THE WINTER OF DISCONTENT. 135 



some of these parishes. In one Parish Reading Room in 

 Surrey no Liberal newspaper was allowed, and in a 

 Sussex parish the clergyman gave his copy of The Times 

 but refused to let the Daily News be presented on the ground 

 that it was a " party organ." 



Many foot-bridges over streams have been erected by 

 Parish Councils, thus incontestably establishing for ever the 

 right of way. A number of Recreation Grounds have 

 been secured such as at Titchfield (Hants), Nacton (Suffolk), 

 Aldenham (Herts), Westbury (Wilts), Mayfield (Staffs), 

 Roade (Northants), Calverton (Notts), Bramcote (Notts), 

 Harrow Weald (Middlesex), Twyford (Berks), Aston Tirrold 

 (Berks), Wymondham (Norfolk), Clifton (Lanes), Naseby 

 (Northants), Barrowden (Rutland), Norton-under-Hamdon 

 (Somerset), Barford (Warwickshire), Northolt (Middlesex), 

 Aberffraw (Anglesey), Wittington (Worcestershire), Chigwell 

 (Essex), Pelsall (Staffs), Chulmleigh (Devon), Horndon-on- 

 the-Hill (Essex), Forest Row (East Sussex), Horsepath 

 (Oxfordshire), Wattisfield (West Suffolk), Ropley (Hants), 

 Burwell (Cambridgeshire), Willingham (Cambridgeshire), 

 Cuddesdon (Oxfordshire), Winterslow (Wilts), Caterham 

 (Surrey), Potton (Bedfordshire), Tiverton (Somerset), Will- 

 ingham (Cambridgeshire), South Normanton (Derbyshire), 

 Combe Martin (Devon), Aldenham (Herts), Frensham 

 (Surrey). 



Villagers who had strongly resented the closing of ancient 

 rights of way by landowners, and who had hitherto taken 

 the law into their own hands at the risk of heavy fines and 

 imprisonment, now found in the Parish Council a legal 

 weapon forged for their using. Obstructions which had 

 long eaten like sores into village life were either removed 

 by the writing of a polite letter, or were beaten down by 

 villagers who felt that at last they had the law on their 

 side. Sometimes the bolder spirits were made to suffer 

 for their zeal, for a stubborn landowner could still put up 

 a good fight and obtain damages, both moral and material, 

 in spite of the fact that obstruction had been proved. 



A friend of mine wrote an article at this time headed 

 " Thou shalt not Steal " directed against a landowner who 



