History of Finchley Including the Following Articles:
• East Finchley (History Of)
• North Finchley (History Of)
• Finchley Central (History Of)
• East Finchley (History Of)
• North Finchley (History Of)
• Finchley Central (History Of)
There are no natural boundaries to Finchley and no record in the Doomsday Book (UK’s first consensus) back in 1086 as it was part of the Bishop of London’s land (part of his estate at Fulham) since AD700, part of an ancient parish covering around 2899 acres. Finchley has been a district of Greater London Borough of Barnet since 1965; previously it was part of the County of Middlesex, an Urban District Council of Finchley since 1895.
What we know as the three centers of Finchley, East, North and Central were once 3 small seperate settlements on available fertile land, the majority of the ground being made up of hard clay, with paths connecting the three.
The settlements were called Church End (now known as Finchley Central), East End (East Finchley) and North End (North Finchley & Whetstone). The area was woodlands, and fights between the Bishop and the men of Finchley were common - the wood was used as resources for the people and this was often objected by the Bishop. Conflict between the three settlements has also been noted in history.
By the C16th most of the woodland had cleared (the only bit remaining today is in Coppetts Wood) and Finchley Common was established. The area is referred to as a common by Thomas Culpepper in 1652, but Finchley Wood in 1596 by John Gerard. The earliest use of the term common for the area refers to London’s Plague refugees in 1603.
It was a village outside of London. In 1625 a Londoner moved to Finchley to escape the Plague, creating fear amongst the locals. Villagers’ would threaten to set fire to a man travelling from London (who mostly died of the plague on their travels) to stop them from resting in the area. Its geographical positioning into the city especially after the introduction fo The Great North Road, and open unihabited space gave it a reputation for Highway Men.
In 1811 Parliament passed an Act of Enclosure (meaning the land Finchley Common was to be sectioned off and fenced, given to the Parish of Finchley) becoming the responsibility of the landowner leaving ‘fuel areas’ such as Coppett Wood and Cherry Tree Woods. Before this from the mid C17th the area was often used as a military encampment.
Most of the building took place in the C17th, and by 1920 Church End, North End and East End were joined by buildings. The buildings in the area suggest the Victorian and Edwardian period, and was integrated into London along with a lot of other areas and focused around the available transport links.
The name Finchley itself is an Anglo-Saxon one, the ‘ley’ on the end suggests an ‘opening of woodland’, and ‘finch’ being clearing wood. It was not an area developed by the Romans, much more Anglo Saxon as there is little evidence of the straight roads. Romans did however, visit the area as there has been evidence of pottery and coins, the area was hilly though and so the straight roads were built either side of the area, Ermine Street in the East and Watling Street to the West.
It lies (although not all so visible anymore) in between the River Brent and Brent Brook, which has tributaries such as Strawberry Vale Brook, Dollis Brook (Dollis coming from the Anglo Saxon word Dwllice meaning erratic) and Mutton Brook (called so due to the high quantity of sheep washing). It has a distinctive triangle shape, like that of the leg of a mutton lamb with East Finchley South narrow at the bottom, widening, going north to North Finchley and North West to Finchley Central. The North Circular Road was constructed in the 1920’s following the line of Brent and Strawberry Vale Brooks.
MAPS OF LOCAL AREA & FINCHLEY COMMON:
LOCAL LINKS
Book on Finchley's Suspicious Death's
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