CHURCHES.
The parish remained undivided
until 1873, when the district chapelry of St. Paul,
New Southgate, was assigned that portion of Friern
Barnet east of the G.N.R. line. (fn. 54) In 1882 the
northern part of the parish was assigned to the new
district chapelry of All Saints, Oakleigh Park,
whose boundary ran parallel to Oakleigh Road
and c. 300 yd. to the south-west. (fn. 55) The district
chapelry of St. Peter-le-Poer, Muswell Hill, from
1911 covered most of the parish south of the North
Circular Road. (fn. 56)
A church mentioned in 1187 (fn. 57) was probably the
church of St. James, which was originally built
in the later 12th century. The bishop of London
gave it to the knights of St. John together with
Whetstone manor, (fn. 58) of which it was an appendage.
Although not mentioned by name the advowson
was included in the Crown's grant of the manor to
the chapter of St. Paul's in 1544 (fn. 59) and it was specifically excluded from leases of the demesne from
the 16th century. (fn. 60) The chapter was still patron in
1976. (fn. 61) Until late in the 17th century the church
was often described as a chapel. (fn. 62) In 1519 the
prior of St. John's stated that Friern Barnet lay in
Finchley parish, (fn. 63) yet the incumbent was entitled
to tithes in 1535 (fn. 64) and probably as early as 1340. (fn. 65)
No medieval institutions were recorded but there
was a parish priest in 1486 (fn. 66) and his rights were
safeguarded in 1496. (fn. 67) Before the Reformation the
church was exempt from episcopal intervention and
afterwards it was subject to the chapter of St.
Paul's as ordinary. (fn. 68) The incumbent was described
as a vicar in 1544 (fn. 69) and curate in 1545. (fn. 70) From
1549 the church has usually been regarded as a
rectory. (fn. 71)
In 1772 the rector was entitled to both great
and little tithes. (fn. 72) Tithes were valued at 13s. 4d.
in 1340 (fn. 73) and at 12s. in 1535. (fn. 74) There were disputes over them in 1772 (fn. 75) and from 1698 to 1704,
when they were farmed for £100 a year. (fn. 76) The
rector customarily took a composition of 1s. 6d.
or 2s. per acre in 1806, (fn. 77) when John Bacon ceased
paying tithes for the Whetstone demesne, having
discovered that it had belonged to an exempt order
before the Fourth Lateran Council (1215). (fn. 78)
In 1846 tithes were commuted for a rent-charge of
£271. (fn. 79) The glebe, which lay east of the almshouses in Friern Barnet Lane, consisted in 1650
of 2 a. worth 30s. annually, which had been assigned
by the committee for plundered ministers. (fn. 80) It was
farmed for £9 between 1794 and 1815. (fn. 81) It was
still being exploited in 1911, (fn. 82) was used as playing
fields for the grammar school between the two
World Wars, (fn. 83) then as allotments, (fn. 84) and became the
site of Queenswell school c. 1957. (fn. 85) The priest's
grove, 1 a. of copyhold land in Whetstone, (fn. 86) was
occupied by successive incumbents from at least
1507. (fn. 87) At the inclosure of Finchley common in
1814 (fn. 88) the rector was allotted 45 a., which were sold
in 1888. (fn. 89) The living was exempt from royal
taxation in 1428 (fn. 90) and was worth £78 in 1650. (fn. 91)
The rector received c. £310 between 1794 and
1805 and c. £240 after Bacon's retraction of tithes
in 1808. (fn. 92) The income of £255 in 1849 (fn. 93) increased
to £360 in 1882 (fn. 94) but had fallen to c. £200 in
1904. (fn. 95)
Both before and after 1574 rectors occupied the
Priest's House or Bell House in Whetstone High
Road. Worth 40s. in 1650, it was burnt down c.
1662 and rebuilt as a public house. (fn. 96) A copyhold
tenement in Friern Barnet Lane, acquired in
1682, (fn. 97) was used as a parsonage until 1772. (fn. 98)
In 1851, 1871, and 1888 the rectors resided in
private houses in Friern Park, Colney Hatch, and
North Finchley, but a new rectory next to St.
John's church was occupied from 1890. (fn. 99) Called
Church-house, in 1975 it was the residence of
assistant clergy and was used for parochial functions.
A rectory at no. 147 Friern Barnet Lane was
acquired in 1960-1. (fn. 1)
A lamp in the church was endowed with four
cattle in perpetuity before 1544. (fn. 2) In 1495 John
Copwood had built a chapel on common land
adjoining the king's highway by Stockwell weir. (fn. 3)
In 1498 he was licensed to keep the chapel, then
dedicated to St. Catherine, together with a small
plot, for a fixed annual rent and entry fine. (fn. 4) In
1530 the hermit was paid to say mass at the chapel,
which was intended for the poor, (fn. 5) but by 1548-9
it was little used. (fn. 6) The site, often called the Hermitage in the 16th century, (fn. 7) eventually supported
only a dwelling-house. It was probably the Hermitage house, from 1887 a school and by 1912 the
London Female Preventive and Reformatory Institution, which survived in 1939. (fn. 8)
The benefice was held by three generations of the
North family in the 16th century, by John and
Edmund Duncon from 1663 to 1673, and by
Frederick and Edward Gage Hall between 1882
and 1940. (fn. 9) George Smith, rector 1689-1724, was
also vicar of Sarratt (Herts.), where he lived, (fn. 10)
Thomas Roberts, rector 1795-8, was vicar of
Tottenham, (fn. 11) and Samuel Brook, rector 1772-1794,
was non-resident. (fn. 12) A. J. Trillo, rector 1950-5,
was appointed bishop of Chelmsford in 1971. (fn. 13)
An assistant curate was licensed from 1814 (fn. 14) and
from the 1860s there were normally at least two. (fn. 15)
Morning and evening service was attended by
a total of 345 worshippers in 1851. (fn. 16) Communion
was held on the first Sunday in the month. (fn. 17)
The average Sunday attendance had fallen to
134 in 1903, (fn. 18) by which date there were four
other Anglican places of worship in the parish.
There were still private pews in 1892. (fn. 19) Robert
Morris, rector 1850-82, introduced an annual report
in 1850 (fn. 20) and from 1883 a parish magazine was
published. (fn. 21)
The church of ST. JAMES THE GREAT is
on the corner of Friern Barnet Lane and Friary
Road. It is built of flint with stone dressings and
consists of a nave, chancel, south aisle and porch,
north vestry, and south-west tower with shingled
spire. The original structure consisted of a diminutive Norman nave and chancel, a wooden tower at
the west end, and a south porch. (fn. 22) A vestry was
added north of the nave in 1807 (fn. 23) and the tower
was rebuilt on a smaller scale in 1812. (fn. 24) West and
south galleries had been added by 1705 (fn. 25) and in
1819 a further west gallery was added for the charity
children. (fn. 26) In 1819, 1828, and 1848 attempts were
made to increase the seating, (fn. 27) but in 1853 there
were pews for only 200. To provide 300 extra
seats, (fn. 28) the church was enlarged by W. G. and E.
Habershon in 1853. (fn. 29) Although materials may have
been re-used, only the extensively restored Norman
south doorway of the original structure was preserved. (fn. 30) The new church was built in the Early
English style, and was considered to be in the 'very
best taste'. (fn. 31) The spire fell in 1930 and was rebuilt
to the same plan. (fn. 32) An octagonal parish room
adjoining the north side of the church was under
construction in 1977.
The church contains a relief of the children of
Richard Down (1804) by John Bacon the younger
(d. 1859), (fn. 33) and a classical wall monument to John
Cleeve (d. 1725) and family. Other monuments,
dating from 1668, are in the church and churchyard, which was enlarged several times in the 18th
and 19th centuries. (fn. 34) The mature trees that made
the setting attractive to visitors (fn. 35) were felled in
1974. In 1530 12d. a year was left for repairs to the
bells. (fn. 36) A single bell by Thomas Mears, 1811, (fn. 37)
replaced three bells in 1812. (fn. 38) The silver plate
includes a flagon date-marked 1655, a cup and
paten date-marked 1691, and a cup inscribed as
having been the gift of John Nicholl in 1709. (fn. 39)
There are registers of births from 1674, of marriages
from 1812, and of burials from 1742. (fn. 40)
To meet a growing population, a church seating
360 was erected in Ely Place, Oakleigh Road South,
in 1860. The land was given by George Knights
Smith, who was the leading subscriber. The rector
also subscribed and the London Diocesan Church
Building Society contributed towards both the
building and its fittings. Intended for adaptation
as a school, it was known as the school-church. In
spite of pew-rents attendance was so satisfactory (fn. 41)
that a curate was appointed in 1864. (fn. 42) The schoolchurch was entrusted to the vicar of Southgate in
1871 (fn. 43) and became St. Paul's National school (fn. 44)
when the church of St. Paul was erected in Edmonton parish in 1873 on land probably given by
Smith. (fn. 45) After 1893 it became the Liberal and
Radical Club. (fn. 46)
The church of ST. PETER-LE-POER originated
in 1866 in a mission to serve Muswell Hill. (fn. 47)
It operated from the Cromwell Road schoolroom (fn. 48)
and then from an adjoining iron building, which
was rebuilt or extended in 1886-7 (fn. 40) and still stood
in 1908. (fn. 50) In 1884 the temporary iron church of
St. Peter was erected on the corner of Sydney and
Hampden roads. (fn. 51) Further land was acquired from
the U.D.C. in 1895 (fn. 52) but a site given in 1884 for a
permanent church later reverted to the donor. (fn. 53)
In 1899 1 a. for a church, vicarage, and mission
hall was acquired from the Albion Estates Co. on
the corner of Colney Hatch Lane and Carnforth
Road (later Albion Avenue), (fn. 54) where a temporary
church was erected in 1904. The older building
was retained as a hall until some date before the
sale of the land in 1935. (fn. 55) In 1909 work started on a
permanent church, built with money from the sale
of the redundant church of St. Peter-le-Poer in
the City of London. (fn. 56) The new church is in the gift
of the chapter of St. Paul's and was assigned a
district chapelry in 1911. (fn. 57) In 1976 presentations to
the benefice were suspended. (fn. 58) The Revd. George
Hennessy, the ecclesiastical historian and for 18
years member of Friern Barnet local board and
U.D.C., was curate and priest-in-charge from
1884 to 1903. (fn. 59)
The church was designed by W. D. Caroe and
Passmore (fn. 60) in a debased Gothic style. A large redbrick building, it comprises sanctuary, north vestry,
south chapel, aisled nave with a west gallery for the
choir, and a west tower which houses the organ.
The site falls away sharply to the car park in the
west. On the north-west side is the single-storeyed,
prefabricated church hall, built in 1964 to replace
the temporary church of 1904. (fn. 61) The vicarage and
garden adjoin the church to the north. The church
contains many furnishings from old St. Peter-lePoer, including the pulpit, bells, organ, stone mensa,
font, server's seat, choir stalls, and duplicate sets of
silver-gilt chalices, patens, flagons, and almsdishes of 1561-2, beautified in 1792. (fn. 62)
In 1882 a chapelry in the northern part of the
parish was assigned to the church of ALL SAINTS,
Oakleigh Park. (fn. 63) John Miles, who gave the site and
paid for the church, (fn. 64) was first patron. His son
Henry Stewart Miles, the first vicar, gave the
patronage to the bishop of London in 1902 but
reserved the next presentation, which he made in
1932 after an incumbency of 50 years. From the
foundation there has normally been an assistant
curate. (fn. 65) H. S. Miles was an ardent Tractarian,
who made communion the centrepiece of worship. (fn. 66)
In 1888, in addition to an early communion, there
were services in the morning, afternoon, and evening. (fn. 67) The church was designed to seat 520 (fn. 68)
and in 1903 its average Sunday congregation of 627 (fn. 69)
was the largest in the parish.
All Saints' church stands at the corner of Myddelton Park and Oakleigh Road North. Designed in an
Early English style by J. Clarke, (fn. 70) it was built of
flint with stone dressings and comprised an apsidal
chancel and south vestry, aisled and clerestoreyed
nave entered from north-west tower and spire,
and a south porch. The vestry was converted into
a chapel in 1907, when a new vestry was added. (fn. 71)
Inside the walls and roofs are decorated throughout.
After 1882 the old parish church no longer served
the most populous areas. (fn. 72) In 1887 the church of
ST. JOHN THE EVANGELIST, Colney Hatch,
although only a chapel of ease, was viewed as the
future centre of the parish. (fn. 73) By 1903, before its
completion, congregations at the Sunday morning
and evening services averaged 188 and 304, (fn. 74)
exceeding those at the parish church. The chapel
originated in 1883 as a temporary iron building on
the north side of Friern Barnet Road, (fn. 75) known as
the school-church of St. John. (fn. 76) In 1888-90 it was
replaced by an iron nave on the opposite side of the
road on land given by G. K. Smith, (fn. 77) who, with his
son Charles William Smith, contributed substantially towards building costs. (fn. 78) Other plots were
later added to it. The chancel was consecrated in
1892, (fn. 79) but building was delayed by lack of funds
and the extension of the church schools, (fn. 80) the nave
being built in two stages and consecrated in
1911. (fn. 81)
Constructed entirely of stone to an elaborate plan
by J. L. Pearson, (fn. 82) the church is modelled on a
Rhineland chapel. (fn. 83) It consists of an apsidal chancel
with ambulatory and south chapel, two north
vestries, an aisled and clerestoreyed nave, and a
western narthex or baptistery of one bay. In an
early Gothic style, it is vaulted throughout and
seats 500 with ease. As a projected tower and
spire (fn. 84) on the north were not built, the church
is unimpressive from without. (fn. 85) The darkness
inside at ground level was considered conducive to
solemnity. (fn. 86)
The school-church of St. John was renamed the
parish room after the erection of the iron nave (fn. 87)
and was used for Sunday school and children's
services until 1934. (fn. 88) It also served as a church
hall and school for middle-class boys. (fn. 89) There were
several other parish rooms and reading rooms (fn. 90)
and most of the parochial schools were used for
missions or Sunday schools. (fn. 91) It was not until 1921
that a permanent site was acquired at the foot of
Friern Barnet Lane for a church hall, (fn. 92) which was
erected in 1929. (fn. 93)