WIGLET COMMON. 187 



cultivated their own land. In the interval Mr. Briscoe 

 Eyre has himself, or through his father, acquired nine 

 of these holdings with 331 acres ; of the remainder, five 

 only are now owned by their occupiers. The holdings, 

 however, still remain small, and there cannot be a 

 doubt that the common rights attached to these small 

 holdings account largely for their continued existence. 

 If Mr. Sloane Stanley had succeeded in his inclosure, 

 these small holdings would have been rendered un- 

 profitable, and there would necessarily have followed a 

 consolidation of farms, and probably three or four large 

 farms would have superseded the small holdings. It is 

 quite certain, on the other hand, that but for Mr. 

 Briscoe Eyre and his fortuitous connection with the 

 Commons Society, the inclosures would not have been 

 abated, and Mr. Stanley would have succeeded in effect- 

 ing his purpose. Not one of the smaller holders would 

 have ventured to cope with him in the law courts. The 

 aggregation of lands in a single owner has been carried 

 even further in Wigley Manor. In 1840 there were 

 eleven distinct owners of land, tenants of the Manor ; 

 they have now all been merged in a single owner 

 Mr. Sloane Stanley. The two Manors well illustrate 

 the process of the gradual extinction of small owners 

 of land. That the small holdings have not been merged 

 in large farms has undoubtedly been owing to the 

 existence of the Commons. 



