Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
AREA
(
HA
)
CL UNIT
NAME OF COMMON
1
Rhossili Downs and Cliffs
1354.4
2 (S)
Newton Cliffs and Summerland Cliff
34.8
2
Hardings Down
112.1
3 (S)
Bracelet Common
31.5
3
Ryers Down
87.0
4
Llanmadoc Hill / Tankey Lane Moor
209.7
5
Landimore and Llanrhidian Marsh
2300.0
6
Llanrhidian Hill and the Common
6.5
8
Cefn Bryn with Manorial Waste
826.3
9
Pengwern Common
157.9
10
Welsh Moor and Forest Common
101.4
11
Mynydd Bach y Cocs
65.1
12
Pen-clawdd, Gowerton Marshes
320.0
13
Pennard Cliffs and Burrows
224.4
13 (S)
Middle Head
1.4
14 (S)
Langland Cliffs
20.6
14
Bishwell Common
13.4
15
Fairwood and Clyne Commons
754
16
Bishopston Valley
40.6
17
Barlands
14.6
69
Penmaen and Nicholaston Burrows
39.7
107
Oxwich Point and Slade Cliff
15.0
108
Overton Cliff and Cliff Common
6.3
110
Hillend Burrows Llangennith
243.3
Total
6,980
Numbers refer to Common Land Units as recorded in the Common Land Register. There are du-
plicate numbers (S) for commons situated or registered separately in the old County Borough of
Swansea and
CL
110 has been deregistered following hearings.
In Wales, even though encroachment on and enclosure of common land had been a noticeable feature
from the late sixteenth century onwards, at the beginning of the nineteenth century around 25 per cent
of the land area was still common and waste. Although in 1672, for example, the Mansels, owners of
the Margam and Penrice estate, stipulated in a lease to one of their tenant farmers that he could 'enclose
the waste land, if he thinks it fit', much of the Gower commons remained unenclosed. By granting such
'liberty to enclose and manure' the Mansels did, however, achieve the enclosure of Port-Eynon Moor in
the late seventeenth century. The enclosure of the 282 acres (114 hectares) began in 1684 and was com-
pleted within a decade, creating several new farms and extending others. Mead Moor and Brynsil Top, a
shortdistancetotheeastandnowpartoftheextensivewoodlandknownasMillWood,wereprobablyen-
closed at the same time. Only after the Inclosure Act of 1801, which was designed to extinguish common
rights through a legal process, easing the procedure and reducing the costs of enclosure, did the formal
or large-scale enclosure of grazing commons gather pace. Most of the common land in Gower, however,
escaped enclosure and the essential character of many of these areas has remained unchanged over hun-
dreds of years. Between 1900 and 1945, however, Clyne and Pennard Commons were partially converted
to improved grassland for golf courses and an airfield was created on Fairwood Common.
