parish, to himself and his heirs. It ultimately came by purchase to the late George Byng, Esq. whose son, one of the knights for Middlesex, is the present possessor. The church here is a rectory, in the presentation of the crown, ever since the dissolution of the abbey of St. Alban's. The building is near the street, upon a great hill, and contains a body, with a small aisle divided from it, with a wooden building; at the west end of which hang three small bells. There are no monuments of any consequence. In 1779, Miss Martha Ray, "the unfortunate victim of an ungoverned passion," was buried here, after having been shot by Mr. James Hackman, a clergyman, who was executed at Tybura for the offence. The Roman Sulloniacis has been stated to have existed here; but with more probability on Brockley Hills, where Camden has placed it. The market town of BARNET, or BERGNET, is sometimes called HIGH BERNET, from its situation on an hill; and CHIPPING BARNET, from the market, which Henry II. granted to the abbots of St. Alban's, to be kept weekly on Monday, as it still continues. It is famous for buying and selling cattle, which are brought hither in great numbers. In the time of the Saxons, this place was a large wood, granted to the church of St. Alban's, by the name of the woods of Suthaw, Borham, and Huzehege. Upon the Dissolution, the manor came to the crown, where it remained till queen Mary I. granted it to Anthony Butler, Esq. whose grandson sold it to Sir John Weld, in whose family it continued for some successions, and then passed through divers hands, till it came to Sir Thomas Cooke, knt, and alderman of London, who alienated it, and after passing to various possessors, it belongs to the lady of Beeston Long, Esq. The church here is a chapel of ease to East Barnet. The building is situated in the middle of the town, and contains three aisles, a small chapel, or vestry house, and a tower with five bells. In it are many handsome monuments with with inscriptions, for Mr. Palmer, who gave a meadow in Kentish Town to the use of the poor of this place; and John Beauchamp, Esq. who founded the middle aisle in the church. James Ravenscroft, Esq. founded an almshouse of brick, called Jesus Hospital, in the street called Wood Street, in High Barnet, for six poor widows, and gave houses and lands in Shoreditch, London, to the value of almost 401. per annum, of which 10. is to repair the chapel in Barnet, and the rest for the support of the women; except 20s. per annum to entertain the governors, who are appointed to elect the women, and receive the rents. In the same street, a free school of brick, was erected by queen Elizabeth, for a master and usher; she endowed it with 7. per annum; John Owen, alderman of London, added 81. per annum more, towards the maintenance of the school, to be paid by the Fishmongers Company in London; they appointed twenty-four governors, to chuse the master and usher, who were to teach nine children gratis, and all the rest of the parish for a crown a quarter. At the twelve mile stone beyond the town, stands a high pillar, erected as a memento of the battle fought on that spot, on the 14th of April, 1471, between king Edward IV. and the earl of Warwick, in which the earl was slain, with many of the prime nobility, and ten thousand men*. It may be truly said, that this victory placed Edward firmly on the throne, though another battle was afterwards fought at Tewkesbury, in which the queen and her son were taken prisoners, which was soon followed by the murder of that young prince and his father, (Henry VI.) The queen was * It is dreadful to recollect the immense slaughter which the quarrels of the houses of York and Lancaster, occasioned. According to the most authentic accounts it appears that there were killed two kings, one prince, ten dukes, two marquisses, twenty-one earls, twenty-seven lords, two viscounts, one lord prior, one judge, many gentry, and eighty-five thousand six hundred and twenty-eight men! spared, |