Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Then there is the Gower peninsula, a world on its own, and one where commons play a large and
somewhat unusual part.
W. G. Hoskins & L. Dudley Stamp,
The Common Lands of England and Wales
C
OMMONS HAVE
been part of the Gower landscape for centuries and throughout that time, perhaps
even for a thousand years, they have been almost untouched. As previously mentioned, the original limits
of the commons are amongst the oldest, if not the oldest, surviving boundaries in the peninsula. As a result
they are havens for a wide variety of wildlife, as well as representing a remarkable historical and cultur-
al legacy. Inland the large areas of common, dominated by sandstone heath ridges, including the soaring
sweep of Cefn Bryn, 'the backbone of Gower', are the most prominent features of the peninsula. Covering
more than a third of the total area, they form, for most people, a backcloth to the more popular coastline.
Visitors seek the high points to park their cars and go for a short walk to see the 'wild ponies', but, on
the whole, the inland commons are left to themselves even on the busiest summer days. Elsewhere in low-
land Britain there has been a widespread decline in grazing animals on commons, village greens and sand
dunes, with a subsequent loss of wildlife interest, but in Gower the commons are still an important part of
the farm economy. The siting of farmsteads emphasises this, situated as they are on the edge of commons,
such as on Cefn Bryn and Hardings Down, where farm gates open directly onto the grazing land. Nearly
three-quarters of the area covered by the Gower commons is lowland heathland, and the peninsula is one
of the most important areas in Britain, and indeed Europe, for this habitat.
There are three main areas of common land, the sea-cliff commons, the saltmarsh commons and the
'inland' commons. The wildlife and history of the sea cliffs and salt marshes has been covered in previous
chapters; this chapter will therefore, for the most part, be concerned with the latter.
LAW AND PRACTICE
Itisapopularmisconceptionthatcommonsarepublicland,butalthoughthelocalauthorityownsFairwood
Common most of the Gower commons are still owned by the 'Lord of the Manor' or his successor in title.
There used to be two main hereditary owners, the Duke of Beaufort and the Penrice Estate, until the lat-
ter sold their common land and manorial waste to the National Trust in 1964. The other major owner is
Llangennith Manors, a Company set up by a group of commoners who bought 500 acres (202 hectares) of
common land in 1974 from the Lord of the Manor of Llangennith East and Llangennith West. The local
authority, which was then the County Borough of Swansea, was given Fairwood Common by the Lord of
Kilvrough Manor, Arthur Owen Thomas, in 1935.
The law of common land is notoriously complex and much of the legislation dates back to the nine-
teenth century. While the aim of the earliest legislation was in fact to facilitate the enclosure of commons,
