Common land

[R-Bowskill]

I've noticed that the old myths about 'common land' crop up from time to time in threads.

All that it means if land is 'common land' is that some people hold rights in common. It might be hereditory rights or rights linked to a particular group and these are specific rights for specific people, not a free for all.

So there can be a common where people born in the parish have the right to collect firewood but someone born one yard into the next parish doesn't. If the common rights do not include taking game you can be prosecuted for 'going equipped' if you are caught with anything like a gun or snare on you so remember to check things out as ignorance is no defence.

 

[arctic hobo]

Is there such a thing? I thought the Enclosures Act put an end to it all :?:

 

[tomtom]

do you mean you can collect wood off anyones land in the parish.. or on public land like the village green?

 

[hootchi]

Must be similar to the fact that I can moor a boat in the river for free but someone from the next village needs to pay. :super:

 

[BorderReiver]

Is there such a thing? I thought the Enclosures Act put an end to it all :?:

Common land does belong to someone but villagers have certain rights to some usage of that land.Grazing and taking wood are two examples.

On our common land I can shoot (with a permit),graze animals(for a few£/year)and take wood(must be carried off the common i.e.no "commercial" scale wood cutting).

Each common has it's own rules.

 

[R-Bowskill]

Regarding what you can and cannot do it varies from case to case, Common rights are rights that are shared by a group rather than being exclusive to any individual. If you hold some common rights it is irrellevent whether the other rights to teh land are owned by a private person, the council, a company or the crown no matter what they do you have your rights.

So if you have a right at common to gather firewood on a particular piece of land and someone builds a woodyard there they could be in for a shock when they try making you pay. This has been used to stop one Japaneese company building an exclusive golf course when it was pointed out that the villagers would still be able to graze their sheep where the clubhouse was planned to be etc.

The most widespread common right is the right to fish from the foreshore which everyone has on the English coast, others are things like coppicing and grazing sheep hence the term "by hook or by crook" ):

 

[george]

As a crofting tenant I have a share in common grazing land that is held in common by all of the tenants in my township. This gives me the right to graze a certain number of animals, the number is known as a souming, and in my case is 25 sheep and 5 cows and followers. I can collect seaweed from the shore and peat from the hillside. 2 of the tenants at any one time can be elected to take ground game from the whole of the grazing. We can take deer that come on to the crofts but not from the grazings and only in very specific circumstances.

One of the most interesting things about the system in the crofting counties in scotland is that I can apply for an "apportionment" up to the total area of my share. This means that I could have an area of the common grazings (in my case the maximum share would be about 75 acres) set aside just for my use. Of course you need to have a very good reason and have the support of the rest of the tenants - but then in theory I would have a statutory right to buy the land for 15 times the annual rent. By definition the annual rent on a croft cannot exceed £100.

Of course things are a bit more complex than that but it's a pretty good system

george