COULSDON COMMONS. 175 



The Court Eolls are extant from the year 1359, and 

 are in Latin, with the usual break for the Common- 

 wealth, till 1732. There is an entry in these Eolls 

 for the year 1359, showing the dependent state of the 

 labouring people of the Manor. It records the payment 

 of a fine, apparently by a free tenant, for marrying 

 without leave the relict of Adam King, a born bonds- 

 man of the Lord of the Manor. Later, in 1363, there 

 is an entry of an order given to seize a tene- 

 ment into the lord's hands, because it had been 

 acquired by a born bondsman of the lord, without his 

 leave. 



In 1762, a careful survey of the Manor showed 

 that the waste lands then amounted to 551 acres. Since 

 then, Hartley Down, consisting of 150 acres, appears 

 to have been inclosed and appropriated by the Lord 

 of the Manor. Mr. Byron, after failing to induce 

 the Inclosure Commissioners to take proceedings for the 

 inclosure of the remaining Commons, entered into 

 communication with the principal landowners of the 

 Manor, with the object of obtaining their concurrence 

 to an inclosure without the sanction of Parliament. 

 He encountered strong opposition to this course from 

 some of the Commoners, including the Messrs. Hall, 

 who subsequently undertook the suit against him. 

 He found some willing confederates in other quarters. 

 He then broached the idea that the Commons, instead 

 of being all parts of the waste of the same Manor, 

 where all the Commoners had the right of turning out 

 cattle equally upon every part of them, were separate in 



