The Hale is an area and ward within the

London Borough of Barnet The London Borough of Barnet () is a suburban London boroughs, London borough in north London, England. Forming part of Outer London, the borough was formed in 1965 from parts of the ceremonial counties of Middlesex and Hertfordshire. It is the ...

. It is situated where the eastern part of

Edgware Edgware () is a suburban town in northwest London. It was an ancient parish in the county of Middlesex east of the ancient Watling Street in what is now the London Borough of Barnet but it is now informally considered to cover a wider area, inc ...

meets the western part of

Mill Hill Mill Hill is a suburb in the London Borough of Barnet, England. It is situated around northwest of Charing Cross, close to the Hertfordshire border. It was in the Historic counties of England, historic county of Middlesex until 1965, when it b ...

and centres on the small retail centre at the junction of Deans Lane, Hale Lane and Selvage Lane. This centre constitutes Upper Hale, but is better known locally as the 'Green Man' after the pub of the same name that stood at the site from at least the early 18th century. A smaller area that was traditionally known as Lower Hale centres on the junction of Hale Lane, Farm Road and the nearby bridge over

Deans Brook Deans Brook is a two-kilometre-long stream which runs between Mill Hill and Edgware in the London Borough of Barnet. It is a tributary of the Silk Stream, which is a tributary of the River Brent, which is a tributary of the River Thames. The b ...

; this latter area is generally regarded as being within Edgware. The traditional area known as The Hale extends northwards from the Green Man to the A41 and Apex Corner and the southern end is traditionally marked by the disused Edgware and Highgate railway line just south of West Way and Hale Drive; beyond lies

Burnt Oak Burnt Oak is a suburb of London, England, located northwest of Charing Cross. It lies to the west of the M1 motorway between Edgware and Colindale, located predominantly in the London Borough of Barnet, with parts in the London Boroughs of Br ...

. Today's borough ward has slightly larger boundaries.

History

The Hale was a rural area until well into the 20th century, with only the Green Man pub and the Railway Tavern (still in existence today) on opposite corners, as well as farms at Upper Hale and Lower Hale. The Green Man pub was somewhat famous in the 19th century, including for sports such as boxing. The pub was totally rebuilt as it is today in the late 1920s, but eventually became Everglades (a Tex-Mex restaurant) in the late 1980s and has since become a Harvester Inn called the Jolly Badger. At the turn of the 20th century, The Hale was a popular place for day-trippers from Central London who frequented the two public houses. The area changed quickly with rapid development in the late 1920s and early 1930s, particularly triggered by the arrival of the

Northern line The Northern line is a London Underground line that runs between North London and South London. It is printed in black on the Tube map. It carries more passengers per year than any other Underground linearound 340million in 2019making it the bu ...

to Edgware station in 1924, and the consequent introduction of omnibus services from that station to The Hale and Mill Hill. The farms at Upper Hale and Lower Hale were sold and developed for residential housing, such as the Hale Estate (based around the east side of Selvage Lane, Sunbury Avenue, Sunbury Gardens and Maxwelton Avenue) in the late 1920s. Thus, since the early 1930s The Hale has been a suburban area generally characterised by private detached and semi-detached houses. A notable building in The Hale is a church named in honour of

John Keble John Keble (25 April 1792 – 29 March 1866) was an English Anglican priest and poet who was one of the leaders of the Oxford Movement. Keble College, Oxford, is named after him. Early life Keble was born on 25 April 1792 in Fairford, Glouces ...

. It a Grade II-listed modernist-style building which was completed in 1936. Another significant building is Maxwelton House - recently discovered during renovations to be one of the oldest buildings in the larger

and

area - which is now a school building on Hale Lane. In 1932, the John Groom's Crippleage was opened just south of the A41 Edgware Way near Stoneyfields Lane; this was closed in the 1980s and replaced by modern private housing.

Geography

Transport

The Hale was formerly served by Mill Hill (The Hale) railway station on Bunns Lane from 1906 until it shut in 1939. Its immediate neighbour, Mill Hill Broadway railway station, is the nearest station today, within a short walking distance. The Hale is directly served by

London Buses London Buses is the subsidiary of Transport for London (TfL) that manages most bus services in London, England. It was formed following the Greater London Authority Act 1999 that transferred control of London Regional Transport (LRT) bus s ...

routes

221 __NOTOC__ Year 221 ( CCXXI) was a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Gratus and Vitellius (or, less frequently, year 974 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 221 ...

240 __NOTOC__ Year 240 ( CCXL) was a leap year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Sabinus and Venustus (or, less frequently, year 993 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 240 f ...

292 __NOTOC__ Year 292 (Roman numerals, CCXCII) was a leap year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Hannibalianus and Asclepiodotus (or, less frequently, year 1045 ''Ab urbe condita'' ...

and

303 __NOTOC__ Year 303 ( CCCIII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar. It was known in the Roman Empire as the Year of the Consulship of Diocletian and Maximian (or, less frequently, year 1056 ''Ab urbe condita''). The deno ...

- and routes

113 113 may refer to: *113 (number), a natural number *AD 113, a year *113 BC, a year *113 (band), a French hip hop group *113 (MBTA bus), Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority bus route *113 (New Jersey bus), Ironbound Garage in Newark and run to ...

, 186 and Uno route 614 serve the A41 at the north end of the district. All of these routes also serve Edgware station on the

, which remains the other main route to and from the area. At various times 'Mill Hill ''Green Man'' ' was itself a terminal point for buses, most famously the 52 from Victoria from the early 1930s until the construction of the M1 and the then new bus station at Mill Hill Broadway, to which the 52 was diverted in 1967 until its replacement in 1992 by today's 302.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hale Districts of the London Borough of Barnet Areas of London Places formerly in Middlesex