186 LONDON PARKS & GARDENS 
with the view of arousing public attention to the subject. 
As is often the case, some people ran to the opposite 
extreme, and wished to transform the commons into 
parks without giving compensation to the freeholders 
and copyhold tenants, who thereby would lose consider¬ 
able benefits. In some cases after the Metropolitan 
Commons Act of 1866 was passed, the Lord of the 
Manor, on behalf of all the freeholders, disputed the 
right of the Metropolitan Board of Works to take 
the land without compensation to the owners. The 
lord of the manor was considered unreasonable by some 
of the agitators for the transference of the common lands 
to public bodies, but he was fighting the battle of all the 
small owners. The freeholders in some cases were as 
many as fifty for some 40 acres. Many of the commons 
were Lammas Lands. The freeholders, of which there 
were a large number, had the use of the land from the 
6th of April until the 12th of August, and the copyhold 
tenants of the manor had the right of grazing during 
the remainder of the year. The number of cattle each 
could graze was determined by the amount of rent they 
paid, and the grazing was regulated by the “ marsh 
drivers,” men elected annually by the courts of the 
Manor for the purpose. A curious incident in connec¬ 
tion with these rights happened on Hackney Downs in 
1837. The season was late, and the steward of the 
Manor put up a notice to the effect that as the free¬ 
holders’ crops were not gathered the grazing on the 
Downs could not begin until the 25th, instead of the 
usual 12th of August. The marshes and other common 
lands in the parish were open, so there was actually plenty 
of pasture available for those entitled to it. There was a 
fine crop of wheat on some plots on the Downs, and on 
