BE11KHAMSTED COMMON. 61 



respect of an immemorial user which they were about 

 to terminate, they offered to present to the people of 

 Berkhamsted a plot of land, of forty-three acres, 

 near to the town, as a recreation ground, conditionally 

 upon the Commoners, whose rights of common he 

 acknowledged, agreeing to surrender them. A deed 

 of gift of this land to Trustees, for the benefit of 

 the town, was prepared by Lord Brownlow, and de- 

 posited as an escrow, by which, if. within six months, 

 a release of common rights should be so fully executed 

 that, in the opinion of his legal adviser, the Common 

 would be freed from all such rights, the deed would be 

 delivered to the Trustees therein named on behalf of 

 the town. Some of the Commoners interested were 

 induced to fall in with this arrangement, and thirty- 

 seven freehold tenants and seven copyhold tenants, 

 out of a much larger and undetermined number, 

 signed the deed releasing the Common from their 

 rights. 



Before, however, the termination of the six months 

 provided for in the escrow, the Trustees, apparently 

 impatient of delay, proceeded to effect an inclosure on a 

 great scale. In February, 1866, the agent of the 

 estate erected iron fences five feet in height, with seven 

 horizontal rails, in two lines, across the centre of the 

 Common, inclosing 434 acres of it, and dividing the 

 residue into two completely detached portions. These 

 fences contained no openings ; they were erected with- 

 out regard to any public rights of way, and entirely 

 intercepted the public from access across the Common 



