FINCHLEY  , an

urban district in the Hornsey parliamentary division of Middlesex, England, 7 M . N.W. of St Paul's cathedral, London, on a branch of the Great Northern railway . Pop . (1891) 16,647; (1901) 22,126 . A part, adjoining Highgate on the north, lies at an elevation between 30o and 40o ft., while a portion ip the Church End district lies lower, in the valley of the Dollis Brook . The pleasant, healthy situation has caused Finchley to become a populous residential district . Finchley Common was formerly one of the most notorious resorts of highwaymen near London; the Great North Road crossed it, and it was a haunt of Dick Turpin and Jack Sheppard, and was still dangerous to cross at night at the close of the 18th century . Sheppard was captured in this neighbourhood in 1724 . The Common has not been preserved from the builder . In 1660 George Monk, marching on London immediately before the Restoration, made his camp on the Common, and in 1745 a regular and volunteer force encamped here, prepared to resist the Pretender, who was at Derby .