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NORTH SHORE BREEZE 
shown in green on the plan and is 
included almost entirely in lands 
owned today by the Essex County 
Club and by Mr. Philip Dexter. 
The Cedar Swamp Division was 
a division into small lots of swamp 
land between what is now the Es- 
sex Road, the Essex Line and Mill- 
stone Hill. These lots bound the 
westerly side of the road to Essex 
and extend from about opposite 
the sharp turn in the road just 
ah the Baker farm to the Essex 
ine. 
The Shingle Place Hill Division 
was a division of small wood lots 
on Shingle Place Hill which is 
known by the same name today. 
This division. extends from the 
road to Essex just beyond the Ba- 
ker farm, northerly to the Beaver 
Dam Meadow. 
The Brushy Plain Division and 
the Poplar Plain Division were 
divisions into small lots of two or 
three acres each of the land lying 
southerly of the south division and 
are almost entirely included in the 
land today owned by the Essex 
County Club. 
The Kettle Cove Pond lots were 
on the marsh land at the Cove. 
There were thirty-eight of these in 
small lots of about one-half an 
acre each and they were highly 
prized both for fodder for cattle 
and for furnishing thatch for cov- 
ering the roofs of the cottages. 
One of the boundaries of these lots 
is described as a stake near where 
Goodman Allen’s cow was drowned 
at the coming in of the tide. This 
was probably a perfectly definite 
boundary in 1718, but leaves con- 
siderable to be desired in definite- 
ness in 1914. These lots are shown 
in brown upon the plan. 
In 1763 the greater part of the 
remaining common land was divid- 
ed into ten lots varying in size from 
twenty-eight to forty acres. These 
lots were each granted to several 
people accordingly as they had 
rights in the common land. The 
lots today are enclosed with old 
walls almost exactly as they were 
laid out in 1762 and the measure- 
ments given in the lay-out fit on the 
ground remarkably well. In gen- 
eral, the division, as will be seen by 
reference to the map, disposed of 
a long narrow irregular strip of 
land extending from a point near 
Mr. Denegre’s estate at West Man- 
chester northerly and northeasterly 
to the Ipswich line, bounding west- 
erly on the West Division of 1699 
and easterly on the Cedar Swamp 
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and Millstone Hill Lots. This 
division entirely surrounded the 
Bayberry marsh known today as 
Lord’s Cranberry Meadow. 
Moses Hill upon which the new 
standpipe is situated lies within this 
division, and the land known as 
Dark Woods where it has been 
proposed to erect an almshouse is 
also within this division. This 
division of 1763 is shown in yellow 
on the plan. 
The division of 1763 completed 
the division of Common Land and 
a few years later the propreitors 
conveyed to the Town of Man- 
chester all their interest in such 
land as had theretofore been grant- 
ed to the Town and in any Com- 
mon lands which might still remain 
undivided. 
There is no record as to who laid 
out the actual lines of the various 
division or whether anyone having 
any special knowledge of survey- 
ing ran the lines. It is probable, 
however, that they were run by 
somebody fairly well skilled in such 
work as in a great many cases 
where the writer has had occasion 
to re-run these ancient lines, he has 
found them well marked by ancient 
heaps of stones diverging less than 
ten feet from a straight line in a 
distance of nearly a mile. In fact, 
it frequently happens that lines re- 
run in modern times between an- 
cient stakes and stones of the older 
bounding prove to be much less ac- 
curately run than the old lines 
themselves. 
Bounding some of the divisions, 
particularly the lots of 1763 divi- 
sion, are many ancient stone walls. 
These walls are built of immense 
stones over the tops of hills and 
down steep banks with seeming 
disregard of the labor involved. 
Tradition says that these walls were 
built by slaves. It is more prob- 
able, however, that they were built 
by bondservants as there never 
could have been, from the records, 
a sufficient number of slaves in 
Manchester to ever have accom- 
plished this work. It is quite likely 
that the law passed by the Town 
fining anyone who did not main- 
tain a fence or wall about certain 
lots of land had much bearing in 
the matter. 
The foregoing description of the 
various divisions of Common Land 
has been given somewhat briefty 
and in a more or less general way. 
The general knowledge, however, 
of their location and the time when 
they were granted are essential to 
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any comprehensive understanding 
of the titles of the wood lands in 
Manchester and that is the excuse 
of this paper. (Concluded). 
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MANCHESTER PuBLIC LIBRARY 
Albania, Peacock 
Amateur Garden, Cable 
“And So They Were Mar- 
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Around the World in any 
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Art of the Vatican, Potter 
Art Treasures of Washing- 
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Base Ball, Spalding 
Book of Athletics, Withington 
Canning, Preserving and 
Pickling, Nel 
Choosing a Vocation, Parsons 
Confessions of a Signalman, Fagazt 
Crime and Punishment, Dosto'evskiu 
Doll Book, Starr 
English Language, Smith 
English Literature—Medieval, Ker 
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Flower Garden, Bennett 
Furniture of our Fore- 
fathers, Singleton 
Germany of Today, Tower 
Great American Writers, 
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Great Masters, LaFarge 
Hoof and Claw, Roberts 
Home Mechanics for Ama- 
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How to Study Pictures, Caffin 
Ideal Teacher, Palmer 
In After Days, Howell and Others 
Industrial Training of the 
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John Hay, Sears 
Letters of a Self-made Fail- 
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Life Everlasting, Fiske 
Literature of Germany, Robertson 
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of Painting, LaFarge 
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Story of Dutch Painting, Caffin 
Story of Spanish Painting, Caffin 
Tourist’s California, Wood 
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Why Worry? Walton 
Wireless Telegraphy and 
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Wonders of the World, Singleton 
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