About two miles from Chipping Barnet is the Village of East Barnet, on the confines of the County. It contains a fine old Church, which formerly belonged to the Abbey of St. Alban's, and is dedicated to St. Mary; it has a square brick tower. Chauncy records the following lines over a stone in this Church, to the memory of Jane, wife of Matthew Thwaites, who was buried here November 26th, 1650:

A Virtuous Pattern of a pious Mind

To Heaven is gone, her Body here behind.

Is left intombed to follow her most sure;

Her Spotless Body of a Soul most pure

Through Christ in this for ever to endure.

There is a very handsome window at the east end, which IS a memorial to "E. S. W., who died on the Eve of St. Matthias, 1847," and to "J. R. W., who died on the Eve of All Saints, 1856." A large monument on the south wall is to Lieutenant­Colonel Isaac Eaton, who died February 20th, 1789, aged 45; two oval tablets are to the late General Prevost, of Belmont, and his widow; there are also memorials to the Taylor, Garrow, Lindgren, Baker, Blane, and other families, and to several former Rectors; and a handsome one to the late Thomas Wyatt, Esq.

In the north wall is an ancient piscina. When the Church was restored a new south aisle was added, which is divided from the nave by low pointed arches. The interior is very neat, and there is a fine organ.

In the Churchyard there is a sumptuous and lofty monument to Sir Simon H. Clarkel - late of Oak Hill, who, it states, was "the eleventh baronet of his family," and died in 1832; there is also an inscription to his son. Other handsome tombs are to the memory of Major-General Augustin Prevost, a brave soldier in the American War, who died in 1786; to T. Curtis, son of T. V. E. Wyatt, of Willenhall; to the family of Toulmin, of East Barnet, and many others. A great peculiarity of many of the tombs in this Churchyard is that they are completely covered by a species of ground ivy.

The living is a Rectory, separated from Chipping Barnet in 1866, in the patronage of the Crown; the annual value, £695. The Register dates from 1553. A late Rector of this Parish, the Rev. R. Taylor, who died in 1718, left a singular bequest in his will, viz., a copy of The Whole Duty of Man to every family in the Parish.

Guide to Hertfordshire, 1880

St Mary Virgin, East Barnet

posted 1910 - back suggests date nearer 1905 - published by Blum & Degan

East Barnet Church

circa 1910 - Gordon Smith, Publisher, 15, Stroud Green? Road, N, #750

East Barnet Churchyard

posted 1905 - G. Smith, Photographer, Allerton Road, N