WIMBLEDON COMMON. 93 



hold and copyhold tenants. Besides the Rolls, there 

 is a record of the Customs of the Lordship of Wimble- 

 don, taken from the Black Book of Canterbury an 

 early record of Archiepiscopal Manors, apparently 

 made at a time when Wimbledon belonged to the See 

 of Canterbury, and also a Parliamentary surv r ey of the 

 Manor made in 1G49. The earlier Court Rolls abound 

 with orders and regulations respecting the rights of 

 cutting wood and furze. Till within the last seventy 

 years, there were a great number of oak pollards on 

 the Common, which afforded fuel for the inhabitants in 

 the winter months. During the summer the wood 

 was not allowed to be taken ; but it was usual for the 

 Parish Beadle to go round every year at Michaelmas 

 with his bell, and " cry the Common open." He went 

 round again at Lady Day to " cry it shut." 



The pollards were cut down and sold, in 1812, by 

 the grandfather of the present owner, and the only wood 

 which remained upon the Common in 1864 was a little 

 brushwood near the Warren Farm ; and there were some 

 picturesque groups of bushes and hollies. But within 

 recent times the poor of the parish w T ere allowed to cut 

 furze in the winter. The free and copyhold tenants 

 of the Manor had the usual rights of turning out 

 cattle on the Common, and at one time there were 

 gates on the roads leading to it, to prevent cattle 

 from straying. 



The Homage appear to have appointed surveyors of 

 the woods, gravel-diggers, and Common keepers. They 

 also made bye-laws, and prosecuted offenders for tres- 



