More than 100 hectares of some of the most stunning landscape in west Cornwall has finally been recognised as common land, protecting it for the public 140 years after it was threatened with enclosure.
Lizard Downs was authorised for enclosure – the act of taking ownership of common land – in 1880 but the proposed fencing off never happened.
It remained unoccupied but attempts by campaigners to register the 116 hectares as commons during the three-year period allowed by the Commons Registration Act 1965 were derailed by objections.
As a result, although the 116 hectares – described as “splendid open moorland” by the Open Spaces Society – is managed by Natural England as part of the Lizard national nature reserve, its status remained uncertain.
In 2020, the Open Spaces Society, which has been working across the country to get as much land as possible into public ownership, applied to Cornwall council to re-register Lizard Downs as common land, citing its recognition as common land under the very act that authorised its enclosure.
Commons are an area of land protected by law for use by the public. The term originated in the feudal era, when the uncultivated land of a lord’s manor could be used for pasture and firewood by his serfs.
Most commons in England were enclosed – with their ownership allocated to individual landowners – between the 17th and end of the 19th centuries. That process pushed rural people into cities to create a workforce for the Industrial Revolution, and has left about only 3% of England as common land.
The commons that are left are generally used for recreation, walking and riding. But, most importantly, any development of them must be approved by the environment secretary.
The reregistration of Lizard Downs as common land is part of a campaign of work undertaken by the Open Spaces Society over several years to try to claw back as much land as possible.
In 2006 a new Commons Act reopened the door for spaces in seven pioneer areas to be registered as commons, provided they remained “open, uncultivated and unoccupied”.
So far, in the seven areas, the society has applied 78 commons, totalling 4,211.2 hectares. In 2022, five of those were added to the register, including three in Hertfordshire and two in Cornwall. Lizard Downs is by far the largest, with the remaining four all less than one hectare.
Frances Kerner, the society’s commons reregistration officer, welcomed the latest registration of Lizard Downs. She said: “I am delighted that the recognition of the land as common land well over 100 years ago has now been acknowledged.
“While the land is managed by Natural England and is part of the Lizard national nature reserve, its registration as common land confers additional protection, and a right for the public to walk there, for all time.”
