Place Name
There has been a hamlet to the east of Barnet village since around 1275 when it was recorded as Est Barnet and 19 years later Estbarnet. Along with Chipping Barnet it used to considered part of Hertfordshire because they were owned by the Abbey of St Albans. This was once part of a great wood that covered Middlesex and Hertfordshire, and until the late 11thCentury it remained as such. At some stage, areas of this woodland were cleared by burning, hence the name which meant place cleared by burning from the Old English word bœrnet. The settlement was first mentioned sometime after the Domesday Book (1086) as Barneto, it took its contemporary spelling by 1197 before changing again to la Bernet in 1235 and La Barnette in 1248. The road itself has gone through a number of name changes. In 1658 it was known as Merryhill Way and the southern half only became East Barnet Road in 1803, while the northern section was called New Barnet Road.
