About Monken Hadley Common

The Common is a roughly wedged shaped tract of land of which about 74 ha are accessible to the public; it’s about 2.5 kilometres long, tapering from a width of about 0.5 kilometre at its broadest point, close to the white gates beside St Mary’s Church, Monken Hadley at the western end to a narrow point by one of the other sets of white gates at Games Road at the eastern end – about 300m from the Cockfosters Road entrance to Trent Park. It is bounded to the north and south by the residential areas of Hadley Wood and New Barnet respectively.

A public bridleway crosses the Common, joining the end of Games Road, at the east, to the car park at the foot of Baker’s Hill at the west. Horse riding and pedal-cycling are permitted along it – although not elsewhere on the Common. The bridleway forms part of the London LOOP – the London Outer Orbital Path (the walker’s M25), and links with the Pymmes Brook Trail near Jack’s Lake.

Monken Hadley Common (which is also known locally as Hadley Woods or simply as Hadley Common) was created by an Act of Parliament – the Enfield Chase Act 1777 – when most of the medieval hunting forest of Enfield Chase was enclosed (turned into fields), and an area at the western end was given to the villagers of Monken Hadley to compensate them for the loss of their right to graze horses and cattle on the Chase, by providing the village with grazing of its own. The Common has been a feature of life in the area ever since, and is the only remaining part of Enfield Chase which hasn’t been enclosed.

The grazing of horses and cattle on the Common continued for nearly 200 years after 1777 but, with the coming of the railway in 1850, the surrounding area began to be developed for housing – a trend which continues to this day – and it became more and more used for recreation. At the same time the importance of the grazing which it provided steadily diminished, to the point where, about 50 years ago, grazing ceased completely.

Monken Hadley Common is now the only remaining unenclosed fragment of the former Chase, and is situated north of High Barnet, and immediately to the east of ancient country village of Monken Hadley itself. In 1777 it was in the county of Middlesex; in 1889 it became part of Hertfordshire, and since 1965 it has been within the administrative area of the London Borough of Barnet.

After 245 years, on 28 April 2022 the Monken Hadley Common Act became law and on December 1st 2022 it came into force being the day appointed by the Churchwardens. It repealed those sections of the 1777 Act which related to the Common. The ownership of the Common was transferred from the Churchwardens of the Parish Church of Monken Hadley in the County of Middlesex to the Monken Hadley Common Trust (“the trust”) which is a charitable incorporated organisation registered by the Charity Commission on 31 May 2022 under number 1199156. For further information please refer to the page of this website relating to the trust and the management of the Common.

Maintaining the Common

The Common has a considerable amenity and recreational value, especially to the communities which surround it; surprisingly, however, it is not supported by any regular local, regional or, indeed, national, aid (though it did received grants from English Heritage to match the money raised locally towards the cost of the refurbishment of the five gates). The Local Authority Grants which it received for forty years from both Barnet and Enfield were withdrawn in 1996, and this led directly to the formation of a charity, the Friends of Hadley Common, the following year.

Since 1997 the Friends raised more than £100,000 towards the maintenance and improvement of the Common.  Since its establishment in 2022, the Trust now carries on that valuable work; the Friends has been wound up as a charity, and its members and supporters became members of, and volunteers for the Trust.

Though the Common itself does have a small amount of income from things such as rents and wayleaves, this is nowhere near enough to cover the running costs, and it is therefore heavily dependent upon charitable donations. As a charity, the Trust is able to reclaim tax on Gift Aid donations, which significantly boosts the financial support for the Common.

The Common is maintained by the Conservation Volunteers on an entirely voluntary basis. The contribution of the many people who give their time, effort and devotion to running the Common simply would not work without the financial support for the unavoidable expenses involved in running 74 hectares of public open space – financial support that is vital if the Trust is to carry out its functions.

A rural enclave

The Common has a rural aspect, which is enhanced by having Hadley Wood Golf Club and the Covert Way Local Nature Reserve (both in the London Borough of Enfield) to the north, and King George’s Fields, the Tudor Sports Ground nine hole foot golf course, and the playing fields of two schools (all in the London Borough of Barnet) to the south.

Approximately 53 ha of the Common are mixed semi-natural deciduous woodland with some open glades and the remainder is open grassland with planted or selected trees.

The Common lies within the Monken Hadley Conservation Area, and is listed as a “Site of Borough Importance for Nature Conservation (Grade 1)” by the London Borough of Barnet. It and its trees are designated as being of general amenity value, and the woodland west of the railway line is subject to a Tree Preservation Order.

In 1992 Margaret Melling completed a ‘desk study’ of the wildlife, which is a collation of existing records, listing 12 species of mammals, 83 birds, 20 butterflies and some hundreds of other species of fauna as well as a great many trees, wild flowers, fungi etc. which have been associated with the Common. (Unfortunately this desk study can’t be traced, and the Curators would be very grateful to hear from anyone who has a copy.)

Green and/or greater spotted woodpeckers will probably be heard if not seen. If you are very lucky, you may also see the shy and elusive muntjac deer. Butterflies, including the white-letter and purple hair-streaks, may be observed, and in the late evening Daubenton’s bats may be seen skimming low over Jack’s Lake. There were numerous sightings of the harmless grass snake in the summers of 1996 and 1997. Many wild flowers and fungi add to one’s enjoyment.

Recreation and relaxation

Monken Hadley Common was created in 1777 to provide pasture for the animals owned by the inhabitants of the village of Monken Hadley. After the coming of the railway in 1850 the land to the south began to be developed for housing, which resulted in a steady reduction in the demand for pasture, and also an increased demand for recreation, not only from those living in the new houses in the immediate vicinity but also from people travelling to the Common by bicycle, rail and tram from further afield.

The Common’s attraction as a place of recreation and relaxation was also boosted by the funfair and tea rooms run by the Frusher family at Folly Farm (on the right, between the railway bridge and Jack’s Lake, on the site of what is now JCoSS) and by the boating on Jack’s Lake, run by East Barnet Urban District Council.

Its heyday as a visitor attraction seems to have been in the decade following the 2nd World War: in 1953 it was recorded that “over a recent Whitsun Bank Holiday no fewer than 40,000 people visited Hadley Woods”(!).

By the mid 1960’s grazing had completely ceased, boating had been discontinued, and in 1969 Folly Farm was sold to East Barnet Urban District Council, which developed the site for use as a school. But well before then, the area round Jack’s Lake had become a meeting place for teddy boys – and, as the verse went at the time:

If you go down to Hadley Woods today, you’d better go in disguise,
In drainpipe trews and fancy shoes and something intense in ties.
Don’t bother to wash – it’s sure to rain;
Remember your cosh and bicycle chain;
Today’s the day the Teddy boys have their picnic.

The Common had hit a low point …

A new beginning: In 1981 a new constitution was adopted for the management of the Common, and thanks to the hard work put in by successive Curators, Conservation Volunteers and members of the Management Committee, and to the generous financial support afforded by the Friends of Hadley Common, the Common went through something of a renaissance.

A year later, in 1982, the fishing of Jack’s Lake was licensed to the newly-formed Hadley Angling and Preservation Society (HAPS), which also did a lot to improve the parts of the Common round the lake, as well as the fishing and the lake itself. The fishery, which is still managed by HAPS, is open to all, with 27 of the 44 pegs being fishable on day tickets. HAPS organises Junior Angling Competitions – open to anyone aged 16 or under – and continues to do a first-class job in maintaining both the fishery and its environment.

Though the days of mass visitors, which were seen 70 years ago, are clearly over, the Common is still a highly-valued resource for walkers, dog walkers, bird watchers, botanists, joggers, cricket lovers, anglers, families picnicking and playing games, pedal-cyclists enjoying the safe cycling along the bridleway, and people just spending some quiet time in the countryside. The Common is also coming to be more appreciated again by people living further afield, not least by people walking the Pymmes Brook Trail, which starts on the Common, and by those following the London LOOP, which crosses it.

Cultural and other activities

During the pandemic local musician Ilona Domnich started a series of open-air concerts, held by the shores of Jack’s Lake.  That series has continued each summer since, and in 2024 three concerts were held.  Each was funded by a number of local charitable and business sponsors, as well as donations from over 400 members of the public who attended.  Proceeds of the concerts went to two charities – Monken Hadley Common Trust itself, and the World Heartbeat Academy, a charity which supports young and aspiring musicians.

Cricket: The present Monken Hadley Cricket Club, which has its pitch on the grassland at the western end of the Common, was formed in 1954, and has performed continuously since then.

The earliest known record of a match being played on the Common appeared in the Barnet Press, and relates to a game against the Privy Council Office C.C on June 14th 1862 . There’s also a reference in an Anthony Trollope novel “The Bertrams”, which, though written in 1858/59, was set in the 1840’s; it therefore seems very likely that cricket was first played on the Common before 1862. (Anthony’s mother, Fanny – who was also an author – lived for a time in Hadley.)

Shakespeare’s Henry VI: In the summer of 2013, Monken Hadley Common hosted Shakespeare’s Globe‘s fourth and final open-air “battlefield performance” of the Henry VI trilogy, directed by Nick Bagnall, and the event was greatly appreciated by those hardy souls who managed to brave the continuous rain.

All three plays were streamed live on the Internet, thanks to The Space (which was then funded by the Arts Council England and the BBC), though unfortunately the awful weather conditions, and a power outage during Part III, mitigated against the technology, and the live stream was subject to frequent interruptions