REGULATION OF COMMONS. 315 



for 45,000 in lieu of 400,000, his original demand ; 

 in 1873 they bought the manorial rights over Tooting 

 Bee Common for 10,200. Two years later, the Board 

 purchased Mr. Thompson's interest in Tooting Grave ney 

 Common, which it has already been shown he had 

 been restrained from inclosing, for 3,000. The 

 acquisition appears to have been effected under com- 

 pulsory powers.* 



The first case of a scheme under the Act of 1866 

 was that relating to Hayes, a very beautiful Common 

 near Bromley in Kent, and within the Metropolitan 

 Police area. What is popularly known as Hayes 

 Common, is in fact partly in the Manor of Baston, 

 and partly in that of West Wickham ; the waste in the 

 former Manor being about 200 acres, and in the latter, 

 till within recent years, about 100 acres. These Com- 

 mons were not separated by any fence or defined 

 boundary. The Lord of both Manors was Sir John 

 Lennard. A short time before 1865 this gentleman 

 inclosed about fifty acres of West Wickham Common, 

 and disposed of them as sites for villas. There was 

 great fear in the district that he intended to deal in 

 the same way with the residue, consisting of a most 

 picturesque open space, with a grove of the oldest and 

 most beautiful oak trees to be found within twenty miles 

 of London. He was owner of nearly the whole of the 

 inclosed land in the Manor. Prima facie inquiries on 

 behalf of the Commons Society failed to discover any 



* The Metropolitan Board of Works (Various Powers Act), 

 1875. 



