About Church End
A charming urban village, and the greenest corner of Finchley Central, Church End is known for good schools, excellent transport and generously-sized houses with gardens.
A short history
Occupied from the early medieval period onwards, when the Great North Road (as it later became known) was built east of Church End, commerce was drawn away to what is now East Finchley, leaving the old village to become something of a backwater. It took until the arrival of the railway in 1867 for things to get moving again, and the vast majority of Church End was built up by 1920. Of note is the charming enclave of 25 pairs of Arts-and-Crafts semi-detached cottages overlooking the village green.
Green spaces and going out
The gardens of Avenue House, the base for the Finchley Society, received a £1.2m lottery grant in 2014. They are open to the public every day in the summer. Victoria Park is home to the Finchley Carnival, a large fun fair held every year in July and dating back to 1905. There is a selection of shops and restaurants running along Ballards Lane.
Transport
Finchley Central is on the High Barnet branch of the Northern Line (Zone 4). Journeys to central London take 25 minutes.
Did you know?
Avenue House was once home to Henry Charles Stephens, the son of the indelible ink inventor, Dr Henry Stephens. Charles Dickens wrote parts of Martin Chuzzlewit in Victoria Park.
