It is a popular misconception that common land is land owned by the general public and to which everyone has unrestricted right of access. All common land is private property, whether the owner is an individual or a corporation. The owner of the common is normally the lord of the manor or his successor in title. Many commons are, in fact, owned by local authorities, the National Trust and other bodies for the public benefit, but not all commons offer total access to all comers.
'Common' in this context refers, strictly speaking, to rights rather than to lands. Common land is land subject to rights of common i.e. rights enjoyed by one or more persons to take or use part of a piece of land or of the produce of a piece of land which is owned by someone else. Such rights are separately defined in each case. Those entitled to exercise them were called commoners. Sometimes commoners sold or otherwise disposed of their rights. Such transactions were usually private agreements and as such are not usually to be found in the PRO. A separate PRO leaflet about
Ancient rights of common were usually of five kinds, although there were others:
- of pasture: the right to graze livestock; the animals permitted, whether sheep, horses, cattle, etc, were specified in each case.
- of estovers: the right to cut and take wood (but not timber), reeds, heather, bracken, etc.
- of turbary: the right to dig turf or peat for fuel.
- in the soil: the right to take sand, gravel, stone, coal, minerals, etc.
- of piscary: the right to take fish from ponds, streams, etc.
These rights related to natural produce, not to crops or commercial exploitation of the land. They were almost always subject to limitations as to quantities (usually enough for the domestic needs of the commoner) and sometimes as to season (e.g. not during game-breeding periods). In modern times, rights have been defined in terms of intangibles such as access to light, air, recreation, etc.
A long succession of Acts of Parliament governed the regulation of commons. The most important of these are:
There were also numerous local Acts.
The resultant confusion led in 1955 to the setting up of a Royal Commission on Common Lands. The records of the Commission are in MAF 96. The Commission's Report led to the Commons Registration Act 1965 which provided for the registration of common land and of town and village greens. The registers were to be maintained by county councils. Registration began on 2 January 1967. The Commons Registration (Time Limits) Order 1966 provided that registration should take place by 31 March 1970; this was extended by an Amendment Order to 31 July 1970. These registers are now normally in local record offices.
Many commons were defined or affected by enclosure awards. In this connection, statements of claims, valuers' awards, etc. are in MAF 24. A separate PRO leaflet about
Several returns of common lands were made for Parliament. The most important of these was the so-called Common Lands Census of 1873-4 which was published as House of Commons Sessional Papers 1874 lii 383. Earlier, a return of commons within a 25-mile radius of central London had been published as House of Commons Sessional Papers 1865 xlvii 757. The original returns submitted for the latter survey are among the records of the Ordnance Survey (OS 25). The maps annexed to these returns are very fragile and will not be available until conservation work has been carried out.
The principal class of registered files relating to commons is MAF 25; many of these files include accounts of the history of particular commons, draft orders, maps, etc. Files about general policy affecting commons are in MAF 48. The records of Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Divisional Offices (MAF 145-149, 157-182) may also include files about commons.
The records of the Forestry Commission include many references to common lands in forests. A particularly informative class is F2: plans of lands in the New Forest entitled to common rights, as designated by the New Forest Act 1949.
Some papers about commons are among the records of the Treasury Solicitor (TS 18).
Official notices of intent to regulate, register, etc. were usually published in the local press and the London Gazette (ZJ 1). Earlier reports on applications, certain special reports on the regulation or enclosure of commons, and Bills to confirm Provisional Orders and Schemes, have been published for Parliament.
The 1965 Act gave the Lord Chancellor the power to appoint Commons Commissioners with arbitration functions:
Commons Commission
Golden Cross House
Duncannon Street
London WC2.
The principal pressure group and dispenser of general advice on the subject is:
Commons, Open Spaces & Footpaths Preservation Society
25a Bell Street
Henley-on-Thames
Oxon.
A useful general book on the subject is Dudley Stamp & W G Hoskins, The Common Lands of England and Wales (London, Collins, 1963).