tree which is a cutting from the 2000 year old Eastling Yew in Kent, planted here in the year 2000. There are Hertfordshire grave boards on the north side of the churchyard and a series of tombstones to the Grove family, all of the same design, with putto heads and obelisks.
106 Lodge to demolished Trevor Park. By Philip Webb, 1868-70. Square, with a steep tile-hung gable on each side.
Gallants Farm Road
Building in the 1920s by New Ideal Homesteads on 45 acres of Gallants Farm.
Oak Hill Park
Oak Hill Park is one of Barnet's premier parks with a wide range of facilities - outdoor gym, a bowling green, football, golf, tennis courts, and a play area for toddlers. The area was in private ownership until it was bought by East Barnet Council in 1930 and the park opened in 1933. It includes a nature reserve and Pymmes Brook runs through the park and the flood plain was raised with spoil from the Piccadilly Line extension. It is said that Joanna Southcott used to sit under a tree here, which mysteriously burst into flames in the 1930s.
Oakleigh Avenue
Originally called All Saints Road. Still an empty track in 1920.
St.Mary’s Road
Church Hill Primary School
Stuart Road
Trevor Park lay on the north west side of the road. Before 1610 a medieval Manor House stood next to St., Mary’s church which was replaced by Church Hill House in 1610. In 1690 Thomas Trevor renamed it Trevor Park. This was replaced by a second Church Hill House in 1860 which was taken down in the 1930s.
The Ridings
Oakleigh Park Station. Opened in 1873 it lies between New Barnet and New Southgate on Great Northern Railway. The name of the station was at the insistence of the Whetstone Freehold Estate Co in an agreement made in 1866 for it to be called Whetstone – but by the time it was built they had changed the name of the estate. The old blue LNER pattern running-in boards once stated 'Oakleigh Park for East Barnet'. For many years its gas lamps, displayed the station's name. It has since been refurbished but parts of the old structures remain. The original station was very cheaply built. Allegedly with second hand items from Finsbury Park,
Goods Yard. Cars were shipped from here to Tilbury. The down goods yard was in place by the 1880s but the up yard was the result of spill tipping in the 1900s.
Signal boxes. There were two signal boxes built in 1892, and one was replaced in 1901. Both were replaced by one second hand box in 1924 which was abolished in the 1970s.
Sidings - down siding was put in in 1881 at the north end for general goods and coal sheds built alongside it. An up siding was put in alongside later. these sidings were used for Vauxhall and Bedford cars being moved between Luton and the docks.
From New Southgate, the main line plunges into Barnet Tunnel, then through a short cutting before reaching here.
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