The area is later referred to in medieval documents as "Southhaw", and may have predated the settlement at Chipping Barnet.

The changes to parish boundaries took effect on 4 December 1894, ahead of the new district councils coming into being later that month.

After a boundary change in 1897 ceding some territory to Barnet Urban District, the civil parish of Arkley covered 830 acres (340 hectares).

Other large houses in the area such as Rowley Lodge, the Lawns and Meadowbank were used as billets and as transmitting and receiving stations.

[5] Messages were intercepted from German spy networks and passed to Bletchley Park for decoding.

[6] St Peter’s Church, which was designed by George Beckett, was built in 1840 as a private chapel at a cost of £5,000.

After Durant's death the advowson was transferred to the rector of Barnet, and an ecclesiastical parish was formed in 1905.

During the 1950s, a 13th-century kiln at Dyke Cottage was excavated, revealing a large cooking pot, and 19th-century Ordnance Survey maps mark a "Tile Works".

In the 1970s, John Britten produced a small racing car named the "Arkley" in the area.

On 29 November 1975, a Piper PA-23 Aztec aircraft piloted by retired Formula One racing driver Graham Hill crashed on the golf course, resulting in the death of all six people on board.