Situated in North London near the county boundary with Hertfordshire, Barnet has a long and distinguished history. Properly called Chipping Barnet or High Barnet, the area has become synonymous with its historic horse fair, founded in 1588 and now immortalised in cockney rhyming slang. The Battle of Barnet of 1471 is also rumoured to have served as the inspiration for the nursery rhyme, 'The Grand Old Duke of York'. A further glimpse of the past is provided by Barnet's sixteenth-century church. The neighbouring suburb of Hadley is no less historic and, like Barnet, has many points of interest. The childhood home of Princess Diana, Hadley is home to the 400-acre Trent Country Park, the former hunting ground of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I. Robert Bard invites you to join him on a journey through time, showcasing the changes and developments that have made Barnet & Hadley the bustling communities that they are today.

Robert Bard (PhD) is an author and historian, a former pilot for Jersey European Airways, and a long-time keen yachtsman who has had a continuous contact with Alderney, Guernsey and Jersey for over thirty-five years. He has written many books for Amberley Publishing, including The Channel Islands at War: A Dark History, London’s Hidden Burial Grounds, and more recently Paranormal Berkshire. He lives in Chipping Barnet in Hertfordshire.