First things first, this is High Barnet, known initially as Chipping Barnet (Chipping means ‘place with a fair’ while Barnet derives from clearing forested land), and is part of a cluster of Barnets, including Friern, East and New.
High (ne Chipping) Barnet is the oldest of the cluster, and that’s mainly thanks to its development as a town around a market that was granted a royal charter in 1199. Its location, roughly halfway between London and St Albans, made it a convenient stopping off point for travellers. The area later gained fame as the site of the Battle of Barnet, one of the pivotal battles of the Wars of the Roses in 1471.
A grammar school was founded there in 1575 as part of Queen Elizabeth I’s plan to establish 136 new schools in England, and slowly the village developed into a decent-sized town with the church of St John the Baptist dominating the centre.
And just across the road from the church is a row of old shops and an inn, with classic long narrow passages leading to the backs.
One of which is Bridle Mews.
The name will be newish, although I haven’t been able to pin down when it appeared, as Mews, as a stabling for horses, is a corruption of the original meaning of Mews, as a home for birds of prey.
And of course, as a horsey mews, it’s been called Bridle.
In fact, I can’t find any decent records of the passage having an official name other than as used in house addresses. There was a sign on the entrance saying “private right of way” until 2020, but it vanished around the time the walls were given a lick of paint, and the street signs were given little dark wood frames.
Not visible from the mews, as there’s a large gate in the way, is a building known as the Coach House, which was converted into a residential home around the turn of the millennium. A rather grander house is also here, with a grander price tag.
Other than basically the back of the shops and the high gate, there’s not much here. Candidly, the rest of High Barnet is considerably more interesting to look at.
