84 TOOTING COMMON. 



by asking a very moderate price for this most important 

 addition. 



TOOTING GRAVENEY. 



The suit respecting Tooting Graveney Common was 

 not dissimilar to that of Plumstead as regards its legal 

 aspects and conclusion. The Common is a comparatively 

 small but important open space, in the neighbourhood of 

 Tooting, of (53 acres, and adjoining Tooting Bee Com- 

 mon. The Manor of Tooting Graveney is mentioned 

 in Domesday Book as being held of the Crown by the 

 Abbey of Chertsey. It remained in possession of 

 the Monastery until the thirtieth year of Henry VIII. 

 Some years later it was granted to Sir John Maynard, 

 and then passed through numerous hands by purchase, 

 till 1801, when it was sold to Mr. W. S. Thompson, a 

 gentleman residing in the district, for the sum of 3,G50. 

 The purchase included seven Copyhold messuages, which 

 were let at a rental of 100. The proportion, there- 

 fore, of the purchase money given for the Manorial 

 rights and waste could not have been much over 1,000 : 

 a very small sum as compared with the value of the 

 waste as a freehold, if it could be treated as such by 

 the purchaser. 



It was alleged in the course of the suit that, when 

 the Manor was advertised for sale, there was a strong 

 feeling among the residents in the neighbourhood of 

 the Common, that it should be purchased in the public 

 interests, in order to prevent any attempt at inclosure, 

 and several gentlemen were prepared to subscribe with 



