1 86 LONDON PARKS & GARDENS 



with the view of arousing public attention to the subject. 

 As is often the case, some people ran to the opposite 

 extreme, and wished to transform the commons into 

 parks without giving compensation to the freeholders 

 and copyhold tenants, who thereby would lose consider- 

 able benefits. In some cases after the Metropolitan 

 Commons Act of 1866 was passed, the Lord of the 

 Manor, on behalf of all the freeholders, disputed the 

 right of the Metropolitan Board of Works to take 

 the land without compensation to the owners. The 

 lord of the manor was considered unreasonable by some 

 of the agitators for the transference of the common lands 

 to public bodies, but he was fighting the battle of all the 

 small owners. The freeholders in some cases were as 

 many as fifty for some 40 acres. Many of the commons 

 were Lammas Lands. The freeholders, of which there 

 were a large number, had the use of the land from the 

 6th of April until the I2th of August, and the copyhold 

 tenants of the manor had the right of grazing during 

 the remainder of the year. The number of cattle each 

 could graze was determined by the amount of rent they 

 paid, and the grazing was regulated by the " marsh 

 drivers," men elected annually by the courts of the 

 Manor for the purpose. A curious incident in connec- 

 tion with these rights happened on Hackney Downs in 

 1837. The season was late, and the steward of the 

 Manor put up a notice to the effect that as the free- 

 holders' crops were not gathered the grazing on the 

 Downs could not begin until the 25th, instead of the 

 usual 1 2th of August. The marshes and other common 

 lands in the parish were open, so there was actually plenty 

 of pasture available for those entitled to it. There was a 

 fine crop of wheat on some plots on the Downs, and on 



