St Mary the Virgin, East Barnet
St Mary the Virgin, East Barnet
St Mary the Virgin is a Grade II* parish church on Church Hill, East Barnet, in the Diocese of St Albans, the oldest building in the London Borough of Barnet.
- Location
- East Barnet, Hertfordshire
- Country
- England
- County
- Hertfordshire
- City / town
- East Barnet
- Address
- Church Hill, East Barnet, Hertfordshire, EN4 8XD
- Postcode
- EN4 8XD
- Built
- c.1080 nave; tower c.1828; C19 south aisle and chancel
- Denomination
- Church of England
- Dedication
- Mary
- Diocese
- St Albans
- Parish
- East Barnet
- Grade
- II*
- Style
- Norman, with later extensions
- Grid reference
- TQ 277 946
- Opening hours
- The church is usually open on Saturdays, under an open church scheme. Please contact the parish office to ensure it is open if you are planning to visit.
- Access
- Ramp or level access available on request. Level access to the main areas. Accessible toilets in church
Overview
Historic England records a small church of about 1080, built by a community of monks as a single cell with an apsidal east end. The north wall remains, with fragments of the south wall in later work. The church was enlarged in the nineteenth century with a south aisle, chancel and organ recess; a modern vestry was added on the south side. A west tower was added about 1828. A west gallery was probably renewed in the nineteenth century. There are a number of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century hatchments.
The parish history states that the Abbot of St Albans consecrated the chapel around 1080 and remained patron until the Reformation. The nave still stands on the foundations of that chapel. National Churches Trust, citing Pevsner, calls the Norman north wall — doorway and windows — a remarkable survival, with a fifteenth-century chancel later enlarged in 1632. After the dissolution of St Albans the manor passed to the Crown; Edward VI sold it in 1553 but kept the advowson.