There are records dating back to the twelfth century of a small hermitage chapel at the top of Highgate Hill.

[2] It closed in 1539 during the dissolution of monasteries and was acquired by Sir Roger Cholmeley, who used the site for his new school with permission from Elizabeth I in 1565.

[2] On the site of the derelict Ashhurst House (demolished 1830) with support from the school governors, St Michael's Church was built over eleven months, designed in the Neo-Gothic style by Lewis Vulliamy at the relatively inexpensive cost of £8,171.

It went unused for ninth months due to a peculiar legal issue regarding its location on land from the Parish of St Pancras.

[8] Edmund Grindal and Sir Roger Cholmeley's coats of arms are carved into the West door's corbels.