
                    **********************************
                          PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE 
                    RECORDS INFORMATION Leaflet No: 95
                    **********************************

  [Note: this and all other PRO Records Information leaflets are (c)
  Crown Copyright, but may be freely reproduced except for sale or
  advertising purposes.  Copies should always include this Copyright
  notice -- please respect this.]   (c) Crown Copyright, July 1992.

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                              COMMON LANDS


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 to  be found in the PRO.  A separate PRO leaflet about private
conveyances is available (Records Information 48).

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.


REGULATION OF COMMONS

A long succession of Acts of Parliament governed the regulation of commons.
 The most important of these are:

  - Metropolitan Commons Acts 1866-98: schemes of regulation in MAF 4
  - Commons Acts 1876 and 1899: schemes of regulation in MAF 30

                                  HLG 65 (after 2 February 1959)

                                  BD 3 (Wales after 1964)

  - Corporation of London (Open Spaces) Act 1878: bye-laws in WORK 16

  - Commonable Rights Compensation Act 1882: records in MAF 2

  - Law of Property Act 1925: declarations and limitations in MAF 3

                                     HLG 59 (after 2 February 1959)

                                     BD 1 (Wales after 1965)

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.



OTHER SOURCES OF INFORMATION ABOUT COMMONS

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 enclosures is available (Records Information
40).

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: to be seen only at PRO, Chancery Lane).

Official notices of intent to regulate, register, etc. were usually
published in the local press and the London Gazette.  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).

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The records described in this leaflet can be seen only at the PRO, Kew,
with the exception of TS 18 which can be seen only at the PRO, Chancery
Lane.

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  Public Record Office, Chancery Lane, London WC2A 1LR.
  Public Record Office, Ruskin Avenue, Kew, Richmond, Surrey, TW9 4DU.
  Tel: +44 (0) 181 876-3444

  Opening hours: 9.30am - 5.00pm, Monday to Friday. Closed on public
  holidays and for annual Stocktaking (normally the first two full weeks
  in October). 

  Admission is by reader's ticket which will be issued on production of
  proof of identity, such as a (UK) driving licence or passport.
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