IN AND ABOUT EPSOM 149 



terrible thing if we had no commons ! Of late a 

 power of land in the Epsom district has dis- 

 appeared, or been retired behind fencing of sorts 

 — acres and acres and acres, over which local folk 

 had roamed at will so long as memory of man 

 carries. But he takes who has the power, and 

 can keep while law is so expensive. 



I wonder how many who were at Epsom 

 Spring or Summer Meeting have any idea of the 

 extent of land over which the public is still per- 

 mitted the indulgence of ranging ; what the 

 acreage and mileage Is approximately, starting 

 from, we will say, the top of Reigate and Betch- 

 worth Hills, and following the line of the ranges 

 round to Box Hill over to Ranmore, along to 

 Guildford, and from there through Ripley and 

 Weybridge to the Thames, with return from 

 Walton-on-Thames by Banstead and Walton-on- 

 the- Heath. Practically you can take a line from 

 Betchworth to Oxshott and right away down to 

 Walton Bridge — say, fourteen miles — without 

 touching more than a scattered hamlet till you 

 get to Walton, and never be more than a trifle 

 over twenty miles from St Paul's Cathedral. Of 

 course, I am not saying that this is all common 

 land. It is open country, though, with a surpris- 

 ing percentage of it subject to some sort of 

 common rights, and that after wholesale stealing, 

 as In the case of Letherhead Common — say, the 

 best part of two square miles gobbled up in one 

 Act (of Parliament), and the wholesale looting 

 along Ermyn Street. It seems a downright 

 shame that all these beautiful pleasure-grounds 

 should be at citizens' convenience to use as they 

 please, and they not so much as know about, let 

 alone enjoy them. 



