[1] The common is made up of mixed broadleaf woodland, scrubland and acid grassland and is generally flat.

[2] It is owned by the Dean and Chapter of St Paul's Cathedral, acting through the Church Commissioners,[2] and managed by the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, advised and assisted by the charity Barnes Common Limited (previously known as Friends of Barnes Common).

[1][2][4] Mill Hill is effectively an enclave of eleven large houses (three of them listed buildings), surrounded by the Common.

He was found unconscious in the wreckage of the purple Mini, which, driven by his girlfriend, Gloria Jones, failed to navigate a small humpback bridge, near Gipsy Lane on Queens Ride, Barnes, south-west London, lost control and struck a steel-reinforced chain link fence post, and he was pronounced dead at the scene on the arrival of paramedics near the post located in the woods.

[citation needed] Jones was critically injured but was conscious after the crash and survived it.