REGULATION OF COMMONS. 319 



perhaps more important to the health and enjoyment 

 of the people of their district than any others in London. 

 They are in the centre of a dense population, very in- 

 adequately supplied with open spaces and breathing- 

 places. They are worn almost bare by the constant 

 use of the public for games. None of these spaces are 

 Commons in the ordinary sense of the term. They 

 are commonable lands, or common fields, survivals of 

 the early system of communal tenure, referred to early 

 in this work. They used to be inclosed during a part 

 of the year, to be held in severalty by divers owners for 

 the haying season, and to be thrown open to the cattle 

 of all on Lammas day. This closing of the land in 

 severalty had long fallen into disuse, in the case of 

 Hackney Downs and London Fields, and no cattle 

 were ever turned out there. The custom of shutting 

 up for severalty was continued in the Hackney Marshes 

 till recently. Mr. Tyssen Amherst, now Lord Amherst 

 of Hackney, the owner of a great property in the dis- 

 trict, which has of late years become most valuable 

 for building purposes, is the Lord of the Manor of 

 Hackney. His interest in these Commons, having 

 regard to the rights in severalty of the tenants of his 

 Manor, must have been very small. 



In 1872, the Inclosure Commissioners approved of a 

 scheme for the regulation of Hackney Downs and 

 London Fields, not including the Marshes. The Lord 

 of the Manor, in spite of his great interest in the 

 district, and comparatively small interest in the 

 Common Fields, did not consent to it, though he 



