Nature’s harvest of fruit, nuts, berries and fungi is at its most abundant at this time of year and gathering windfalls, picking from hedgerows and foraging for mushrooms is a popular pastime. But for those with ‘rights of common’ the rewards can be much richer.

What is the rights of common law?

The traditional rights for commoners, which are usually held by virtue of the land or property they occupy, include:

• Pasturage The right to graze domestic stock is by far the most extensive right registered. Most frequently it relates to sheep and cattle, but in some cases there are grazing rights for ponies, geese, goats and ducks, while in others no stock types are specified.
• Pannage This is the right to turn out pigs in the autumn to devour the acorns ­which not only provides food for the pigs, but reduces the threat to other livestock from the poisonous acorns.
• Estover A right of estover originally conferred the ability to take limbs of timber for minor works to buildings, for making farm implements and hurdles, and for fuel, or to take bracken and heather for bedding. Today it is usually limited to the taking of wood for fuel.
• Common in the soil This is the right to remove minerals from the soil and is rarely recorded as a right today.
• Piscary The right to take fish from lakes, pond or streams.

Under section 194 of the Law of Property Act 1925, the erection of any building or fence, or the construction of any work, which prevents or impedes access to land subject to rights of common on 1 January 1926, is unlawful unless the consent of the Secretary of State is obtained. There are also a number of other rights of common that are area specific, such as freemining in the Forest of Dean in which some commoners have the right to extract iron and coal ore.

Common rights that are still active today may be managed on behalf of the commoners. This is the case in Hungerford, Berkshire where commoners and farmers buy rights to graze their cattle from the Town and Manor of Hungerford. During the summer a herd of cattle grazes the Common Port Down, maintaining the permanent pasture and keeping the trees in shape.

Finally, it's worth pointing out that the word 'common' is in itself misleading as it suggests the land in question is owned by those with rights of common. Traditionally, such land was owned by the Lord of the Manor and while this may not be the case today, so-called common land is certainly owned by someone.

Further information

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