WHETSTONE is an ecclesiastical parish, formed Sep. 2, 1836, out of the parish of Finchley: it is on the high road from London to St. Albans, 8½ miles from London and 2 south from Barnet, with a station on the Great Northern railway to High Barnet, in the Northern Metropolitan postal district, Hornsey division of the county, Highgate petty sessional division, Barnet union and county court district, and in the rural deanery of Highgate, archdeaconry of Middlesex and diocese of London: the village consists of one wide street, extending along the Great North road, and in the civil parishes of Finchley and Friern Barnet. The church of St. John is an edifice of brick in the Early English and Perpendicular styles, consisting of chancel, with chantry and organ chamber, nave, north and south porches, and a turret on the western gable containing 1 bell: the chancel was added in 1879, when also the roof of the nave was vaulted and Early English windows inserted: in 1898 a new vestry was built and the chancel re-decorated at a cost of £260, in commemoration of Her Majesty’s Jubilee: the stained east window is a memorial to Joseph Baxendale, a chief promoter of the erection of this church, d. 24 March, 1872, and Mary Baxendale, d. 23 March, 1862; the west window was erected to Mrs. Passmore, d. 1881: there are 407 sittings. The register dates from the year 1833. The living is a vicarage, gross yearly value £300, with residence, in the gift of the Bishop of London, and held since 1880 by the Rev. Charles James Goody M.A. of Caius College, Cambridge. A vicarage house was completed in January, 1890, at a cost of about £2,000. The Woodside Home for Incurables (females only), late the residence of Alderman W. J. R. Cotton, lord mayor of London 1876, was formerly established at 10 Great Ormond street W.C. but transferred here about Oct. 1888: there are at present (1898) 56 patients: the Home is partly supported by voluntary contributions and partly by fees paid by the inmates: hon. chaplains, the Rev. C. J. Goody M.A. and the Rev. H. S. Miles M.A.; hon. medical attendant, Edwin Thomas Mosse Tunnicliffe M.R.C.S.Eng. The Working Men’s Institute, in Friern Barnet lane, established in 1892, consists of reading room and library, and has a billiard table. The population in 1891 was 2,522.

Col. Puget’s, Oakleigh road (girls & infants), erected in 1825; it is under the management of the vicar, & will hold 85 girls & 100 infants; average attendance, 60 girls' & 90 infants.

St. John’s National (mixed), erected in 1863, for 160 children; average attendance, 102.