GOLFERS AND COMMON LAND. 
69 
enjoy it to the detriment of the many. In such spaces as Sud- 
brook Park, and the Old Deer Park in the west, which are 
almost entirely pasturage land in private occupation, though 
Crown property, the public are in no ways prejudiced. 
But the matter is placed on a different footing in such cases 
as Blackheath and Wimbledon Common, on both of which large 
clubs use public ground. A blow from the small solid ball used, 
driven with all the force of which athletes are capable, may 
produce serious, if not fatal, results, and the Blackheath clubs 
pay no inconsiderable toll to the local authorities in payment 
for broken glass and burners in the wayside lamps. That 
numerous accidents do not occur is due to the sympathy which 
is felt for most forms of sport, the public preferring to avoid such 
spots rather than risk injury. This exclusive use of open spaces 
is unjust to the public as a whole. Take the case of Wimbledon 
Common. The beautiful ravines which run down to Beverly 
Brook, being swept by the bullets of riflemen practising at the 
butts, are inaccessible spots. By some influence the open 
plateau above has been given over to golfers, so that between 
the two a large moiety of the common has been wrested from 
general use. It may freely be conceded that there is little risk of 
injury to the onlooker intent on watching the game and evading 
the balls. But our commons and heaths are the resort of 
classes not devoted to playing and watching games of skill. To 
the student of nature, the contemplative abstracted man, as well 
as to the nervous and shortsighted, the occupancy of the ground 
by golfers is a direct loss. The public ways, both in town and 
country, are scourged by the cyclist, and now the commons are 
being given over to the golfer ! Will there shortly be one spot 
outside his own garden — if he is fortunate enough to possess one 
— -where the quiet man of gentle tastes can enjoy his walks 
without needless excursions and alarms ? 
One of the latest invasions of the golfer has led to this pro- 
test. Sheen Common is a furze and bracken-covered, roughly 
triangular piece of land, of limited extent, lying between Rich- 
mond Hill and East Sheen, with its base against the walls of 
the park. At its apex are the remains of an avenue of stately 
elms. Enclosed on all sides by orchards or the park, no roads 
for wheeled traffic cross it, or even impinge on it. Foot- 
paths traverse it in all directions, across and around, winding 
among the furze and bracken, making it an ideal resort for 
children and the lovers of quiet. Gently sloping upwards to- 
wards the park, to which a broad grassy road leads — formerly 
the approach of royalty when Richmond \vas really a royal 
borough — its upper parts command an extensive view, sweeping 
over the Thames Valley to Harrow and beyond. 
Some years ago the manorial rights passed into the hands 
of a syndicate of gentlemen living at Sheen. To recover the 
cost of the transfer, considerable mutilation of the surface, due 
