In 1870-72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Finchley like this:
FINCHLEY, a village, a parish, and a sub-district, in Barnet district, Middlesex. The village stands 4¾ miles NNW of Finchley-Road r. station; and has two stations of Finchley-East-End and Finchley and Hendon on the London and Edgware railway, a post office‡ under London N, and a police-station. ...
The parish includes also part of Whetstone village. Acres, 2, 899. Real property, £22, 571. Pop. in 1851, 4, 120; in 1861, 4, 937. Houses, 942. The property is much subdivided. Finchley common, a tract of upwards of 1, 000 acres, was long noted as a resort of highwaymen; and was also the place where Monk drew up his forces, in 1660, when approaching the metropolis for restoring Charles; was likewise the place of the mustering of the guards, in 1745, on their march to Scotland, -and in that connection is associated with Hogarth's humorous picture of the "March to Finchley;" but it is now, for the most part, enclosed, and is surrounded by neat villas of London merchants. The new cemeteries for St. Pancras, London, St. Mary, Islington, and St. Mary-le-Bone, are within the parish; the first and the second occupy 88 acres; and the third has buildings which cost £15, 000, and occupies 33 acres. The parochial living is a rectory, and another charge called Holy Trinity is a vicarage, in the diocese of -London-Value of the rectory, £417;* of the vicarage, £150.* Patron of both, the Bishop of London. The parish church is Norman. The churchyard has an obelisk to Major John Cartwright. Holy Trinity church was built in 1846. Another church was built in 1869. The vicarage of Whetstone is a separate charge. An Independent chapel was built in 1865, at a cost of £5, 500. There are two other dissenting chapels, national schools built at a cost of £2, 500, other national and industrial schools, an Independent school, and charities £333. The sub-district includes also Fryern-Barnet parish.
Finchley through time
Finchley is now part of Barnet district. Click here for graphs and data of how Barnet has changed over two centuries. For statistics about Finchley itself, go to Units and Statistics.
GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth, History of Finchley, in Barnet and Middlesex | Map and description, A Vision of Britain through Time.
URL: https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/340
Date accessed: 05th November 2024
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