BANS TE AD COMMONS. 189 



they form a range of open land of the utmost value to 

 London, the most bracing district within easy reach of 

 it, from which salubrious breezes reach the crowded 

 valley below, unaffected by any impurities. 



Banstead Down, the second in size of these four 

 Commons, lies immediately above the populous and 

 growing suburb of Sutton. Banstead Heath, the 

 largest, adjoins Walton Heath, which is in a separate 

 parish and manor. Between them lie the Park Down and 

 Burgh Heath the one a range of open land near to 

 the woods of Banstead Park, the other a small but 

 picturesque area, nearly covered with gorse and bracken. 

 The Parish of Banstead consists of 5,528 acres, and 

 is conterminous with the Manor of Banstead, and its 

 dependent Manors of North and South Tad worth, 

 Preston, Great Burgh, and Southmerfield. The earliest 

 mention of the Manor of Banstead is in Domesday 

 Book, which informs us that it was in the hands of 

 the Bishop of Bayeux, and held of him by the Earl of 

 Clare. It is probable that at some time in the reign 

 of Edward the Confessor, the whole Parish was held by 

 the King, and that subsequently it was divided into 

 the several Manors above described. 



The Manor of Banstead passed, in 1198, into the 

 hands of Mabel de Mowbray, wife of Nigel de Mow- 

 bray j and in 1223 into those of Hubert de Burgh, 

 Earl of Kent, who secured a grant of Free Warren 

 in Banstead from the King. In 1273 it reverted b}~ 

 exchange for other land to Edward I., and thence- 

 forward remained in the possession of his successors 



