186 WIG LEY COMMON. 



entered upon the suit without any knowledge of it, and 

 simply upon the fact that the tenants of Cadnam had 

 in practice turned out their cattle on Wigley Common. 

 Wigley had in some way lost its name, and the waste 

 was described in the Ordnance Maps as Half Moon 

 Common. 



On the same day that the box was discovered, the 

 Solicitors of the Commons Society, employed by Mr. 

 Eyre, after vainly searching in the records of the Court 

 of Chancery under the title of Half Moon Common, 

 discovered under the title of Cadnam and Winsor a 

 reference which resulted in the finding of the original 

 decree in the Public Record Office. 



The decree was decisive on the point that the 

 tenants of Cadnam had rights over Wigley Common. 

 This could not be reopened. The only question in the 

 new suit was whether the land which Mr. Stanley in- 

 closed was part of the Wigley Common referred to in the 

 decree. The Defendant expended much time and money 

 in endeavouring to dispute this, but the decision of the 

 Court was against him, and judgment was pronounced 

 by Mr. Justice Field on August 8, 1882, in favour 

 of Mr. Briscoe Eyre, and confirming the tenants of 

 Cadnam in their rights of common over the waste 

 of Wigley Manor. 



The present conditions of the two Manors present some 

 interesting features. The Manor of Cadnam consists of 

 493 acres of cultivated land in seventeen holdings of 

 from three to sixty acres. Forty years ago there were 

 as many separate owners, of whom the great majority 



