Editing Finchley (section)

== History ==
{{See also|Market Place, Finchley}}
{| class="wikitable" align="right" style=font-size:85%;margin-left:10px;
|+'''Finchley (parish) population'''
|-
!align="center"| 1881
|align="center"| 11,191
|-
!align="center"| 1891
|align="center"| 16,647
|-
!align="center"| 1901
|align="center"| 22,126
|-
!align="center"| 1911
|align="center"| 39,419
|-
!align="center"| 1921
|align="center"| 46,716
|-
!align="center"| 1931
|align="center"| 58,964
|-
!align="center"| 1941
|align="center"| war #
|-
!align="center"| 1951
|align="center"| 69,991
|-
!align="center"| 1961
|align="center"| 69,370
|-
|style="font-size:smaller" colspan=2|# no census was held due to war
|-
|style="font-size:smaller" colspan=2 align=center|source: [[Census#United Kingdom|UK census]]
|}
Finchley probably means "Finch's clearing" or "finches' clearing" in late [[Old English|Anglo-Saxon]]; the name was first recorded in the early 13th century.<ref name="bho">{{cite web|url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=22501|title=A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 6|last=Baker & Elrington|year=1980|publisher=Victoria County History|pages=38–55|access-date=27 April 2009}}</ref> Finchley is not recorded in [[Domesday Book]], but by the 11th century its lands were held by the Bishop of London. In the early medieval period the area was sparsely populated woodland, whose inhabitants supplied pigs and fuel to London.<ref name=barnetlocal>{{cite web|url=https://www.barnet.gov.uk/citizen-home/libraries/local-studies-and-archives/pocket-histories/finchley-friern-barnet-and-totteridge.html|title=Finchley, Friern Barnet and Totteridge|publisher=London Borough of Barnet|access-date=10 March 2016|archive-date=22 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160322000746/https://www.barnet.gov.uk/citizen-home/libraries/local-studies-and-archives/pocket-histories/finchley-friern-barnet-and-totteridge.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Extensive cultivation began about the time of the [[Norman conquest of England|Norman conquest]]. By the 15th and 16th centuries the woods on the eastern side of the parish had been cleared to form [[Finchley Common]].<ref name=barnetlocal/> The medieval [[Great North Road (Great Britain)|Great North Road]], which ran through the common, was notorious for [[Highwayman|highwaymen]] until the early 19th century.<ref name="bho" />
[[File:entrance to st marys church end.JPG|thumb|left|St Mary's Church]]
[[St Mary-at-Finchley Church]] is first recorded in the 1270s.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.barnet.gov.uk/citizen-home/libraries/local-studies-and-archives/pocket-histories/finchley-friern-barnet-and-totteridge/hendon-lane-finchley-n3.html|title=Hendon Lane (Finchley N3)|publisher=London Borough of Barnet|access-date=10 March 2016|archive-date=4 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304053931/https://www.barnet.gov.uk/citizen-home/libraries/local-studies-and-archives/pocket-histories/finchley-friern-barnet-and-totteridge/hendon-lane-finchley-n3.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> Near the northern gate to the Bishop of London's park, the hamlet of East End, later East Finchley, had begun to develop by 1365.<ref name="tle" /><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.barnet.gov.uk/index/leisure-culture/libraries/archives/archives-histories/archives-finchleyhistories/archives-finchley-eastendroad.htm|title=Finchley N2 East End Road|last=Nurse|first=Richard|date=13 February 2008|publisher=LB Barnet|access-date=23 September 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100426184725/http://www.barnet.gov.uk/index/leisure-culture/libraries/archives/archives-histories/archives-finchleyhistories/archives-finchley-eastendroad.htm|archive-date=26 April 2010|url-status=dead}}</ref> By the 18th century Finchley was well known for the quality of its hay, which was the dominant agricultural activity until the second half of the 19th century.  North Finchley only began to develop after the enclosure of the common during the 1820s.{{citation needed|date=December 2020}}

It formed an ancient parish in the county of [[Middlesex]], originally within the [[Hundred (country subdivision)|hundred]] of [[Ossulstone]] and later becoming its own [[Urban district (Great Britain and Ireland)|urban district]], which was then incorporated as a [[Municipal Borough of Finchley|municipal borough in 1933]]. It has been part of [[Greater London]] since 1965.

The [[Edgware, Highgate and London Railway]] (later the [[Great Northern Railway (Great Britain)|Great Northern Railway]]) reached Finchley in 1867.<ref name=CULG_1>{{Cite web|url=http://www.davros.org/rail/culg/northern.html#dates|title=CULG – Northern Line|website=www.davros.org}}</ref> It ran from [[Finsbury Park (district)|Finsbury Park]] via Finchley to [[Edgware]]. The branch from Finchley to [[High Barnet tube station|High Barnet]] opened in 1872. In 1905 [[tram]] services were established in Finchley, and extended shortly afterwards to Barnet.<ref>[http://www.ltmcollection.org/photos/photo/photo.html?_IXSR_=T1bsDcYU_ib&_IXMAXHITS_=1&IXinv=2004/20296&IXsummary=location/location&IXlocation=Barnet&_IXFIRST_=5 London Transport Museum] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303190122/http://www.ltmcollection.org/photos/photo/photo.html?_IXSR_=T1bsDcYU_ib&_IXMAXHITS_=1&IXinv=2004%2F20296&IXsummary=location%2Flocation&IXlocation=Barnet&_IXFIRST_=5 |date=3 March 2016 }} Tram in Finchley, dated 1905 to 1915</ref> They were eventually replaced by [[trolleybus]]es.<ref>[http://www.ltmcollection.org/photos/photo/photo.html?_IXSR_=T1bsDcYU_ib&_IXMAXHITS_=1&IXinv=1998/85154&IXsummary=location/location&IXlocation=Barnet&_IXFIRST_=452 London Transport Museum] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160325034106/http://www.ltmcollection.org/photos/photo/photo.html?_IXSR_=T1bsDcYU_ib&_IXMAXHITS_=1&IXinv=1998%2F85154&IXsummary=location%2Flocation&IXlocation=Barnet&_IXFIRST_=452 |date=25 March 2016 }} Trolley bus at North Finchley</ref>

In 1933, the Underground [[New Works Programme]] (1935–1940), to electrify the lines through Finchley, and connect the Northern line from [[Archway tube station|Archway]] to [[East Finchley tube station|East Finchley]], via a new tunnel was announced. Much of the work was carried out and East Finchley station was rebuilt, but the project was halted by the [[World War II|second world war]]. All passenger services from Finchley to Edgware ended in September 1939. Nevertheless, Underground trains began running from central London to High Barnet in 1940, and to [[Mill Hill East tube station|Mill Hill East]], to reach the army barracks, in 1941.

After the war, the introduction of London's [[Metropolitan Green Belt]] undermined pre-war plans and the upgrading between Mill Hill East and Edgware (the '[[Northern Heights#The Northern Heights plan|Northern Heights]]' project) was abandoned, although the line continued to be used by steam trains for goods traffic through Finchley, until 1964.