The White Lion dates from 1700 or even earlier.
The original name for the White Lion was
The Dirt House. In 1712 a toolbooth was set up outside to pay for improvements to the High Road.
’Street manure’ (effluent from the streets and cesspits of London) was brought to Finchley to be used on the hay fields. The carters of the manure did not want to pay the extra cost of the toll so stopped at the inn. They would then return to London with hay.
By the 1830s railways made the High Road less important. The toll ceased in 1862 and the tollgate was removed in 1903.
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The White Lion dates from 1700 or even earlier.
