Chipping Barnet
- This article is about the town in London. For the city in Vermont, USA, see Barnet, Vermont.
High Barnet or Chipping Barnet is a place in the London Borough of Barnet. It is located 10.5 miles (16.9 km) north north-west of Charing Cross and within the northerly bounds of the M25 motorway.
The town was the site of the Battle of Barnet in 1471, where Yorkist troops led by King Edward IV killed the rebellious "Kingmaker" Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick and Warwick's brother, John Neville, 1st Marquess of Montagu. The town lies at the northern end of the Northern Line, and the association football team Barnet F.C. play there. It was formerly the site of a well-known fair, hence the Cockney rhyming slang "Barnet" for "hair". Barnet College also has one of its main sites in High Barnet and is spread out through the London Borough of Barnet.
Barnet is the highest point on the old Great North Road between the City of London and York, which sounds impressive, but is a mere 130 metres above mean sea level. The tower of St John the Baptist Church claims to be the highest point between itself and the Ural Mountains to the east.
Education
Secondary/Further Education institutions
- Woodhouse College, Finchley
- Queen Elizabeth's Boys School
- East Barnet School
- Barnet College
- Queen Elizabeth's Girls School
Famous citizens
- Reginald Maudling local MP 1950 - 1979
- Christopher Yates VP JP Morgan, Heads up Credit Fixed Income Middle Office for PPB and has a penchant for ladies clothes at the weekends
- Sir Sydney Chapman local MP 1979 - 2005
- Samuel Pepys
- Simon Cowell
