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Arkley is a village in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Barnet. It is located 10.6 miles (17.1 km) north-northwest of Charing Cross.
It consists of a long village strung out between Barnet and Stirling Corner, and composed of the ancient hamlets of Barnet Gate, Rowley Green and Arkley. At 482 feet (147 m) above sea level, Arkley is one of the highest points in London.
The origins of the name Arkley are unclear; it is first recorded as Arkleyslond in 1332. The first element of the name appears to come from the Old English word (e)arc (or ark, meaning a chest, bin or other wooden receptacle), while the second element is from leah, a woodland clearing or glade. –lond in the earlier name means "cultivated ground". The name Arkley would thus mean "woodland clearing by the ark or by the place where arks are made".
It is thought by some that Hendon Wood Lane was originally a minor Roman road. Certainly the name, "Grendel's Gate" (now Barnet Gate, and formerly known as "Grims Gate"), is associated with the monster from the Anglo-Saxon epic, Beowulf. This implies that the place was of modest importance as early as 1005. It may have been a centre of a small but significant community, founded on a woodland economy.
The area is later referred to in medieval documents as "Southhaw", and may have predated the settlement at Chipping Barnet. Certainly, Barnet manorial court was held here in the 13th century. From at least the early 19th century until the 1890s, Arkley was commonly known as "Barnet Common" or "West Barnet".
Prior to 1894, Arkley was part of the parish of Chipping Barnet. Under the Local Government Act 1894 parish and district councils were established, with new civil parishes created where the old parishes straddled the sanitary districts which formed the building blocks of the new districts. Chipping Barnet parish was therefore split into three separate civil parishes, with the part within Barnet Urban District retaining the Chipping Barnet name, the part within East Barnet Valley Urban District becoming Barnet Vale, and the rural part of the old parish becoming the civil parish of Arkley. The changes to parish boundaries took effect on 4 December 1894, ahead of the new district councils coming into being later that month. Arkley was part of Barnet Rural District. Arkley parish council formally came into office on 31 December 1894 and held its first meeting on 3 January 1895 at the village school in Arkley.
Arkley parish comprised the areas to the west and south of the town of Barnet, including areas such as Ducks Island and Underhill as well as Arkley village itself, which was on the north-western edge of the civil parish. After a boundary change in 1897 ceding some territory to Barnet Urban District, the civil parish of Arkley covered 830 acres (340 hectares). Arkley was absorbed into Barnet Urban District on 1 April 1905, at which point its parish council was dissolved and it was thereafter governed by Barnet Urban District Council. Whilst no longer having its own parish council, Arkley civil parish was not formally abolished until 1 April 1965, when Barnet Urban District was transferred from Hertfordshire to become part of the London Borough of Barnet in Greater London. Between 1901 and 1951 the population of the civil parish of Arkley rose from 483 to 7,536.
From 3 October 1940, Arkley became the home of the Radio Security Service. It was located in a large house, Arkley View off Arkley Lane. Its secret address was PO Box 25 Barnet. Other large houses in the area such as Rowley Lodge, the Lawns and Meadowbank were used as billets and as transmitting and receiving stations. Messages were intercepted from German spy networks and passed to Bletchley Park for decoding. Many local people worked first in Arkley and were then transferred to Bletchley Park.
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