A Walk along the Great North Road

For many years I thought that the A1000 was the Great North Road. In fact the great North Road was simply the name given to the road that for centuries led from London to Edinburgh. Last century saw bypasses built at certain places and the whole length was designated the A1. The section between Welwyn and Highgate was designated the A1000.

I started the walk at Woodside Lodge, one of the entrances to Hatfield House. Along this road (pic 1) would Bill Sykes have come on his flight , and from the opposite direction would have come Oliver Twist from his workhouse - see previous blogs.

The crossroads (pic 2) sees us crossing the Great North Road as it begins its diversion around Hatfield Park.

The rough looking track of pic 3 is an unmade road leading to a farm. It is the original route which is now blocked off and one has to make a diversion.

Soon we return to the A1000 (pic 4) as it disappears northward, still a busy road, but I managed to get pauses to photograph in.

Coming north out of Potters Bar (pic 5) looks dramatically steep, though I didn't notice it at the time!

I then crossed the SE-NW road between Southgate and South Mimms (pic 6) and nowadays leading to the M25 and A1 motorways).

Eventually I reached Monken Hadley, a mile from Barnet. Here is an obelisk (pic 7) set up by one Sir Jeremy Sambrook in memory of the death of the Earl of Warwick . This gentleman died around here in 1471 at the Battle of Barnet between the Yorkists and Lancastrians - also known as the War of the Roses (White v Red).

The sun was still bright but for fun I toned the ensuing road down (pic 8) which is where I imagined Oliver sitting all hungry, weary and depressed when the Artful Dodger comes along.

Finally we come into Chipping Barnet. The little terrace of small shops (pic9) must, I am sure, have been there in the first half of the nineteenth century. I did once see an old photograph of them but I cannot remember where in order to verify this.

A lovely day and a lovely walk - and my legs feet the effects of it still!