Totteridge Common

Totteridge Common remains as a strip of public open space along the road of the same name and is registered under the Commons Preservation Act of 1965. By the C13th the manor belonged to the Bishopric of Ely and Totteridge was a hamlet, at which time it was known as Tatarige which may refer to a family of the name of Tata who lived here. From the C17th and C18th the area, with its fine views and relative proximity to London, gradually attracted wealthy people who built houses around Totteridge Green (q.v.) and along the east/west route of Totteridge Lane, Totteridge Village and Totteridge Common. Totteridge Common was enclosed in the C18th. Although housing development accelerated after the Great Northern Railway arrived at Barnet, Totteridge retained its rural aspect due to the Green Belt and to local pressure, such as that of the Totteridge Preservation Society which was set up before World War II, and later Totteridge Manor Association, which took over management of the surrounding common and woodland.

Today it consists of grass and woodland and has a series of old ponds, probably dug for gravel extraction. The largest is Long Pond in the centre used today by anglers, nearby the smaller, shaded Ellern Mede Pond, with Pink Cottage Pond to the west and Warren Pond and Burnham's Pond to the east. Trees include old oaks, horse-chestnuts and coppiced hornbeam, with more recent planting of ornamental trees. Houses of interest adjacent onto the common include The Lynch House of 1905 by T E Colcutt and Ellern Meade c1876-7 by Norman Shaw. An C18th house, The Paddocks, was the home of Baron Bunsen in 1848-9. To the north is Totteridge Park with an C18th walled garden.