The area was previously known as Police Paddock and was part of a section of Crown land which included the Police Barracks, Devonshire Street Cemetery, Female Refuge of the Good Samaritan, Benevolent Asylum and a common.
On a common called "The Croft" in the village is an old Mulberry tree said to have been planted by Adam Winthrop, the grandfather of John the elder.
However, in 1819 the canton began moving many landless poor (Allmendsiedler literally: Common land settler) into the municipality.
Just over a mile to the east of the village lies the nature reserve of Powerstock Common.
The northern border is Long Lane, with the parish of Wistanstow to the north, whilst to the west is Hopesay Hill and Common.
During period of the Enclosure Acts, the common at Widham was awarded to the Earls of Shaftesbury along with 'foot rights' to the cottages around the common to the highway (which had been a private road with tolls collected at the toll house).
•
Originally, Widham consisted of a few houses along the highway and parts of Witts lane and the toll house at Collins lane, with Widham Common in the centre.
Common Era | Bureau of Land Management | Book of Common Prayer | Holy Land | Land Rover | Van Diemen's Land | Common | Captain (land) | Altenburger Land | Court of Common Pleas | Land's End | Land of Oz | Common (rapper) | Boston Common | Arnhem Land | Common Moorhen | Captain (land and air) | Victoria Land | Osternienburger Land | Franz Josef Land | Crown land | Chief Justice of the Common Pleas | Toyota Land Cruiser | Seegebiet Mansfelder Land | Land Rover Defender | Ohio Courts of Common Pleas | Common Sense Media | Land Securities | Land of the Lost | Greenfield land |
Prior to the mid 18th century, most farmers in England rotated their crops across three or four strips of land- see Crop rotation, and ‘rights of common’- see common land were claimed for grazing the unfenced land.
Places in the vicinity of Cape Town known to be used as airfields included Kenilworth race course, Green Point Common and Green Point cycle track, Sea Point, Robben Island, Maitland Common, Rosebank Showgrounds and Mr Young's farm near Wynberg as well as local beaches.
Wyre Forest has none the of the legal peculiarities of a historic forest at all, instead has those of a chase (of common land) with hunting rights belonging to the Mortimer family, who had the title Earl of March from 1328, as holders for centuries of the manor and liberty of Cleobury Mortimer, which technically still enjoys such hunting rights.
The Enclosure Acts placed common land into individual ownership and removed the rights of local people to use the land as they had previously.
An agreement of 1769 between the owner of the manor, William Mitford of Pitshill at Tillington, and the tenants provided for the enclosure of common land to create woodland managed as coppice, although the areas involved are not specified.
In 1810 1,025 acres of common land were enclosed as a result of the Inclosure Acts.
On 1800 1,100 acres of common land were enclosed as a result of the Inclosure Acts.
The above said land rules are followed only in the time of Jhum cultivation but when there is no cultivation is taken place then whole land is treated as common land.
The parish council administers the common land in both villages including three popular allotment sites - and is responsible for the war memorial at Wheeler End.
The common land areas above Kearsney Abbey afford excellent views down towards Dover and its historic castle, and much of the area consists of rare and delicate chalk grassland.