Place Name
Sir Robert Berkeley (1584 – August 5, 1656) was a judge and MP who owned Church Hill House, a large mansion in East Barnet. Originally from Worcestershire, he developed an interest in the estate after marrying Elizabeth Conyers, whose family owned the property. In the run-up to the English Civil War, Berkeley became a controversial and even hated figure. In 1637, he supported King Charles I in a judgment on the legality of Ship Money, a tax of medieval origin levied intermittently on coastal towns usually to pay for a navy. Such a tax could be levied by prerogative without the need for parliamentary approval. Charles went further, attempting to impose it on inland areas as well. What vexed MPs even more was, according to Frederick Charles Cass, “the energetic terms in which he gave expression to the judgment [which] had rendered him more obnoxious to the Commons than his colleagues.” In February 1941, he was arrested in open Court while sitting on the Bench on a charge of high treason and was imprisoned in the Tower of London. In September 1643, the House of Lords deprived him of his office and fined him £20,000, of which he paid one-half to secure the waiver of the remainder and his release. Perhaps to pay this exorbitant sum, in 1653, Sir Robert sold Church Hill House, alongside fields called Danemead and Hagdell, to George Hadley. He went to live on his estate of Spetchley in Worcestershire, where he died and was buried. But clearly holding no grudge against his wife’s former estate, he left money for the former chancel of East Barnet Church.
