Description
Swan Lane Open Space was laid out for recreation by 1935 near the former site of a C19th estate. The area was used for gravel working, as a result of which in the 1960s or possibly earlier it was known locally as 'The Pits'. A small kidney-shaped pond, fed by a natural spring, was created in the park for model boating, with water lilies, rushes and jetty, now used for wildlife. The park is on hilly terrain with open grass and woodland that includes saplings as well as mature trees, both coniferous and deciduous. A group of giant redwoods and a Cedar of Lebanon are within a wooded area planted with conifers at the entrance on High Road Whetstone. Rose beds by the café have been planted in memory of two local residents, Vi and George Terry of Finchley; a memorial bench commemorates Tony Clark. Some parts of the park have now been left wild to form a natural area of long grass and smaller trees.
Practical Information
| Site location | Swan Lane/High Road/Woodside Lane, Whetstone |
|---|---|
| Postcode | N20 0PR |
| What3Words | ///trim.stroke.chins |
| Type of Site | Public Park |
| Borough | Barnet |
| Open to Public | Yes |
| Opening Times | check if closed at dusk |
| Facilities | Playground, play area, waterplay area, café, pond |
| Public Transport | Tube: Totteridge & Whetstone then bus. Bus: 125, 263. |
| Research Updated | 23 November 2020 |
| Last Updated | 18 October 2026 |
Full description
The site was the scene of a tragedy in the early 1920s when children were drowned while playing in the disused gravel workings. According to a history of the local St John's School: "Whetstone was the site of a number of gravel pits, particularly in the locality of Swan Lane. They are commemorated in the name still used for the recreation area there. School documents record a tragedy on these pits, which were then disused, in 1925, when a 10 year-year-old boy who attended the school was drowned with two friends when a raft on which they were floating capsized".
In the early 1970s the park featured in one of the Monty Python films when a scene from the 'Hells Grannies' sketches was filmed in the upper part above the keepers lodge. The Wendy House that stood nearby during the 1960s and 1970s can be seen in shot. It is the smallest of Barnet's sixteen Premier Parks.
In c.2015/16 a new play area was laid out, including an artificial rock created to resemble a sandstone boulder containing an ammonite.
It has been suggested that the spring at this park was used as an oratory and place of baptism by Cedd in ca.654 AD, because it predates, by 20 years, the belief that Bishop Erkenwald (4th Bishop of London) may have originally built a wooden Early English church on the site of St Mary-at-Finchley (q.v.). The two sites, St Mary and Swan Lane Open Space, are connected by a straight aligned ‘Church Path’, which has no otherwise known significance to local churches. Cedd (2nd Bishop of London) was also closely associated with King Oswiu at the Synod of Whitby (664 AD) and his name has more relevance to London than that of his brother, Oswald, often associated with the Ossulstone Hundred.
In the early 1970s the park featured in one of the Monty Python films when a scene from the 'Hells Grannies' sketches was filmed in the upper part above the keepers lodge. The Wendy House that stood nearby during the 1960s and 1970s can be seen in shot. It is the smallest of Barnet's sixteen Premier Parks.
In c.2015/16 a new play area was laid out, including an artificial rock created to resemble a sandstone boulder containing an ammonite.
It has been suggested that the spring at this park was used as an oratory and place of baptism by Cedd in ca.654 AD, because it predates, by 20 years, the belief that Bishop Erkenwald (4th Bishop of London) may have originally built a wooden Early English church on the site of St Mary-at-Finchley (q.v.). The two sites, St Mary and Swan Lane Open Space, are connected by a straight aligned ‘Church Path’, which has no otherwise known significance to local churches. Cedd (2nd Bishop of London) was also closely associated with King Oswiu at the Synod of Whitby (664 AD) and his name has more relevance to London than that of his brother, Oswald, often associated with the Ossulstone Hundred.
Further Information
| Grid Reference | TQ261933 |
|---|---|
| Size in hectares | 3.6396 |
| Site Ownership | LB Barnet |
| Site Management | Leisure and Youth Services, Green Spaces Division |
| Dates | 1930s |
| On National Heritage List for England (NHLE), Parks & Gardens | No |
| Registered common or village green on Commons Registration Act 1965 | No |
| Protected under London Squares Preservation Act 1931 | No |
| Local Authority | Barnet |
| In Conservation Area | No |
| Tree Preservation Order | No |
| Nature Conservation Area | No |
| Green Belt | No |
| Metropolitan Open Land | No |
| Special Policy Area | No |
| Other LA Designation | Premier Park |
Gallery
Please note the Inventory and its content are provided for your general information only and are subject to change. It is your responsibility to check the accuracy.
Nearby parks and gardens
The site comprises private houses and tower block built in the 1980s around the former Woodside House. Built by J. Baxendale in c.1841 it was described in 1850 as 'a beautiful villa with a pretty conservatory, in a setting of lawns, groves and a lake'. During WWII the Special Constabulary used the front room of the house as its station. It became the Woodside Home for Elderly Ladies and it remains a retirement home set in pleasant grounds that still include the lake. In Baxendale Close some very fine specimen trees including a Cedar of Lebanon are preserved, dating from the earlier landscape.
Lawrence Campe Almshouses were built in c.1612 to provide for 12 poor people, each of whom was given a monthly allowance of one shilling. The founder, Lawrence Campe, was a draper's merchant in the City of London. The almshouses consist of a row of seven two-storey red brick cottages set back from the road, fronted by lawn with country-garden style flowers against the houses and a simple white paling fence separating them from the road.
This private golf course is on land that was once the site of the manorial estate owned by Lord Chief Justice Popham, and was visited by Elizabeth I. The estate was sold in c.1906 to the North Middlesex Golf Company, whose clubhouse was the C19th manor house. In 1928 the land was acquired as open space by the local Council who then leased it back to the Golf Club. A small circular hedged area with a WWI War Memorial in the centre is located on the edge of the golf course.