WANDSWORTH COMMON. 101 
allowed to take 60 acres for the purpose of an Asylum 
and its grounds. What remains of the Common, in its 
trisected and shorn condition, is still of considerable 
value to the residents in the neighbourhood. When 
the Committee was formed to contest the views of Lord 
Spencer’s lawyers about Wimbledon, the attention of 
the Commoners of Wandsworth was directed to their 
legal position. 
In 1870, a Committee for the protection of the 
Common was formed, at the instance of Sir Henry Peek, 
who offered £1,000 if the inhabitants would collect 
£4,000 for a suit against the Lord of the Manor to 
determine the rights of the Commoners. A great part 
of the money was collected, but when the Wimbledon 
dispute was arranged, it was ascertained that Lord 
Spencer was disposed to make a similar arrangement 
about Wandsworth, and an agreement was soon come 
to with him. 
Under the Wandsworth Common Act, 1571, the 
Common was assigned to Conservators, elected by the 
Ratepayers of the Parish, in consideration of an annuity of 
£250, secured to Lord Spencer on the rates, based on his 
average income from the sale of gravel. The principle 
of Betterment referred to in the Wimbledon case was 
not adopted in the Wandsworth scheme. There arose, 
in consequence, an agitation among the ratepayers of that 
part of the parish which is remote from the Common, 
against the charge for its maintenance; and in 1887 
the Metropolitan Board of Works obtained legislative 
powers for relieving the Parish of the charge, and 
