COMMONERS‘ CORNER No. 2

First published in the Yateley Society Newsletter December 1995

Common land and public access

I should immediately deal with a common misconception (pardon the pun!). Many people, indeed most people, think that if land is common land it is owned by everyone and is "public". This is not true. All common land has an owner, and often must really be considered private land since it is only absolutely clear in law that the owner and the commoners have a right to enter the common. Most commons are criss-crossed by public paths so, some claim, the public should legally keep to the public footpaths. In practice common land cannot be fenced from public highways, bridleways and footpaths so the "right to roam" protagonists claim that there therefore exists a de facto legal right for the public to walk wherever they want on common land. Tell that to the owners of Blackbushe Airport or the operators of the Sunday Market!

Other commons are owned by a public authority. The Yateley Country Park is owned and managed by Hampshire County Council. Yateley Green is owned by Yateley Town Council. These commons have special covenants covering them to provide public access under section 193 of the Law of Property Act 1925. That gives them the same standing as metropolitan commons which are all covered by s.193. Much of Yateley Common south of the A30 is owned by the Crown and used by the MOD. This land has its own bylaws which you can see on boards dotted around. Yateley Common has a fourth "owner of the soil" who is Lord Calthorpe. He previously owned the land on which the runways now stand and still owns the southwest corner of the common, but he has never granted public access.

News items

I often have people come up to me at the May Fayre who say "I've got common rights." However some people may be in for a rude awakening who do not reply to letters or who have failed to go through the correct legal procedures to apportion rights if, say, one house is replaced by three. Half the grazing rights in Yateley were attached to land owned by the Dickinson family. I hear that the County Council have applied to the Commons Commissioner to have these rights extinguished since these fields are now the Heron Homes estates off Vigo Lane and the Bryant Homes estate off Upper Cames. I hear also that properties being deregistered include tachose originally registered by John Cobbett, himself a direct heir of the William Cobbett of "Rural Rides" fame, and of course, of the family which gave its name to Cobbetts Lane, lately of "action group" fame. Another small piece of Yateley's history is being lost.

So if your solicitor smiled at you when you bought your house and said, "By the way you have common rights," he probably did not amend the register, and he probably did not get the rights properly apportioned if the house is a subdivision of a larger property. So you may already have lost those rights. If you are an established commoner with rights over several properties and you have sold any of the subitems in the register you should have arranged with your solicitor to apportion the rights correctly so that the buyer of the property ends up with that proportion of your rights which now apply to his land. If you have any doubts please telephone Elizabeth or myself.

Famous Commoners

Three months ago I mentioned Society commoner members Daphne Kirkpatrick and Tom and Doreen Dodd. This month I should like to mention Mike and Ester Chappell and Jack and Alice Gregory. Mike was our tenacious "leader" through the 60s and 70s and perhaps did more than anyone to ensure that the commons and their rights became "finally registered". As a Yateley Parish Councillor Mike saw the County Council give magnificent support during the 60s but turn against us after the local government reorganisation in 1974. Mike steered the commoners through the registration process, with generous financial banking from Sir Emmanuel Kaye. The culmination of Mike Chappell‘s achievement was winning the appeal in the High Court by Douglas Arnold against the Commons Commissioner‘ decision to register the rights of some 23 commoners. I am sure he is happy if he is looking down from up there that the County are firmly back with us now, but I am sure he is not surprised at how long it‘s taking to prize the 138 acres of public open space out of the airport.

Mike was a "salty" Lieutenant Commander bred in the Navy, but Jack Gregory was salt of the earth. His registered property was built in Little Vigo in 1912 by his father. You will find the name Gregory in the parish registers for 350 years. I've just clicked on the marriage database in my computer and found 11 male Gregorys getting married since 1636, and 4 of them are Johns. Latterly Jack worked for Midland Aggregates at Bramshill but he told me that he had built the well in our front garden. Many of us have fond memories of Alice behind the counter in the old Post Office next to the D&P. Ester Chappell and Alice Gregory are still living in their homes which they and their husbands played such an important role to ensure still have registered common rights. I'm proud to have known them all!

Back to Commoners' Corner Index Page

Back to Yateley Commom Main Page