St Mary the Virgin Church, East Barnet
Another in the ever expanding Church Micro Series, started by Sadexploration.
Although I no longer live in the area I have attended more services in this church than any other, for Christenings, Weddings and, sadly, Funerals. I have been invited to a Wedding here shortly and decided that I would place a Church Micro here to celebrate.
The first chapel on this site was consecrated in 1080AD by the Abbott of St Albans and was dedicated to St Mary the Virgin. It had thick walls made of compressed rubble, lime and plaster with stone around the openings, and the windows had no glass. Much of the north wall of the current church is from that time. The nave of the present church still stands on the foundations of the original chapel more than 925 years later.
The windows were glazed by the 13th century and some of the glass is still there today. The curved apse was replaced in the 1400’s with a larger chancel and a porch would have been constructed to protect the door.
A wooden turret was erected on the church in 1794, containing three small bells. In 1805 the walls were raised by four feet and a new roof created over the old. A new window was installed and later the turret was replaced by an octagonal belfry, which only lasted until 1828 when the current tower was built. In 1861 two bells cast at the Whitechapel Foundry were manufactured by Mears of London. The larger was cracked so they were replaced by the present three bells in 1960.
The church was extended in 1868 and another aisle added. The extension was built and the original south wall of the church demolished and replaced by arches. By 1869 the historic box pews had been replaced and choir stalls had been installed. In 1872 the Lych Gate was erected at a cost of £130. The stile beside it was to stop animals entering the churchyard and grazing on the poisonous yew berries.
In the 1880s, the main chancel of St Mary’s was lengthened by twelve feet incorporating a new east window celebrating the Annunciation of St Mary. The chancel roof was reshaped and the organ chamber was constructed as a transept.
In 1911 the vestry extension was completed and the area below the gallery was cleared. The 1875 window at the west end was removed and at the same time, the doorway under the gallery in the north wall was reopened after having been bricked up for a number of years. Eventually in 1920 the present organ was constructed and sited in the organ chamber.
During the Second World War the church was damaged by enemy action which required much of the roof and some walls to be repaired. The east window in the south aisle was installed in 1950 incorporating a war memorial. A major rebuild of the organ took place in 1984.
The above text is extracted from the excellent history of the church on the linked website, written by Richard Selby, which puts the church in context with other buildings and events in the area.
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The cache, a nano tube, is not at the given coordinates, which are close to the Lych Gate. There are curved beams under the Lych Gate with words on them; the number of letters in each word are ABCD EFGH (ignore the name and date of the church). To find the location of the cache you will need to do the calculation below:
N51 38.(A-D) (H-E) (F-D)
W0 9.B (D-C) (H/G)
Congratulation to Nicodaemus on the FTF
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For full information on how you can expand the Church Micro series by sadexploration please read the
Place your own Church Micro page before you contact him at churchmicro.co.uk
See also the Church Micro Statistics and Home pages for further information about the series.
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