Mature IRotes : 
Zb e Selborne Society’s flftagastne 
No. 7. 
JULY 15, 1890. 
Vol. I. 
THE PRESERVATION AND ENJOYMENT OF 
OPEN SPACES. 
j HAVE been asked by the Editors to give some account 
ii of the work of the several Societies which have been 
I formed to secure to the public adequate means of 
' enjoying life in the open air. 
The oldest of these Societies is the Commons Preservation 
Society. This body was formed in the autumn of 1865, and 
was the direct outcome of the attacks which about that time 
threatened to deprive London of its commons. At Wimbledon, 
Lord Spencer had proposed to convert two-thirds of the common 
into a park, and to enclose the rest ; Epping Forest had, by 
gigantic enclosures, been cut down to little more than half its 
full size ; Epsom Common had been in danger of parliamentary 
enclosure. But these were mere instances of a danger threaten- 
ing all open land. Before the Committee of the House of 
Commons, which had held an enquiry on the subject of 
metropolitan open spaces, the lords of manors and their agents 
had claimed the right to enclose common land almost at 
will. Amongst those who were anxious to save the commons 
some were ready to take the lords at their word, and to embark 
upon costly schemes of purchase. On the other hand, many 
held — and the opinion had found advocates before the Committee 
— that the commons in the neighbourhood of London might be 
saved without spending a penny in purchase, if the commoners 
would only watchfully and energetically assert their rights. En- 
closure, it was said, could be prevented by litigation, if necessary; 
and good order could be insured by local management without 
injury to any legal rights. It was to advocate this view that the 
Commons Preservation Society was formed. Mr. Shaw Lefevre 
was the first Chairman of the Committee — a post he has held, 
