On Barnet Common there was formerly a medicinal spring known widely as “Barnet Wells”; its chalybeate waters are referred to in Pepys’ Diary, and more fully praised in The Perfect Diurnall (1652) and The Barnet Well Water (1800). These waters were in such repute that one John Owen, an alderman of London, provided £1 to be spent yearly in keeping the well in fit condition. Barnet Fair, which is held annually early in September, is attended by cattle dealers from all parts of England and Scotland, and by showmen and adventurers of all kinds. It is certainly one of the most famous horse fairs in the country. The ordinary cattle market is held each Wednesday.
Battle of Barnet.—Of this engagement, so familiar by name, very little is known accurately. Early in the spring of 1471, Edward IV., assisted in his schemes by the Duke of Burgundy, quitted Flanders, whither he had fled when the Earl of Warwick landed in the S. of England with reinforcements from Louis XI.; touched, after a difficult passage, at Cromer, where he heard of the resistance organised by Warwick, and finally landed at Ravenspurgh on the Humber. Having been joined by further followers at Nottingham he entered London on Holy Thursday, the Lancastrians offering little resistance. Warwick collected his forces, and the two armies met on Easter Sunday on Gladmore Common or Gledsmuir Heath, to the N.W. of what is now Hadley Wood. The engagement was desperately contested for five or six hours, with such varying success that some accounts relate how messengers rode to London during the day with the news that Edward was losing the battle. This, as it proved, was not the case. Chauncy repeats the old tradition that a fog gathered over the battle-field, that the Lancastrians slew one another in the mist and confusion, and that this led to the death of Warwick. It is supposed that the “King Maker” fell close to the spot now marked by Hadley High Stone. This obelisk was erected a little distance off in 1740; but was removed nearer to what is now thought the right position. Montacute, brother to Warwick, was slain at the same spot.
BARNET, NEW, is a residential extension of High and East Barnet, being situated between the two. Indeed, the whole of “Barnet” is now almost merged into one; there being houses or shops almost from Hadley High Stone to a little S. from Cat Hill. The Station Road is a wide pleasant thoroughfare stretching from New Barnet Station, G.N.R., to the main road from London to High Barnet. The whole district is excellent ground for the student of modern domestic architecture, the examples of diverse schools and styles being endless. The stretch of valley between the railway and High Barnet, now largely built upon, is a new civil parish called Barnet Vale. On a gentle slope in the centre, off Potter’s Road, stands the new Church of St. Mark, in which services have been held for twenty-four years, but which is still incomplete. Lyonsdown, an ecclesiastical district founded in 1869, is scattered over high ground S.W. from the station; it is almost wholly comprised of detached residences and is considered exceedingly healthy. There is here a good view, overlooking the stretch of hill and dale towards Cockfosters, New Southgate, and the Alexandra Palace. The Church of the Holy Trinity, erected in 1864, is Dec. and contains fine lancet windows to W. C. M. Plowden, killed in Abyssinia. There are N. and S. porches, good of their kind, and the apsidal chancel is well designed.
Barwick Ford is on the river Rib, about 2½ miles N.W. from Hadham and 3 miles S.W. from Standon Stations, G.E.R.
Bassett’s Green (1 mile S.E. from Walkern Church) is a small hamlet between Walkern Hall and Walkern Bury. There is no railway station nearer than 5 miles, Buntingford, G.E.R., and Stevenage, G.N.R., being each about that distance.
Batchworth is a hamlet close to Rickmansworth Station, L.&N.W.R., at the N.W. extremity of Moor Park ([q.v.]).
Batchworth Heath, 1½ mile S.E. from Rickmansworth, is on the Middlesex border.
Batlers Green (¾ mile from Radlett Church, and 1 mile S.W. from the station, M.R.) is in a pretty district, but contains little more than a few scattered cottages and farms.
Bayford (3 miles S.W. from Hertford) is a parish and village on rising ground, near the river Lea. It has a cruciform church, E.E. in design, with facings of Kentish rag-stone, erected by W. R. Baker, Esq., in 1870-1. In the chancel are seven fine lancet windows of stained glass. Note also (1) altar tomb and marble effigy to Sir George Knighton (d. 1612); (2) two palimpsest brasses, one bearing a figure in half-armour and the other a figure in plate-armour and ring-mail skirt, of which the age is conjectural; (3) the fine lich-gate. In the churchyard lies William Yarrell, the great ornithologist (d. at Yarmouth, 1856).
Bayfordbury stands in a beautiful park, famous for its fine cedars and pines, a little N. from the village. It is the seat of the lord of the manor, H. W. Clinton-Baker, Esq., J.P. The house was originally erected by an ancestor of the present owner, about 1760. Here are the portraits of most of the members of the Kit Cat Club, painted by Sir Godfrey Kneller; the MS. of the first book of Paradise Lost, and a collection of letters of great literary interest, were recently sold to America.