Water Meadows at Stamford, Lincolnshire
Unimproved pasture, flood meadows of the River Welland Ancient open common lands at Stamford were once freely grazed by the privileged ‘Freemen’ of Stamford. The rights to graze over the lands created restrictions to town development and were, as in Sudbury for example, a cause of political unrest. The 1835 Municipal Corporations Act brought many changes to the old ‘open fields’ operations along with the town government. By a Parliamentary, Enclosure Act, 1871 the meadow lands were divided between the…