Finchley Common
Encyclopedia
Finchley Common was an area of land in Middlesex
, and until 1816 the boundary between the parishes of Finchley
, Friern Barnet
and Hornsey
.
is quite late. Rights to the common were claimed by the inhabitants of Finchley at the beginning of the 15th century, and by the inhabitants of Friern Barnet, and Hornsey by the 16th century. Sale of timber in the 16th century by the Bishop of London
, who had manorial rights to the land, led to the clearance of the woods, and after this time legal disputes between the commoners and the bishop were made reference to a "common called Finchley Wood". The earliest known use of the name Finchley Common appeared in reference to refugees escaping from plague London encamped on the common in 1603. Finchley Common occurs in Nicholas Culpeper
's Herbal (1652) whereas John Gerard in his Herbal (1596) refers to Finchley Wood (2). As a place name Finchley Common continued long after the enclosure of 1816. Places, which were said to be Finchley Common, represented much of Finchley’s eastern flank. These included The Torrington public house (in what we would now call North Finchley), and also the White Lion in East Finchley
. The last known active use of Finchley Common as a place name is an isolated property advert in The Times
in 1897. There are sections of open ground in the London Borough of Haringey
and the London Borough of Barnet
which are still closely associated with Finchley Common (though no one uses the name), mostly (and ironically) woodland: Coppetts Wood
, Coldfall Wood
, and the Glebelands
.
(which ran across the Common) a number of inns were established from the end of the 17th century including: The White Lion, The Bald Faced Stag, the Horse Shoe, The Green Man, and The Swan. The last of these, the Swan started as a windmill. The Bald Faced Stag and the White Lion are still in existence in modern day East Finchley.
until the Napoleonic War. The first known use was encampment was that of General Monck
's army in 1660 and the Restoration
. In 1743 about a hundred soldiers of the 42rd Highland Regiment (The Black Watch
), mutinied whilst encamped on the common. Two years later, the common was the expected field of battle if the Bonnie Prince Charlie
had reached London. It was here that the Duke of Cumberland
mustered his army before their march north in 1745. The last major encampment was in 1780, when the Queen's Regiment and the South Hampshire Militia were quartered on the Common during the Gordon Riots
. Until the 1820s, after which the enclosure had been completed, the area was used occasionally used for military training, but ceased to be of any significant military use. One of the latest known report is a sham fight by the St Andrew's and St George's Volunteers in 1804.
, stated in a letter to his wife that he would not "trust my throat on Finchley Common in the dark", and victims included great men such as Edmund Burke
in 1774.
It is said that Ralph Chaplin, the lover of Lady Katherine Ferrers
“the Wicked Lady”, was caught on Finchley Common (c.1660). There were certainly robberies committed before this date but the first crime in which Finchley Common is referred to in the Proceedings of the Old Bailey
is that committed by Philip Maqueer on John Hansey in April 1690. A few of the highwaymen, such as Edmond Tooll (hanged and gibbeted in 1700), and Joseph Jackson (hanged 1720) were “of the parish”, but the vast majority were from elsewhere, mostly London. (4) Gibbet
s were certainly located at the six mile (10 km) stone, possibly at Tally Ho Corner, and no doubt else where. They were in use from at least the 1670s until the gibbeting of Cornelius Courte (a highwayman) in 1789(5).
Famous villains associated with the common include Jack Shepherd
and Dick Turpin
. Neither was ever known to have actually committed any crimes on the common. Jack Shepherd was taken prisoner on the common in September 1724 reputedly wearing the blue and white apron of a butcher, and kept over night at The George Inn in the Hog Market by a “posse of Newgate Prison
turnkeys”. Dick Turpin was not associated with the place until the period after enclosure. From the 1830s until 1952 a large oak, which stood in Oak Lane opposite the St. Pancras and Islington Cemetery
was romantically known as Turpin’s Oak.(7) However the endeavours of the less famous are often more interesting. Two known as Everett and Williams went as far as drawing up a legally witnessed contract to the effect that they would split their ill gotten gains after a year's work in 1725(8).
It has been said that enclosure was the end of the highwayman on Finchley Common. But actually the period of this kind of crime was ending with the encouragement of paper money (then easily traced) through an Act for "Restricting Cash Payments" (1797). This enabled the use of £1 notes, and consequently travellers to London no longer carried huge amounts of gold on them. The other was the introduction of a simple police force. The Bow Street Horse Patrol patrolled the high road from Highgate to Barnet between 1805 and 1851. It was this patrol rather than enclosure that terminated the age of the highwayman on Finchley Common, but enclosure was generally held as responsible at the time. The last recognisable highwaymen are George Hurt and Enoch Roberts, who robbed Charles Locke in 1807 which is also the first case in which a member of the patrol (Wiliam Pickering) is mentioned (9).
(the process of transferring common land
into individual ownership) began in 1805. It was “instigated” by John Bacon (a local land owner at Friern Barnet). An Act providing for the enclosure was passed in 1811, but the allotment awards (who got what) were not published until 1816. The common was placed in the Finchley parish, although Friern Barnet (but not Hornsey) freeholders and copyholders were granted allotments
. In all there were 231 general allotments made. The process of “awards” of 1816 benefited only the landowners, in particular the Bishop of London, Thomas Allen, lord of the manor of Finchley at Bibbesworth, 96 acres (388,498.6 m²), and the rector of Finchley, a massive 117 acre (0.47348262 km²) (10). The costs of enclosure were raised through the sale a parcels of land. The Regents Canal Company, had acquired 105 acre (0.4249203 km²) of land to use as a reservoir at a cost of £80 per acre, and much was sold to Thomas Collins, of Woodhouse(11). An area of 15 acres (60,702.9 m²) was set aside in the act of 1811 as Fuel Land, to be rented out to local farmers with the money used as a winter dole of fuel to the “deserving poor”(12).
Middlesex
Middlesex is one of the historic counties of England and the second smallest by area. The low-lying county contained the wealthy and politically independent City of London on its southern boundary and was dominated by it from a very early time...
, and until 1816 the boundary between the parishes of Finchley
Finchley
Finchley is a district in Barnet in north London, England. Finchley is on high ground, about north of Charing Cross. It formed an ancient parish in the county of Middlesex, becoming a municipal borough in 1933, and has formed part of Greater London since 1965...
, Friern Barnet
Friern Barnet
Friern Barnet is a place in the London Borough of Barnet. It is a suburban development situated north of Charing Cross. The centre of Friern Barnet is formed by the busy intersection of Colney Hatch Lane , Woodhouse Road and Friern Barnet Road .-History:Friern Barnet was an...
and Hornsey
Hornsey
Hornsey is a district in London Borough of Haringey in north London in England. Whilst Hornsey was formerly the name of a parish and later a municipal borough of Middlesex, today, the name refers only to the London district. It is an inner-suburban area located north of Charing Cross.-Locale:The ...
.
History
Its use as a commonCommon land
Common land is land owned collectively or by one person, but over which other people have certain traditional rights, such as to allow their livestock to graze upon it, to collect firewood, or to cut turf for fuel...
is quite late. Rights to the common were claimed by the inhabitants of Finchley at the beginning of the 15th century, and by the inhabitants of Friern Barnet, and Hornsey by the 16th century. Sale of timber in the 16th century by the Bishop of London
Bishop of London
The Bishop of London is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of London in the Province of Canterbury.The diocese covers 458 km² of 17 boroughs of Greater London north of the River Thames and a small part of the County of Surrey...
, who had manorial rights to the land, led to the clearance of the woods, and after this time legal disputes between the commoners and the bishop were made reference to a "common called Finchley Wood". The earliest known use of the name Finchley Common appeared in reference to refugees escaping from plague London encamped on the common in 1603. Finchley Common occurs in Nicholas Culpeper
Nicholas Culpeper
Nicholas Culpeper was an English botanist, herbalist, physician, and astrologer. His published books include The English Physician and the Complete Herbal , which contain a rich store of pharmaceutical and herbal knowledge, and Astrological Judgement of Diseases from the Decumbiture of the Sick ,...
's Herbal (1652) whereas John Gerard in his Herbal (1596) refers to Finchley Wood (2). As a place name Finchley Common continued long after the enclosure of 1816. Places, which were said to be Finchley Common, represented much of Finchley’s eastern flank. These included The Torrington public house (in what we would now call North Finchley), and also the White Lion in East Finchley
East Finchley
East Finchley is a suburb in the London Borough of Barnet, in north London, and situated north-west of Charing Cross. Geographically it is somewhat separate from the rest of Finchley, with North Finchley and West Finchley to the north, and Finchley Central to the west.- History :The land on which...
. The last known active use of Finchley Common as a place name is an isolated property advert in The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
in 1897. There are sections of open ground in the London Borough of Haringey
London Borough of Haringey
The London Borough of Haringey is a London borough, in North London, classified by some definitions as part of Inner London, and by others as part of Outer London. It was created in 1965 by the amalgamation of three former boroughs. It shares borders with six other London boroughs...
and the London Borough of Barnet
London Borough of Barnet
The London Borough of Barnet is a London borough in North London and forms part of Outer London. It has a population of 331,500 and covers . It borders Hertfordshire to the north and five other London boroughs: Harrow and Brent to the west, Camden and Haringey to the south-east and Enfield to the...
which are still closely associated with Finchley Common (though no one uses the name), mostly (and ironically) woodland: Coppetts Wood
Coppett's Wood and Scrublands
Coppett's Wood and Scrublands is a Local Nature Reserve, Borough Grade I, between Muswell Hill and Friern Barnet in the London Borough of Barnet....
, Coldfall Wood
Coldfall wood
Coldfall Wood is an ancient wood in Muswell Hill, North London. It covers an area of approximately 14 hectares and is surrounded by the St. Pancras and Islington Cemetery, the East Finchley public allotments, and the residential roads Creighton Avenue and Barrenger Road...
, and the Glebelands
Glebelands Local Nature Reserve
Glebelands is a Local Nature Reserve, Borough Grade I, in Colney Hatch in the London Borough of Barnet.It is a mostly wooded fragment of the former Finchley Common, with areas of tall scrub and grassland. There are numerous small ponds, mostly seasonal. The main trees are hawthorn, oak, ash and...
.
Size
Because of various claims made by the Bishop of London, and gradual encroachment Finchley Common's size varied. It was certainly greater than 1240 acres (5 km²) at its peak(2). By the time of the enclosure awards in 1816 encroachment had reduced it to around 900 acres (3.6 km²).Encroachment
Small settlements began to encroach after the majority of the wood had been cleared in the 16th century. This was a very gradual process, but those who were fined by the bishop's steward for "contempt in enclosing a piece of the waste", occasionally went on to be allowed to stay on payment of rent, or even an annual fine. An example is Edward Hartill who was fined £1 in 1725 for encroachment, but who later went on to pay rent. Early encroachments included: Fallows Corner, Brownswell, Woodhouse, Woodside, Cuckhold’s Haven, and Cold Harbour. With expanding importance of the Great North RoadGreat North Road (Great Britain)
The Great North Road was a coaching route used by mail coaches between London, York and Edinburgh. The modern A1 mainly follows the Great North Road. The inns on the road, many of which survive, were staging posts on the coach routes, providing accommodation, stabling for the horses and...
(which ran across the Common) a number of inns were established from the end of the 17th century including: The White Lion, The Bald Faced Stag, the Horse Shoe, The Green Man, and The Swan. The last of these, the Swan started as a windmill. The Bald Faced Stag and the White Lion are still in existence in modern day East Finchley.
The hog market
At the southern end of the common an unofficial hog market developed by the end of the 17th century which became the largest in Middlesex. There were market days on Wednesday and Thursday (1717) with a lot of the business being conducted in inns like The Sow and Pigs. “Hogs are kept in considerable numbers, but chiefly by the malt-distillers, for whom they are purchased lean, at a large market, held on Finchley Common, and to which they are brought from Shropshire, and other distant counties : great numbers of fatted hogs are also bought for the hog-butcheries about London; and the bacon cured here is but little inferior to that brought from Wilts and Yorkshire.” (3) After enclosure the market continued. By the 1840s the market had decreased in importance and only held on Mondays, and according to Kelly’s Directory of 1845 was frequented by butchers from the West End of London. By the 1890s auctions were only held every few months, and by the 1920s all trading ceased.Military encampments
The common proved useful as a military encampment after the English Civil WarEnglish Civil War
The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...
until the Napoleonic War. The first known use was encampment was that of General Monck
George Monck, 1st Duke of Albemarle
George Monck, 1st Duke of Albemarle, KG was an English soldier and politician and a key figure in the restoration of Charles II.-Early life and career:...
's army in 1660 and the Restoration
English Restoration
The Restoration of the English monarchy began in 1660 when the English, Scottish and Irish monarchies were all restored under Charles II after the Interregnum that followed the Wars of the Three Kingdoms...
. In 1743 about a hundred soldiers of the 42rd Highland Regiment (The Black Watch
The Black Watch
The Black Watch is a 1929 American early epic adventure drama film directed by John Ford and written by James Kevin McGuinness based on the novel King of the Khyber Rifles by Talbot Mundy. The film starred Victor McLaglen...
), mutinied whilst encamped on the common. Two years later, the common was the expected field of battle if the Bonnie Prince Charlie
Charles Edward Stuart
Prince Charles Edward Louis John Casimir Sylvester Severino Maria Stuart commonly known as Bonnie Prince Charlie or The Young Pretender was the second Jacobite pretender to the thrones of Great Britain , and Ireland...
had reached London. It was here that the Duke of Cumberland
Duke of Cumberland
Duke of Cumberland is a peerage title that was conferred upon junior members of the British Royal Family, named after the county of Cumberland.-History:...
mustered his army before their march north in 1745. The last major encampment was in 1780, when the Queen's Regiment and the South Hampshire Militia were quartered on the Common during the Gordon Riots
Gordon Riots
The Gordon Riots of 1780 were an anti-Catholic protest against the Papists Act 1778.The Popery Act 1698 had imposed a number of penalties and disabilities on Roman Catholics in England; the 1778 act eliminated some of these. An initial peaceful protest led on to widespread rioting and looting and...
. Until the 1820s, after which the enclosure had been completed, the area was used occasionally used for military training, but ceased to be of any significant military use. One of the latest known report is a sham fight by the St Andrew's and St George's Volunteers in 1804.
Highwaymen
Finchley Common is most associated with highwaymen. Its reputation was such that Sir Gilbert Elliott, Earl of MintoEarl of Minto
Earl of Minto, in the County of Roxburgh, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1813 for Gilbert Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, 1st Baron Minto. The family descends from the politician and judge Gilbert Elliot, who served as a Lord of Session under the judicial title of Lord...
, stated in a letter to his wife that he would not "trust my throat on Finchley Common in the dark", and victims included great men such as Edmund Burke
Edmund Burke
Edmund Burke PC was an Irish statesman, author, orator, political theorist and philosopher who, after moving to England, served for many years in the House of Commons of Great Britain as a member of the Whig party....
in 1774.
It is said that Ralph Chaplin, the lover of Lady Katherine Ferrers
Lady Katherine Ferrers
Lady Katherine Fanshaw was, according to popular legend, the "Wicked Lady", a highwaywoman who terrorised Nomansland common in the English county of Hertfordshire in the 17th century before bleeding to death from gunshot wounds sustained during a robbery.-Legend:The legend is fairly well...
“the Wicked Lady”, was caught on Finchley Common (c.1660). There were certainly robberies committed before this date but the first crime in which Finchley Common is referred to in the Proceedings of the Old Bailey
Old Bailey
The Central Criminal Court in England and Wales, commonly known as the Old Bailey from the street in which it stands, is a court building in central London, one of a number of buildings housing the Crown Court...
is that committed by Philip Maqueer on John Hansey in April 1690. A few of the highwaymen, such as Edmond Tooll (hanged and gibbeted in 1700), and Joseph Jackson (hanged 1720) were “of the parish”, but the vast majority were from elsewhere, mostly London. (4) Gibbet
Gibbet
A gibbet is a gallows-type structure from which the dead bodies of executed criminals were hung on public display to deter other existing or potential criminals. In earlier times, up to the late 17th century, live gibbeting also took place, in which the criminal was placed alive in a metal cage...
s were certainly located at the six mile (10 km) stone, possibly at Tally Ho Corner, and no doubt else where. They were in use from at least the 1670s until the gibbeting of Cornelius Courte (a highwayman) in 1789(5).
Famous villains associated with the common include Jack Shepherd
Jack Shepherd
Jack Shepherd is an English actor, playwright, theatre director, saxophone player and jazz pianist, who made his film debut in 1969 with All Neat in Black Stockings and The Virgin Soldiers. He is perhaps best known for his television roles, most notably the title role in detective drama Wycliffe...
and Dick Turpin
Dick Turpin
Richard "Dick" Turpin was an English highwayman whose exploits were romanticised following his execution in York for horse theft. Turpin may have followed his father's profession as a butcher early in life, but by the early 1730s he had joined a gang of deer thieves, and later became a poacher,...
. Neither was ever known to have actually committed any crimes on the common. Jack Shepherd was taken prisoner on the common in September 1724 reputedly wearing the blue and white apron of a butcher, and kept over night at The George Inn in the Hog Market by a “posse of Newgate Prison
Newgate Prison
Newgate Prison was a prison in London, at the corner of Newgate Street and Old Bailey just inside the City of London. It was originally located at the site of a gate in the Roman London Wall. The gate/prison was rebuilt in the 12th century, and demolished in 1777...
turnkeys”. Dick Turpin was not associated with the place until the period after enclosure. From the 1830s until 1952 a large oak, which stood in Oak Lane opposite the St. Pancras and Islington Cemetery
St. Pancras and Islington Cemetery
The St. Pancras and Islington Cemetery in East Finchley, North London while situated in the London Borough of Barnet is actually two cemeteries, owned by two other London Boroughs, Camden and Islington...
was romantically known as Turpin’s Oak.(7) However the endeavours of the less famous are often more interesting. Two known as Everett and Williams went as far as drawing up a legally witnessed contract to the effect that they would split their ill gotten gains after a year's work in 1725(8).
It has been said that enclosure was the end of the highwayman on Finchley Common. But actually the period of this kind of crime was ending with the encouragement of paper money (then easily traced) through an Act for "Restricting Cash Payments" (1797). This enabled the use of £1 notes, and consequently travellers to London no longer carried huge amounts of gold on them. The other was the introduction of a simple police force. The Bow Street Horse Patrol patrolled the high road from Highgate to Barnet between 1805 and 1851. It was this patrol rather than enclosure that terminated the age of the highwayman on Finchley Common, but enclosure was generally held as responsible at the time. The last recognisable highwaymen are George Hurt and Enoch Roberts, who robbed Charles Locke in 1807 which is also the first case in which a member of the patrol (Wiliam Pickering) is mentioned (9).
Enclosure
Sir John Sinclair, the President of the Board of Agriculture during the Napoleonic War, made a call for the enclosure of Finchley Common in 1803. “Let us not be satisfied with the liberation of Egypt, or the subjugation of Malta, but let us subdue Finchley Common; let us conquer Hounslow Heath, let us compel Epping Forest to submit to the yoke of improvement” But an active campaign for enclosureEnclosure
Enclosure or inclosure is the process which ends traditional rights such as mowing meadows for hay, or grazing livestock on common land. Once enclosed, these uses of the land become restricted to the owner, and it ceases to be common land. In England and Wales the term is also used for the...
(the process of transferring common land
Common land
Common land is land owned collectively or by one person, but over which other people have certain traditional rights, such as to allow their livestock to graze upon it, to collect firewood, or to cut turf for fuel...
into individual ownership) began in 1805. It was “instigated” by John Bacon (a local land owner at Friern Barnet). An Act providing for the enclosure was passed in 1811, but the allotment awards (who got what) were not published until 1816. The common was placed in the Finchley parish, although Friern Barnet (but not Hornsey) freeholders and copyholders were granted allotments
Allotment (gardening)
An allotment garden, often called simply an allotment, is a plot of land made available for individual, non-professional gardening. Such plots are formed by subdividing a piece of land into a few or up to several hundreds of land parcels that are assigned to individuals or families...
. In all there were 231 general allotments made. The process of “awards” of 1816 benefited only the landowners, in particular the Bishop of London, Thomas Allen, lord of the manor of Finchley at Bibbesworth, 96 acres (388,498.6 m²), and the rector of Finchley, a massive 117 acre (0.47348262 km²) (10). The costs of enclosure were raised through the sale a parcels of land. The Regents Canal Company, had acquired 105 acre (0.4249203 km²) of land to use as a reservoir at a cost of £80 per acre, and much was sold to Thomas Collins, of Woodhouse(11). An area of 15 acres (60,702.9 m²) was set aside in the act of 1811 as Fuel Land, to be rented out to local farmers with the money used as a winter dole of fuel to the “deserving poor”(12).