Inventory Site Record

In the C19th the land was owned by the Rumball family and leased for pasture, a brewery and stables, and two houses. In 1912 the brewery site was purchased by Barnet UDC, who later purchased the freehold of the Old Court House Estate in 1923. The recreation ground on the south side of the gardens opened in 1924 and Barnet Bowls Club was founded here in 1926. The park was formally laid out with an ornamental pond, rockery, shrub and flower beds, and a fine variety of specimen trees.

Previous / Other name:

Court House Estate

Site location:

Manor Close off Wood Street/Orchard Road/Mays Lane, Chipping Barnet

Postcode:

EN5 4BP

What 3 Words:

neat.useful.thin

Type of site:

Public Park

Borough:

Barnet

Open to public?

Yes

Opening times:

8am to dusk

Special conditions:

Facilities:

Café, car park, tennis courts, bowling greens, under 14s playground, toilets. Tree Trail

Events:

Public transport:

Tube: High Barnet (Northern) then bus. Bus: 34, 84, 107, 184, 234, 263, 307, 326, 384, 389

Citymapper    
Google Map    
streetmap.co.uk

Research updated:

09/05/2009

Last minor changes:

19/07/2023

Please check with the site owner or manager for latest news. www.barnet.gov.uk

At one time Barnet was part of Middlesex Forest. Throughout the C19th, the land that is now the Recreation Ground and the houses fronting onto Wood Street were owned by the Rumball family. When Sampson Rumball died in 1827 ownership passed to his son Samson Augustus Rumball who leased the plots for pasture, two houses, a brewery and stables. The Barnet Brewery Company traded here intermittently from the C18th until its closure in 1909, and in 1911 the brewery site was offered to Barnet Urban District Council for council offices, who in 1912 purchased the site for £1,000. The Council then purchased the freehold of the old Court House Estate in 1923 and opened the recreation ground on the south side of the gardens in 1924; Barnet Bowls Club was founded here in 1926.

The building on Wood Street, which has been Barnet Museum since 1938, was also one of the Rumball properties; for a time it was a private school, Barnet College for Girls, which had closed by 1911.

The park has a pond, shrub and flower beds and a fine variety of trees which are marked as a tree trail including black mulberry, honey locust, Persian ironwood, dawn redwood, paper-bark maple, Brewer's weeping spruce, false acacia, Monterey pine, Scots pine, English and red oak, willow-leaved pear.

Sources consulted:

P Taylor and J Cordern, 'Barnet, Hadley and Totteridge: a pictorial history' (1994); LB Barnet leaflet

Grid ref:

TQ244963 (524480,196350)

Size in hectares:

3.11

Site ownership:

LB Barnet

Site management:

Leisure and Youth Services, Green Spaces Division/Friends of Old Court House

Date(s):

C19th; 1923/4

Designer(s):

Listed structures:

None

On National Heritage List for England (NHLE), Parks & Gardens:

No

Registered common or village green on Commons Registration Act 1965:

No

Protected under London Squares Preservation Act 1931:

No

Local Authority Data

The information below is taken from the relevant Local Authority's planning legislation, which was correct at the time of research but may have been amended in the interim. Please check with the Local Authority for latest planning information.

On Local List:

No

In Conservation Area:

No

Tree Preservation Order:

Not known

Nature Conservation Area:

No

Green Belt:

No

Metropolitan Open Land:

No

Special Policy Area:

Yes - Area of Special Archaeological Significance

Other LA designation:

Premier Park

Old Court House Recreation Ground, August 2000. Photo: S Williams

Click a photo to enlarge.