CHAPTER VIII 
COMMONS AND OPEN SPACES 
’Tis very bad in man or woman 
To steal a goose from of the common , 
But who shall plead that man s excuse 
Who steals the common from the goose P 
—An Old Ditty. 
was only fifty years ago, when the 
want of fresh air and room for 
recreation was being realised, that 
people began to wake up to the 
truth that there were already great 
open spaces in London which ought 
to be cared for and preserved. It 
was brought home by the fact that 
over ^iooo an acre was being paid to purchase market- 
gardens or fields so as to transform them into parks, 
while at the same time land which already belonged to 
the people was being recklessly sold away and built over. 
All through the history of most of the common lands 
encroachments of a more or less serious nature are re¬ 
corded from time to time. The exercise of common 
rights also was often so unrestrained as to inflict permanent 
injury on the commons. The digging for gravel was 
frequently carried to excess, whins and brushwood were 
cut, and grass over-grazed until nothing remained. At 
last, in 1865, a Commons Preservation Society was formed 
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