ORIGIN OF COMMONS. 3 
recreation. They are reservoirs of fresh air and health, 
whence fresh breezes blow into the adjoining town. 
They bring home to the poorest something of the sense 
and beauty of nature. 
London has been exceptionally fortunate in this 
respect. Within fifteen miles of its centre there are no 
fewer than seventy-four such Commons, averaging 160 
acres, and 120 smaller spaces, averaging 10 acres—mak- 
ing, with Epping Forest, a total of about 19,000 acres. 
Some of these, such as Hampstead Heath, Blackheath, 
Clapham Common, and the Hackney Commons, are 
bordered by a dense population. Others at a greater dis- 
tance form almost a zone of open spaces, to which the 
suburban population is quickly tending. ‘Thus to the 
West of London we find Wimbledon, Wandsworth, 
Barnes, Tooting, and Ham Commons, which, together 
with the Royal parks of Richmond, Bushey, Hampton, 
and Kew Gardens, make an almost continuous range of 
open land, which can never be built on. On the South 
are Mitcham, Streatham, Chislehurst, Hayes, Plumstead, 
and Bostall Commons, and the wide ranges of open 
land on the Surrey Downs, such as Epsom, Banstead, 
and Coulsdon Commons. To the Hast of London there 
is the great urea of Epping Forest, of 6,000 acres, of 
which one-half has been rescued in recent years from 
those who had already inclosed and fenced it. The 
North of London is not so adequately provided with 
open spaces, and beyond Hampstead there is little but 
Stanmore and Tottenham Commons till we come to 
the Hertfordshire Commons, such as Berkhamsted, 
B 2 
