It is certain that it had been built by Michaelmas 1276 because a court roll entry refers to ‘an obstruction on the road leading to the church of Barnet and the market’.

It was reported at the time, “This unpleasant construction absorbed, it is believed, the larger part of subscriptions destined to the general improvement of the edifice.”Clearly it was not met by unanimous praise but it was built in a year.

Although the tower is only fifty feet high, because of the church's position on the hill top it can be seen from a very long way, often surmounted by a flag blowing in the breeze.

[2] In 1849, G. E. Street, the architect of the Law Courts in the Strand, undertook some minor alterations in the church and uncovered a medieval piscina and some patterned wall paintings.

In 1875 the painted window of the Annunciation was placed in the west end of the north aisle to commemorate the foundation of the church by the abbey.

The present gallery was completed for the choir and it also housed a barrel organ which had been given by Sir Simon Haughton Clarke, 9th Baronet fifty years previously.

It is a replica of a 12th-century Byzantine ‘Christus Rex’, the earliest form of crucifix showing Christ crowned as King and enthroned on the cross.

The small niche in the north wall usually holds a statue of St Benedict who founded the Benedictine order.

On the floor to the south side of the chancel, under the Bishop's Chair, there is an empty space where a brass bearing the Berkeley family crest was once positioned.

On the window ledge on the north side is a statue brought back from the shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham in Norfolk.

Hanging above the chancel space is a wrought iron Corona (crown) installed in 2000 and symbolising the kingship of Christ.

[6] The east window was added as part of the extension of the chancel in 1880 and from left to right tells the story of the Annunciation, when the archangel Gabriel informs the young Mary that she is to be the mother of Jesus, and the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Christ.

In keeping with the dedication of the church to Saint Mary the Virgin, only she is pictured in every scene, dressed in a blue robe.

[6] The South Aisle Window is the memorial to the men and women of St Mary's congregation who fell during the Second World War (the village memorial is outside Brookside Methodist Church), and the lower panels bear their names and the insignia of the Army, Navy and Air Force.

[6] The organ was installed in 1920, the gift of the Vernon family in memory of their only son, killed in action during the First World War.