A Brief history of the commons

Chislehurst and St Paul's Cray Commons form a significant part of the metropolitan commons, those lands which surround the London conurbation and, by virtue of their historical status as common land, have remained free from encroachment and now exist largely to provide green spaces for local communities. In the past such areas were woodland or open land over which commoners ¾ that is, local residents ¾ exercised certain rights, including the collection of firewood, the harvesting of fruits and berries, the collection of feed and animal bedding material and the grazing of livestock.

With increasing urbanisation and the demand for housing in the nineteenth century many commons suffered from the problem of encroachment, where common land was sold by its owners for housing development, or alternatively, as these areas are often found on low-productivity soils, overlying such geology as the Blackheath beds, gravel extraction was conducted, sometimes in a piecemeal fashion. Our own commons suffered in these ways, although the two larger ponds must be considered a positive inheritance from gravel extraction.

The 1888 Act

Many commons were saved from further encroachment by a variety of efforts and now exist as very valuable open land within the overall London/South East conurbation. The Metropolitan Commons Act of 1866 was passed in order to facilitate the control of digging for gravel and other forms of spoliation, assigning management responsibilities to boards of conservators. This Act did not apply directly to our local commons and so a group of prominent residents formed the Chislehurst and St Paul's Cray Commons Preservation Society and finally achieved the passage of the Metropolitan Commons (Chislehurst and St Paul's Cray) Supplemental Act in 1888 and it is this Act, together with its attached scheme of management, which continues to regulate the management of the Commons.

Although the Commons are in private ownership, under the terms of the 1888 Act, responsibility for their management, in perpetuity, resides with a Board of Conservators, now known as the Trustees of the Commons.

The Lord of the Manor

Chislehurst and St Paul's Cray Commons are associated with the Manor of Chislehurst and the Manor of Scadbury and St Paul's Cray, both having been in single ownership since the sixteenth century. Whilst the Trustees do not own the freehold to the Commons, they are required, in the words of the 1888 Act, to “preserve the turf, shrubs, trees, plants and grass” and to carry out “any work necessary for the proper cleansing of the ponds.” The freehold owner is under no obligation to assist with the financing of the Trustees and has not done so in modern times. On the contrary, the Lord of the Manor has an interest in exploiting the Commons, which is often at odds with the Trustees' duties and aims. The local authority also has no legal obligation to support the Trustees financially – although the former Chislehurst and Sidcup Urban District Council levied a precept in its rate demands specifically for the up-keep of the Commons – but has traditionally done so. The Board of Trustees is a registered charity and receives at present about half of its revenue from the London Borough of Bromley, raising the rest from grants and from donations from local residents.

Ownership of the Manor of Chislehurst can be traced back to 974 and the adjacent Manors of Chislehurst and Scadbury came under the single ownership of the Walsingham family in the 16 th century. The Walsinghams also held land in the nearby parish of St Paul's Cray.

There are records from the mid-18 th century showing that the local vestries of St Paul's Cray and Chislehurst exercised some control over enclosures on the local commons, giving their consent in return for a payment, in addition to any rent due to the Lord of the Manor. In 1785 the Chislehurst vestry took exception to a request from Lord Camden (then Lord of the Manor) to extend the ground in front of his house, “there having already been enclosed within the pales of the Right Honourable the Lord Camden sundry parcels of land theretofore parts of the Common of Chislehurst.” The Lord Camden sent an apologetic message to the following vestry meeting, saying that “Lord Camden never meant to make any enclosure without their full and free consent.” (E A Webb, G W Miller and J Beckwith, The History of Chislehurst, 1899).

The minutes of vestry meetings of St Nicholas' Church during the 18 th century record various transactions allowing the enclosure of parcels of land by members of the local gentry on payment of annual rents to the Lord of the Manor and to the churchwardens for use for charitable purposes, such as supporting the poor of the parish. It was recognised by the Lord of the Manor of that time that such enclosures could be refused by the vestry. Thus the Lord of the Manor and the vestry exercised a kind of “concurrent jurisdiction” in respect of enclosures. This changed with the 1888 Act, which gave the Conservators greater powers to prevent enclosures, and their hand was further strengthened by the Law of Commons Amendment Act of 1893, which stopped any enclosure by private individuals without the express authority of an act of Parliament.

The Commons of yesteryear

The History of Chislehurst records that there were many fires on the Commons, a major one occurring in the autumn of 1870. It broke out on St Paul's Cray Common, near the present Leesons Hill junction. “The growth of the common then consisted principally of heather, and, owing to there being a considerable depth of peat, the fire extended beneath the surface and continued burning for nearly a fortnight, making its way westwards towards the upper end of the Common …. Some time afterwards an abundant growth of young birch trees arose over the whole area of the fire, completely altering the face of the common. These became in course of time a thick wood, and have survived a good deal of thinning. A quantity of under-wood, as well as oak and birch trees, with stretches of heather and some furze, fortunately still remain upon St Paul's Cray Common.”

Chislehurst Common of the 1870's is described in The History as “an expanse of gorse or furze interspersed with hawthorn and blackthorn trees, and with bracken and blackberry bushes, but the numerous fires which have taken place have been followed, as in the case of St Paul's Cray Common, by a growth of birch trees, although in less marked degree …. Among its most charming features in spring and early summer are the still (this was written in perhaps 1897 or 1898) extensive stretches of golden furze blossom, the number of hawthorn trees in full bloom, and the quantity of wild rose bushes ….”. There was then a mouth-watering flora, including marsh marigold, milkwort, Deptford pink (which was still present in post-2 nd World War years), bladder campion, ragged robin, six species of Hypericum, broom, sundew, dodder and several species of orchid. Nevertheless, the author lamented the loss of rarer wild flowers and ferns, previously recorded, which he ascribed to the relentless approach of the London suburbs and the growing local population. Mammals recorded on the Commons, or within a radius of two miles, included several bat species, mole, shrew, weasel, stoat, dormouse, water vole, rabbit, hare and red squirrel. We still have bats and shrews and there are moles in fields immediately adjacent to the Commons and rabbits come in from Scadbury, but the other mammals are long gone.

The evidence is that, until around the turn of the last century, grazing rights continued to be exercised on Chislehurst and St Paul's Cray Commons and this served as a form of management which kept the ground largely open, with far fewer mature trees than at present and certainly without the dense undergrowth and scrub which have encroached on many areas over the past few decades. In times past, as agricultural circumstances would have varied from season to season, the intensity of grazing and the types of livestock would have varied.. This would have produced, within the broadly grassland and heathland habitats, a variety of vegetation heights and species composition that would have added to the overall diversity of the Commons.

The statutory duties of the Trustees, as with all similar bodies of conservators, concentrate on three main areas. Firstly, of key importance, is the protection of the commons' boundaries and the prevention of encroachment, road-widening, enclosures and erection of buildings. Secondly, there is the right and the duty to regulate the behaviour of the public on the commons by drawing up and enforcing byelaws which seek to prevent the dumping of rubbish, taking vehicles on the commons, lighting fires and other nuisances. Thirdly, there is the responsibility for the conservation and enhancement of important habitats.

Whilst it is largely true that, in the past, the work of commons conservators was dominated by the prevention of encroachment and the maintenance of the commons as amenities for public recreation and enjoyment, with the continued decline of natural and semi-natural environments elsewhere, habitat protection and wildlife conservation have become increasingly important priorities. Acts of Parliament in recent times have laid more responsibilities on managers for the protection and enhancement of common lands and other natural sites. Agricultural policies are increasingly bringing farmers under the same broad umbrella. With increasing population density in Bromley and the whole of the south east of England it is all the more important to protect and maintain our local Commons both as “lungs” for humans and sanctuaries for wildlife.