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little doubt upon the question of identity; but there are one or two old
Records which have turned up which clench the matter.
In A.D. 1613 an Action was brought by the Crown, which then held
some lands in the Town Meadows, against another owner of land there who
had pulled up stakes which had been pitched by the Crown's Tenant to
divide the Crown's land from the remainder.
The Attorney General, on behalf of the Crown, alleged that the Crown
was the owner of two acres of Meadow, lying in a great Meadow called the
Town Meadow of Fulliam, and had granted the two acres to a man who
was bound by the terms of the Grant to enclose and divide the two acres,
which he had done with stakes; that the Defendants, William and John
Arnold, who had ground in the same Town Meadow, said that " there ought
to be none there," and threatened to pull them all up, as it was " neither
the use or custom there to pitch stakes in the said Meadow for the
severance of the Meadow Ground and that the said Town
Meadow was measured out by the line at the time of mowing the grass;"
and then allegations followed as to a right-of-way to the Meadows.
Evidence was taken in the Suit on the part of the Defendants. Several
Witnesses said that the ancient way from the Town Meadows to the "Village
of Fulham, which was always used, was over a Meadow called Bandelands,
upon a Bank there.
Persons who know this land are aware that to this day there is a Bank
lying just to the north of two pieces of land called Bandeylands. One
Witness in the Action said that the Defendant's Meadow " was a low marsh
ground, as all the rest of the Meadow Grounds are, and overflown at every
spring tide." It would be difficult to find a better description than this of
the lands as they existed before the formation of the recent embankment.
So far, then, we have ascertained the position of the Town Meadow,
Charlow Meadow, Bandeylands, Wildmead, The Owl Acre, Fan Meadow,
a nd we find that they are next the River Thames, and overflown at every
spring tide.
The Vestry is aware that for a great number of years the Churchwardens
possessed two pieces of land in the Town Meadows called the Church Acres.
An entry (if it can be used in evidence) made in the year 1622, in an old
book of the Parish Benefactions, is of great importance.
The Church Acres are there described as lying in the Common Meadow,
commonly called the Town Meade.
In A.D. 1843 the tithes for the Parish were commuted and apportioned,
for which purpose a plan and terrier were made. This coming so long after
the entries upon the Court Rolls, to which we have referred, is a valuable
piece of evidence of identity, the terrier having probably been made witheut reference to the Court Rolls. The tithe map and terrier agree in many
particulars with the names and boundaries found upon the Rolls, and, with
the oral evidence which we have been able to collect, thus form the last
link which binds the Domesday Book to the evidence of to-day.
It is perfectly true that there is not, acre for acre, an ancient description
of all the lands in question, but I think there is sufficient to enable a Court
to decide, if necessary, that the whole—or, at any rate, a large part of the
lands are Lammas Lands.
Finally,—Who are entitled to enjoy the Rights ?
Class entitled to Rights, It will have been observed that the term " the Common of the
Lord's tenants/' used in the early Rolls has gradually changed
-first, into "a11 the Lord's'tenants, free and customary," then the expressions
"the inhabitants of the parish," "persons dwelling within the pans ,