Barnet Fair - It Goes There (1)

 The Best-Ever Map Of Route 383

fbb's modesty is his only fault, of course! But the sainted Roger french shares fbb's frustration at the lack of usable maps for London's buses.

Rog penned these wise words whilst enjoying the route-branded 383 back in September 2019 - a blog to which fbb will return in due course. But the fbb map tells us that the first bit of public transport experience on the 383 is where it turns left on to Meadway. Travelling south from Barnet, the evidence is hard to find ...

... and alighting on Meadway itself from a bus TO Barnet, it is even harder to realise.

But there is a sign, high in the sky ...

... which leads you to a somewhat creepy footpath ...

... which takes you down and down to ...

... High Barnet Underground Station.

High Barnet station was planned by the Edgware, Highgate and London Railway (EH&LR) and was originally opened on 1 April 1872 by the Great Northern Railway (which had taken over the EH&LR).

The section of the High Barnet branch north of East Finchley was incorporated into the London Underground network through the "Northern Heights" project begun in the late 1930s. High Barnet station was first served by Northern line trains on 14 April 1940.

The station is in a valley very well hidden from houses and roads above.

The land used for the station was once the site of Barnet Fair. Apart from Cockney Rhyming Slang for "hair", there was a horse fair at Barnet for hundreds of years.

Latterly only the "side shows", once just an adjuct to the business of buying and selling the animals, remained as part of the annual beano.

Cockney (non) rhyming slang?

There ain't no apples, so I'll brush down me whistle, comb me barnet, do up me daisies, walk down the slope to the station and get on the dog for a sherbet but leave time for a cup of rosie - too right, I'll use me loaf and wait there for me china to join me; it's nice outside in the currant.

Or maybe not!

At the foot of the slope is a booking office and station entrance.

This approach hasn't changed much!

Walking back up the slope after a tiring day in the office can be fun (NOT). But the expedition is not yet over. Having entered the station you can enjoy the privilege of a lovely circuitous walkway (covered, thankfully) round the buffer stops to the far platforms.

But further down the main road (A1000, formely A1) is a second entrance ...

... leading either to an even longer buffer stop trek or to a footbridge ...

... again taking passengers across to the far platforms. High Barnet is effectively two stations in one, separated by the old Great Northern Railway (GNR) buildings.

Pedestrians entering via the creepy slope from the end of Meadway can eschew the "upper" entrance and walk to the lower to enjoy the old appurtenances; now, as they say, "no longer in passenger use".

The picture above does not quite show that the platform access from the slope station involves a down footbridge to get to the buffer stop walkway.

Many moons ago, fbb took a trundle up the Piccadilly Line to Cockfosters, thence a bus to Barnet and a Northern Line train back into central London. It was a fascinating magical mystery tour to get to the Northern Line train chuntering happily at a platform somewhere within the maze!

It is still just about possible to imagine the GNR steam trains pulling in to what was essentially a rural terminus.

For a while steam trains continued to run from Finsbury Park and Highgate (high level), joined by they new-fangled tube trains joining in from Highgate (low level).

Well, we haven't got very far in our exploration of the Transport for London 383, but High Barnet Station is, by far the most interesting on the route.

But we will heave ourselves back up the slope and wait for the next 383 to take us further.

P.S. Controversially, there are big plans for housing development at High Barnet Station ...

... which will encroach on the small (by London standards!) but usually full car park.

It would be fair to say that the locals are not very keen.

 Next 383 bus route blog : Friday 6th November