REGULATION OF COMMONS. 323 



Tooting Graveney Commons, and Bostall Heath and 

 others, which are within the area of the London Council, 

 have been successively dealt with by regulating 

 schemes. In the case of Barnes Common, consisting of 

 120 acres of most charming scenery, the Dean and Chap- 

 ter of St. Paul's had been in the position of Lords of the 

 Manor for upwards of 1,000 years under a grant made 

 long before the Norman Conquest. They had always 

 treated the neighbourhood with consideration, and had 

 allowed the management of the Common to be in 

 the hands of a local Committee, supported by voluntary 

 contributions ; and this Committee had appointed a 

 Common keeper, and had expended money on improve- 

 ments. In 1870 it was thought expedient to legalise 

 this arrangement, by a scheme of regulation, placing 

 the Common under the conservancy of the Vestry. 

 The Ecclesiastical Commissioners, representing the 

 Chapter of St. Paul's, without insisting upon any pur- 

 chase of their rights, gave a ready assent to it. 



The case of Clapham Common was very similar. 

 The Manor of Clapham is mentioned in Domesday 

 Book as being in the possession of De Manneville. In 

 the time of King Stephen it was granted to Pharamus 

 de Bolonia, nephew of his wife Maud. The daughter 

 and heiress of Pharamus married De Fienes, who was 

 slain at Ascalon in the Holy Land in 1190. King 

 Eichard restored the Manor to the widow of De Fienes, 

 and empowered her to marry whom she liked. It then 

 passed through various hands till it became the property 

 of the Bowyer family. It appears that the Common, 

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