BARKWAY (4 miles S.E. from Royston station, G.N.R.) was a village of some importance in the old coaching days, for it is on the main road from Ware to Cambridge.  It was partly burnt in 1592.  There are many quaint houses in the neighbourhood, and one or two inns seem to still retain something of the atmosphere of the old regime.  Near the village, at a spot called Rokey Wood, a small bronze statue of Mars was discovered some years ago.  It is of Roman workmanship and is now in the British Museum.  Cyclists riding northwards or eastwards from Barkway will find many hills to test their powers; but the air is exceptionally good and the district decidedly worth visiting.  The church (flint, with stone quoins) is Perp. with embattled and pinnacled western tower; it was restored in 1861.  Several memorials are worth noticing:  (1) marble sarcophagus, with bust by Rysbrach, to Admiral Sir John Jennings (d. 1743); (2) brass on N. wall, found in the flooring during restoration, to Robert Poynard (d. 1561), his wives Bridget and Joan, and his four daughters; (3) monuments to Chester and Clinton families in chancel.  The once annual Pedlars’ Fair has been discontinued; as has also the Tuesday market, which dated from the days of Henry III.  In Saxon times the village was called Bergwant, i.e., the way over the hill.

BARLEY, a village on the Essex border, is 2 miles N.E. from Barkway, and lies on the same high road.  The Church of St. Margaret was restored in 1872, in fourteenth century Gothic, but the tower, which is Norman, still stands.  During the restoration some curious jars, of ancient make, were found in the chancel walls, but were broken in the efforts to dislodge them.  There is a brass to Andrew Willet, D.D., rector of the parish and author of Synopsis Papismi (d. 1621).

Some interesting data for a book on the antiquities of Barley are preserved in the pre-Reformation “Parish Hutch”.  I may mention the “towne house ... tyme out of mynde used and employed for the keeping of maides’ marriages,” and the “Playstoe” or “common playinge place for the younge people and other inhabitants of the said towne”.  This “towne house” may still be seen near the church.

Barleycroft End is S.E. from Furneaux Pelham (q.v.).  It almost adjoins that village.

BARNET, EAST (1/2 mile from Oakleigh Park Station, G.N.R.) is surrounded by Middlesex except to the N.W. where it adjoins New Barnet.  The old village is situated at the meeting of the roads from High Barnet, Southgate and Enfield.  The Church of St. Mary the Virgin is very interesting; it stands on the hill-top, at a sharp bend in the road, about 1/2 mile S. from the village.  It is said to have been founded about the year 1100 by an abbot of St. Albans; if this date is approximately correct this abbot must have been Richard d’Aubeny or de Albini, who ruled the great monastery from 1097 to 1119, and in whose day the whole manor (including Chipping or High Barnet)