Historically, the Commoners were local farmers and smallholders who were granted the right by the Lord of the Manor to use the space of Garway Hill Common for grazing and other agricultural activities. Commoners' Rights have been in existence for centuries and are attached to particular properties, so they can be passed on when the property changes hands.
Today there are 17 properties on or near Garway Hill Common which have Commoner's Rights attached to them. Over the years changes in ownership of these properties have meant that today only a minority of Commoners actually exercise their rights.
In times gone by, the management of the Common would have been handled by the Reeve, a senior servant of the Lord of the Manor in charge of managing the Lord's estates, who would enforce the rules which governed the Commoners' activities. As the large estates broke up, many in the 1920's, this central control mechanism began to break down. In the case of Garway Hill Common, although there was still a titular Lord Of the Manor there was no estate left to manage and no Reeve to do the enforcing. The Lord of the Manor died and his successors moved away from the area.
This pattern of change was repeated all over England and many Commons suffered as a result. In the 1960's legislation was brought in to create a national register of Common Rights to try to improve matters and efforts were made to contact the Lord of the Manor at the time, but without success. As a result the Parish Council was given registered ownership of the Common, since in the absence of a known owner a local public body had to take responsibility. In practice though, the Commoners were left to do what they had always done, but without central co-ordination and control.
With changing patterns of property ownership on the Hill, the number of Commoners putting livestock on the Hill declined, so the bracken-covered areas gradually expanded. The final blow was the national foot and mouth outbreak of 2002 which badly affected local farmers. Livestock vanished from the Hill for an extended period and the bracken was given free reign.
The Garway Hill Commoners' Association was formed in December 2004 to arrest this decline. Its aims are to improve the Hill both as a local farming resource and a place of quiet recreation. With the help of funding from the Lottery Heritage Fund and central government, the Association will put in place a comprehensive environmental management plan which will safeguard the future of Garway Hill as a special place for generations to come.
Ancient Rights
Grazing : The right to make use of the open grassland of the Common for grazing animals. Horses and sheep are seen today, and cattle too in recent memory. The total number and type of animals each Commoner may graze is laid down in the Commons Register.
Pannage : The right to turn out pigs on the Common. Pannage is an ancient practice to fatten pigs and the pigs turned out ate the green acorns and beech mast which are poisonous to cattle and ponies. There is no Commoner with pannage rights in the current Register.
Estovers : This is the right to cut wood for fuel. The wood must be burned in the house and the right applies to the hearth, not the land as do other rights. Should the hearth be moved or destroyed then the right lapses. It can be revived by rebuilding a hearth in the exact position of its predecessor.
Turbery : This right also belongs to the chimney and hearth of a property, not to its land, and allows the cutting of turf for fuel for use only on that hearth.
For a fuller account of the History of the Manor of Garway and Commoners' Rights see "Garway Hill through the Ages", complied and edited by Joan and Brian Thomas, available from bookshops or direct from the Garway Heritage Group through this website, price £10.