Mays Lane and Duck Island
Mays Lane
The oldest settlement on Mays Lane is at the bottom of Chesterfield road and is known as Duck Island. It possibly takes its name from a 17th family called Duck who were local landowners, or possibly because the area close by Dollis Brook was frequented by ducks. Some time after the enclosure of Barnet Common (1815) a few houses were built here, and by the 1861 there was even a small tin chapel and school. In 1895 Bells Hill cemetery was opened for High Barnet, and the year after a new church called St Stephens. By the end of the Victorian period many of the farms near Mays Lane were dairy farms. The Isolation Hospital (1906 – 1948) was built to care for those with diphtheria and scarlet fever, and later became St Stephen’s hospital, part of Barnet General Hospital. The hospital was demolished in 1999 and replaced with Darlands Drive.
Pictures, Maps, Directories and Films
Other EN5 Pocket Histories
- Arkley and Barnet Gate
- Underhill and Pricklers Hill
- Barnet Town
- High Street below St John the Baptist Church
- Wood Street
Email this pageLast modified by: Robin Yeates on 07/06/2007