Green Spaces and Ancient Woodlands in Barnet and Haringey

June 9, 2019 Comments Off

Our journey around the Capital Ring continues in North London with Marilyn leading Section 11 from Hendon Park to Highgate

Striking floor tile design at Hendon Central Tube Station

This walk which I shall be leading on 16 June, passes through many green spaces and ancient woodlands. It starts in the borough of Barnet and finishes in Haringey.

We start a short distance from the start of the walk at Hendon Central Underground Station which was originally built in fields and was the first stage of the extension of the Northern line from Golders Green in 1923.

The Holocaust Memorial in Hendon Park

We walk through Hendon Park which was opened in 1903 observe John Creed’s Holocaust Memorial from 2000. Crossing the park and some suburban roads, we then enter Brent Park and walk along this virtually forgotten park along the River Brent where there was once a duck decoy, before meeting the Finchley Road.

The Decoy Lake in Brent Park

We walk through parkland alongside the Mutton Brook in Hampstead Garden Suburb as well as the synagogue from 1936 and the north east tip of Hampstead Garden Suburb. Here we can get a glimpse of interesting inter-war housing styles before reaching the Modernist East Finchley Underground station that opened in 1939 with its famous archer statue.

Eric Aumonier’s 1940 Archer on East Finchley Station

The final stretch of the walk is through three woods – Cherry Tree, Highgate and Queen’s Wood – all remnants of the ancient forest of Middlesex. At Queens Wood we pass the charming cafe and the spring for the Moselle River. We conclude near Highgate station. We can take a peek at the where a disused over-ground station remains. Highgate tube and only opened as part of the Underground network in 1941 and served as a war-time air raid shelter before its completion.

Highgate Woods

The walk will take over three hours and anyone who want a break and then learn more about the inter-war housing and development of the northern side of Hampstead Garden Suburb they can join me at 3.30pm for From Streamform to Art and Crafts walk for the Festival of Architecture starting at East Finchley Station.