Following the nomadic period and ignoring the Roman conquest, people were beginning to settle in tribal territories. This was the family kinship system much as the Clans in Scotland. Boundaries were jealously guarded.

The tribal system became modified by King Offa who appears to have introduced the Feudal organisation. When King William conquered England, all lands were deemed to be under the ownership of the King.

For many subsequent years, the land has been distributed among members and associates of the king’s family. Much of the land was distributed through the seigniorial manors that became borough towns. Other lands were further descended to the Church and for military purposes. During the Monastic period, vast allotments of land came under the jurisdiction of the Church.

Further complexities occurred with the distribution (selling off) of the monastery lands. In the cases of lands owned by the old borough corporations, we must firstly consider the ‘Inclosure’ Acts. Many Local Acts* were created in the 19^th century to release heritage lands in return for payment or for alternative land.

The municipal reforms removed traditional obstacles to housing development and freed the lands for government by the new local authorities. In most cases Chartered control had been superseded by local law.

NB. The 1835 Act allowed the ‘freehold’ of town land to pass into the new Council authorities, however, the free burgesses (Freemen) were ‘entitled’ to the surface grazing/herbage of their historic ‘Common Lands’.

This dichotomy, in many cases has caused confusion among freemen’s associations, who misunderstand the ‘ownership’ of their lands. In the majority of cases the freemen (affected by the First WW and the economics of the time) accepted settlement sums and invested in stocks and shares. This brought an end to any further freemen’s ownership of the land,

The outcome, in other cases has been that the Councils, as ‘proprietors’ (by ownership of the freehold) took control of the general maintenance of the town lands. However, where the Freemen put their property grazing rights under Trust, the property then became ‘vested’ under the ownership of the Charity Commission. The Trustees being made up from representatives of the Council and the Freemen.

NB. All such lands have subsequently been ‘opened’ to the general public for quiet recreation by the (CRoW Act) Countryside and Rights of Way Act, 2000.

NOTES

The town lands in the majority of cases began life as ‘waste of the manor’ and often subject to flooding in winter. In some places they may have multiplied in size over the ages, through gift or compensation for other land. *Land subject to Parliamentary Acts* has strong protection from development. However, they may become subject to governmental statutory development. Just as the CRoW Act overruled the privacy of the open countryside.

Alan Shelley, 14/07/2024