132-573: Wraysbury is a village and civil parish in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in England . It is under the western approach path of London Heathrow Airport . It is located on the east bank of the River Thames , roughly midway between Windsor and Staines-upon-Thames , and 18 miles (29 km) west by south-west of London . Historically part of Buckinghamshire , Wraysbury
264-522: A London borough . (Since the new county was beforehand a mixture of metropolitan boroughs , municipal boroughs and urban districts, no extant parish councils were abolished.) In 1974, the Local Government Act 1972 retained rural parishes, but abolished most urban parishes, as well as the urban districts and boroughs which had administered them. Provision was made for smaller urban districts and boroughs to become successor parishes , with
396-435: A marking fee is paid each year for each animal turned out . However, if excessive use was made of the common, for example, in overgrazing , a common would be stinted , that is, a limit would be put on the number of animals each commoner was allowed to graze. These regulations were responsive to demographic and economic pressure. Thus rather than let a common become degraded, access was restricted even further. The lord of
528-407: A parish council is normally given guardianship by vesting the property under section 8 the act. An online database of registered common land was compiled by DEFRA in 1992–93 as part of a survey of the condition and wildlife of commons. The official up to date registers of common land are held by the commons registration authorities. The following registration information is held: This includes
660-458: A Kill . Wraysbury Stores, the main village store until May 2006, appeared in an advert for the Daily Mail featuring Chris Tarrant . The stores also feature in a scene from the movie " Buster " starring Phil Collins . Due to the various gravel pits , the River Thames , lakes and reservoirs (notably "The Pond"), Wraysbury has plenty of wildlife and opportunities for walks. The village has
792-515: A Special Expense, to residents of the unparished area to fund those activities. If the district council does not opt to make a Special Expenses charge, there is an element of double taxation of residents of parished areas, because services provided to residents of the unparished area are funded by council tax paid by residents of the whole district, rather than only by residents of the unparished area. Parish councils comprise volunteer councillors who are elected to serve for four years. Decisions of
924-576: A boundary coterminous with an existing urban district or borough or, if divided by a new district boundary, as much as was comprised in a single district. There were 300 such successor parishes established. In urban areas that were considered too large to be single parishes, the parishes were simply abolished, and they became unparished areas . The distinction between types of parish was no longer made; whether parishes continued by virtue of being retained rural parishes or were created as successor parishes, they were all simply termed parishes. The 1972 act allowed
1056-477: A city council (though most cities are not parishes but principal areas, or in England specifically metropolitan boroughs or non-metropolitan districts ). The chairman of a town council will have the title "town mayor" and that of a parish council which is a city will usually have the title of mayor . When a city or town has been abolished as a borough, and it is considered desirable to maintain continuity of
1188-462: A city council. According to the Department for Communities and Local Government , in England in 2011 there were 9,946 parishes. Since 1997 around 100 new civil parishes have been created, in some cases by splitting existing civil parishes, but mostly by creating new ones from unparished areas. Parish or town councils have very few statutory duties (things they are required to do by law) but have
1320-559: A city was Hereford , whose city council was merged in 1998 to form a unitary Herefordshire . The area of the city of Hereford remained unparished until 2000 when a parish council was created for the city. As another example, the charter trustees for the City of Bath make up the majority of the councillors on Bath and North East Somerset Council. Civil parishes cover 35% of England's population, with one in Greater London and few in
1452-440: A civil parish is usually an elected parish council (which can decide to call itself a town, village, community or neighbourhood council, or a city council if the parish has city status). Alternatively, in parishes with small populations (typically fewer than 150 electors) governance may be by a parish meeting which all electors may attend; alternatively, parishes with small populations may be grouped with one or more neighbours under
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#17327730729201584-481: A civil parish which has no parish council, the parish meeting may levy a council tax precept for expenditure relating to specific functions, powers and rights which have been conferred on it by legislation. In places where there is no civil parish ( unparished areas ), the administration of the activities normally undertaken by the parish becomes the responsibility of the district or borough council. The district council may make an additional council tax charge, known as
1716-586: A common parish council. Wales was also divided into civil parishes until 1974, when they were replaced by communities , which are similar to English parishes in the way they operate. Civil parishes in Scotland were abolished for local government purposes by the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1929 ; the Scottish equivalent of English civil parishes are the community council areas established by
1848-674: A cousin of Sir Henry Doulton , took over the preaching duties. Later James' son-in-law the Reverend Arthur Gostick Shorrock took over the duties. Arthur had been a student preacher in Wraysbury in the 1880s, after which he spent 35 years as a missionary in Shaanxi , China . A flooded quarry in Wraysbury was used as a filming location (actually intended to be in France ) in the 1985 James Bond film A View to
1980-415: A description of the land, who applied to register the land, and when the land became finally registered. There are also related plans which show the boundaries of the land. This includes a description of the rights of common (e.g. a right to graze a certain number of sheep), the area of common over which the right is exercisable, the name of the holder of the right and whether the right is attached to land in
2112-663: A few Sites of Special Scientific Interest with these being Wraysbury Reservoir , Wraysbury and Hythe End Gravel Pitsand . The western part of the village, roughly between the river and the B376 road, is subject to frequent significant flooding, notably in January 2003, January 2014 and February 2014. In June, Wraysbury holds its annual fete, where stands such as the local vintage and classic car clubs show off their members' vehicles. There are also activities for children and
2244-690: A garage and fish and chip shop and is opposite the Perseverance pub . There are many shops located on the High Street, and there is also a park including a children's playground which is a popular spot for dog-walkers and kite-flyers. 1st Wraysbury Scouts Group is based on the village green . The village has two railway stations: Wraysbury and Sunnymeads , both on the Staines to Windsor & Eton line from Windsor to London Waterloo . Hythe End
2376-476: A house on common land, raise the roof over their head and light a fire in the hearth, then they would have the right of undisturbed possession. The belief—sometimes called "keyhole tenure", and which persisted as recently as the early 20th century—was actually a fallacy, but to stop landless peasants unlawfully squatting on commons, the Erection of Cottages Act 1588 ( 31 Eliz. 1 . c. 7) was introduced. Under
2508-405: A manor. A commoner would be the person who, for the time being, was the occupier of a particular plot of land. Most land with appurtenant commons rights is adjacent to the common. Other rights of common were said to be in gross , that is, they were unconnected with tenure of land. This was more usual in regions where commons were more extensive, such as in the high ground of Northern England or in
2640-529: A new code. In either case the code must comply with the Nolan Principles of Public Life . A parish can be granted city status by the Crown . As of 2020 , eight parishes in England have city status, each having a long-established Anglican cathedral: Chichester , Ely , Hereford , Lichfield , Ripon , Salisbury , Truro and Wells . The council of an ungrouped parish may pass a resolution giving
2772-431: A new smaller manor, there was a means of making a chapel which, if generating or endowed with enough funds, would generally justify foundation of a parish, with its own parish priest (and in latter centuries vestry ). This consistency was a result of canon law which prized the status quo in issues between local churches and so made boundary changes and sub-division difficult. The consistency of these boundaries until
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#17327730729202904-683: A parish (a "detached part") was in a different county . In other cases, counties surrounded a whole parish meaning it was in an unconnected, "alien" county. These anomalies resulted in a highly localised difference in applicable representatives on the national level , justices of the peace , sheriffs, bailiffs with inconvenience to the inhabitants. If a parish was split then churchwardens, highway wardens and constables would also spend more time or money travelling large distances. Some parishes straddled two or more counties, such as Todmorden in Lancashire and Yorkshire. Common land Common land
3036-416: A parish council, and instead will only have a parish meeting : an example of direct democracy . Alternatively several small parishes can be grouped together and share a common parish council, or even a common parish meeting. A parish council may decide to call itself a town council, village council, community council, neighbourhood council, or if the parish has city status, the parish council may call itself
3168-503: A population of between 100 and 300 could request their county council to establish a parish council. Provision was also made for a grouped parish council to be established covering two or more rural parishes. In such groups, each parish retained its own parish meeting which could vote to leave the group, but otherwise the grouped parish council acted across the combined area of the parishes included. Urban civil parishes were not given their own parish councils, but were directly administered by
3300-1079: A range of discretionary powers which they may exercise voluntarily. These powers have been defined by various pieces of legislation. The role they play can vary significantly depending on the size, resources and ability of the council, but their activities can include any of the following: Parish councils have powers to provide and manage various local facilities; these can include allotments , cemeteries, parks, playgrounds, playing fields and village greens , village halls or community centres , bus shelters, street lighting, roadside verges, car parks, footpaths, litter bins and war memorials. Larger parish councils may also be involved in running markets , public toilets and public clocks, museums and leisure centres . Parish councils may spend money on various things they deem to be beneficial to their communities, such as providing grants to local community groups or local projects, or fund things such as public events, crime prevention measures, community transport schemes, traffic calming or tourism promotion. Parish councils have
3432-537: A relatively minor role in local government. As of September 2023 , there are 10,464 parishes in England, and in 2020 they covered approximately 40% of the English population. For historical reasons, civil parishes predominantly cover rural areas and smaller urban areas, with most larger urban areas being wholly or partly unparished ; but since 1997 it has been possible for civil parishes to be created within unparished areas if demanded by local residents . In 2007
3564-409: A role in the planning system; they have a statutory right to be consulted on any planning applications in their areas. They may also produce a neighbourhood plan to influence local development. The Localism Act 2011 allowed eligible parish councils to be granted a " general power of competence " which allows them within certain limits the freedom to do anything an individual can do provided it
3696-495: A series of private acts of Parliament, mainly from about 1750 to 1850, which enclosed large areas of common, especially the arable and haymeadow land and the better pasture land. The maintenance of fences around a common is the responsibility of the occupiers of the adjacent enclosed land, not (as it would be with enclosed land) the responsibility of the owners of the grazed livestock. This can lead to difficulties where not all adjacent occupiers maintain their fences properly. However
3828-598: A set number of guardians for each parish, hence a final purpose of urban civil parishes. With the abolition of the Poor Law system in 1930, urban parishes became a geographical division only with no administrative power; that was exercised at the urban district or borough council level. In 1965 civil parishes in London were formally abolished when Greater London was created, as the legislative framework for Greater London did not make provision for any local government body below
3960-943: A small village or town ward to a large tract of mostly uninhabited moorland in the Cheviots, Pennines or Dartmoor. The two largest as at December 2023 are Stanhope (County Durham) at 98.6 square miles (255 km ), and Dartmoor Forest (Devon) at 79.07 square miles (204.8 km ). The two smallest are parcels of shared rural land: Lands Common to Axminster and Kilmington (Devon) at 0.012 square miles (0.031 km ; 3.1 ha; 7.7 acres), and Lands Common to Brancepeth and Brandon and Byshottles (County Durham) at 0.0165 square miles (0.043 km ; 4.3 ha; 10.6 acres). The next two smallest are parishes in built up areas: Chester Castle (Cheshire) at 0.0168 square miles (0.044 km ; 4.4 ha; 10.8 acres) (no recorded population) and Hamilton Lea (Leicestershire) at 0.07 square miles (0.18 km ; 18 ha; 45 acres) (1,021 residents at
4092-521: A spur to the creation of new parishes in some larger towns which were previously unparished, in order to retain a local tier of government; examples include Shrewsbury (2009), Salisbury (2009), Crewe (2013) and Weymouth (2019). In 2003 seven new parish councils were set up for Burton upon Trent , and in 2001 the Milton Keynes urban area became entirely parished, with ten new parishes being created. Parishes can also be abolished where there
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4224-507: Is at present the only part of England where civil parishes cannot be created. If enough electors in the area of a proposed new parish (ranging from 50% in an area with less than 500 electors to 10% in one with more than 2,500) sign a petition demanding its creation, then the local district council or unitary authority must consider the proposal. Since the beginning of the 21st century, numerous parish councils have been created, including some relatively large urban ones. The main driver has been
4356-402: Is collective land (sometimes only open to those whose nation governs the land) in which all persons have certain common rights , such as to allow their livestock to graze upon it, to collect wood , or to cut turf for fuel . A person who has a right in, or over, common land jointly with another or others is usually called a commoner . In Great Britain, common land or former common land
4488-629: Is currently represented by three councillors (David Buckley and Jodie Grove of The Borough First Independents and Ewan Larcombe of the National Flood Prevention Party) in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead . Nationally, since 1997 the ward has formed part of the UK Parliamentary constituency of Windsor and is currently represented by Jack Rankin of the Conservative Party. Before 1997,
4620-539: Is evidence that this is in response to "justified, clear and sustained local support" from the area's inhabitants. Examples are Birtley , which was abolished in 2006, and Southsea , abolished in 2010. Every civil parish has a parish meeting, which all the electors of the parish are entitled to attend. Generally a meeting is held once a year. A civil parish may have a parish council which exercises various local responsibilities prescribed by statute. Parishes with fewer than 200 electors are usually deemed too small to have
4752-405: Is not prohibited by other legislation, as opposed to being limited to the powers explicitly granted to them by law. To be eligible for this, a parish council must meet certain conditions such as having a clerk with suitable qualifications. Parish councils receive funding by levying a " precept " on the council tax paid by the residents of the parish (or parishes) served by the parish council. In
4884-523: Is seen again as Wyrardesbury in 1422. Magna Carta Island , in the parish of Wraysbury, is one of the sites traditionally suggested for the sealing of Magna Carta in 1215. On the Ankerwycke estate in the village are the ruins of a Benedictine nunnery , founded in the reign of King Henry II . One of the 50 oldest trees in the United Kingdom can be found here: at around 2000 years old,
5016-410: Is substantial support among those with interests in the land, such as; the commoners (especially those who actively exercise their rights); owners and other legal interests. Commons councils enable decisions to be made by majority voting, so relieving the burden of trying to reach unanimous decisions. They will have the power to make rules about agricultural activities, the management of vegetation, and
5148-460: Is the part of the village closest to Staines , largely a linear development on Staines Road, on the eastern bank of the River Thames close to Bell Weir Lock , with a large minority of properties adjoining the riverside. Hythe End consists of several riverside homes, mainly on the Island . Gravel pits to the north containing water and reeds make up a Site of Special Scientific Interest . One of
5280-399: Is the prime consideration and where the owner and commoners do not require a direct voice in the management, or where the owner cannot be found. There are at least 200 schemes of management made under the 1899 act. The Law of Property Act 1925 ( 15 & 16 Geo. 5 . c. 20), which still forms the core of English property law, has two provisions for common land: The UK government regularised
5412-413: Is usually referred to as a common ; for instance, Clapham Common and Mungrisdale Common . Due to enclosure , the extent of common land is now much reduced from the hundreds of square kilometres that existed until the 17th century, but a considerable amount of common land still exists, particularly in upland areas. There are over 8,000 registered commons in England alone. Originally in medieval England
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5544-474: The Commons Act 1876 ( 39 & 40 Vict. c. 56) some 36 commons in England and Wales were regulated. The act also enabled the confirmation of orders providing for the inclosure of common land or common fields. The Commons Act 1899 ( 62 & 63 Vict. c. 30) provides a mechanism of enabling district councils and National Park authorities to manage commons where their use for exercise and recreation
5676-504: The 'Standards Board regime' with local monitoring by district, unitary or equivalent authorities. Under new regulations which came into effect in 2012 all parish councils in England are required to adopt a code of conduct with which parish councillors must comply, and to promote and maintain high standards. A new criminal offence of failing to comply with statutory requirements was introduced. More than one 'model code' has been published, and councils are free to modify an existing code or adopt
5808-577: The Ankerwycke Yew dates from the Iron Age , and is so wide that you can fit a Mini Cooper behind its trunk and not see it from the other side. Local legend says that Anne Boleyn once sat under the tree, while residing at the Ankerwycke estate, but this has not been verified. Henry Stafford, 5th Baron Stafford died at Ankerwycke in 1637. The Ankerwycke estate was bought by John Blagrove, a prominent Jamaican slave owner, who did much to improve
5940-509: The Fens , but also included many village greens across England and Wales. Historically manorial courts defined the details of many of the rights of common allowed to manorial tenants, and such rights formed part of the copyhold tenancy whose terms were defined in the manorial court roll. Example rights of common are: On most commons, rights of pasture and pannage for each commoner are tightly defined by number and type of animal, and by
6072-761: The Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 , which have fewer powers than their English and Welsh counterparts. There are no equivalent units in Northern Ireland . The parish system in Europe was established between the 8th and 12th centuries, and an early form was long established in England by the time of the Norman Conquest . These areas were originally based on the territory of manors , which, in some cases, derived their bounds from Roman or Iron Age estates; some large manors were sub-divided into several parishes. Initially, churches and their priests were
6204-1010: The Local Government Act 1894 ( 56 & 57 Vict. c. 73) to become the smallest geographical area for local government in rural areas. The act abolished the civil (non-ecclesiastical) duties of vestries . Parishes which straddled county boundaries or sanitary districts had to be split so that the part in each urban or rural sanitary district became a separate parish (see List of county exclaves in England and Wales 1844–1974 ). The sanitary districts were then reconstituted as urban districts and rural districts , with parishes that fell within urban districts classed as urban parishes, and parishes that fell within rural districts were classed as rural parishes. The 1894 act established elected civil parish councils as to all rural parishes with more than 300 electors, and established annual parish meetings in all rural parishes. Civil parishes were grouped to form either rural or urban districts which are thereafter classified as either type. The parish meetings for parishes with
6336-494: The Parliament of England . The exact usufruct rights which apply to individual commons were in some cases documented, but more often were based on long-held traditions. A major reform began in 1965, with a national register of common land which recorded the land ownership and the rights of any commoners, and two other important statutes have followed. Owners of land in general have all the rights of exclusive ownership, to use
6468-596: The Townscape movement in post-war Britain , designed the Wraysbury Village Hall . It is one of only a few buildings he designed which were actually built. The main store in the village was Wraysbury Stores until its closure in May 2006. The building is Victorian and had been continuously occupied since the late 1800s. It was formerly a post office before becoming a general store . Its neighbours include
6600-438: The ancient system of parishes , which for centuries were the principal unit of secular and religious administration in most of England and Wales. Civil and religious parishes were formally split into two types in the 19th century and are now entirely separate. Civil parishes in their modern form came into being through the Local Government Act 1894 ( 56 & 57 Vict. c. 73), which established elected parish councils to take on
6732-472: The break with Rome , parishes managed ecclesiastical matters, while the manor was the principal unit of local administration and justice. Later, the church replaced the manor court as the rural administrative centre, and levied a local tax on produce known as a tithe . In the medieval period, responsibilities such as relief of the poor passed increasingly from the lord of the manor to the parish's rector , who in practice would delegate tasks among his vestry or
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#17327730729206864-517: The common arable fields and common haymeadows assigned annually by lot . When not in use for those purposes, such commons were grazed . Examples include the common arable fields around the village of Laxton in Nottinghamshire, and a common meadow at North Meadow, Cricklade . Lammas rights entitled commoners to pasture following the harvest, between Lammas day, 12 August ( N.S. ), to 6 April, even if they did not have other rights to
6996-621: The tug-of-war held by the scouts , beavers and cubs. There are also the stands of local charities, the local school, usually giving out ice creams, and of course the church's stands. Wraysbury Cricket Club plays on the village green and played the Marylebone Cricket Club in 2009. Former actor Robert Rietti had a home in Wraysbury, but after his wife died in August 2008, he sold the house in 2009. Former Wraysbury resident Gordon Cullen , an architect renowned for developing
7128-470: The (often well-endowed) monasteries. After the dissolution of the monasteries , the power to levy a rate to fund relief of the poor was conferred on the parish authorities by the Poor Relief Act 1601 . Both before and after this optional social change, local (vestry-administered) charities are well-documented. The parish authorities were known as vestries and consisted of all the ratepayers of
7260-419: The 135 families in the village, 62 were employed in agriculture while 68 made their living in the mills. This compares to the most recent census in which around 12% of the population work from home and the average distance travelled to work is 9 miles (14.24 km). The enclosure of the parish of Wraysbury was ordered by a private Enclosure Act of 1799 and was signed by the commissioners in 1803. The map of
7392-502: The 16th century. By the 19th century, unenclosed commons had become largely restricted to large areas of rough pasture in mountainous areas and to relatively small residual parcels of land in the lowlands. Enclosure could be accomplished by buying the ground rights and all common rights to accomplish exclusive rights of use, which increased the value of the land. The other method was by passing laws causing or forcing enclosure, such as Parliamentary enclosure. The latter process of enclosure
7524-564: The 19th century is useful to historians, and is also of cultural significance in terms of shaping local identities; reinforced by the use of grouped parish boundaries, often, by successive local authority areas; and in a very rough, operations-geared way by most postcode districts. There was (and is) wide disparity in parish size. Writtle , Essex traditionally measures 13,568 acres (21 sq mi) – two parishes neighbouring are Shellow Bowells at 469 acres (0.7 sq mi), and Chignall Smealy at 476 acres (0.7 sq mi) Until
7656-851: The 2006 act, and to add land omitted under the 1965 act. Other than for those commons covered by the Law of Property Act 1925 , the Commons Act 1899 and certain other statutes, the public did not have the right to use or enjoy common land if they were not a commoner. However, the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 (c. 37) gave the public the freedom to roam freely on all registered common land in England and Wales. The new rights were introduced region by region through England and Wales, with completion in 2005. Maps showing accessible areas have been produced, and are available online as "open access maps" produced by Natural England. Commons are included in
7788-526: The 2011 census, Newland with Woodhouse Moor and Beaumont Chase reported inhabitants, and there were no new deserted parishes recorded. Nearly all instances of detached parts of civil parishes (areas not contiguous with the main part of the parish) and of those straddling counties have been ended. 14 examples remain in England as at 2022, including Barnby Moor and Wallingwells , both in Nottinghamshire. Direct predecessors of civil parishes are most often known as "ancient parishes", although many date only from
7920-511: The 2021 census). The 2001 census recorded several parishes with no inhabitants. These were Chester Castle (in the middle of Chester city centre), Newland with Woodhouse Moor , Beaumont Chase , Martinsthorpe , Meering , Stanground North (subsequently abolished), Sturston , Tottington , and Tyneham (subsequently merged). The lands of the last three were taken over by the Armed Forces during World War II and remain deserted. In
8052-701: The Commons Preservation Society found a champion in Augustus Smith who had the inclination and the money to act, and himself held commons rights. Smith hired 120 navvies armed with hammers, chisels and crowbars, who on the night of 6 March 1866, under the aegis of the newly formed Commons Preservation Society (now the Open Spaces Society ), felled to the ground two miles of iron railings. Soon after, local people flocked in. Lord Brownlow took action against Augustus Smith and
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#17327730729208184-484: The Second World War as a result of the advance of woodland into traditional heathland areas when, as one commentator stated: ...returning soldiers gave up trying to scratch a living out of the forest. Whereas once hundreds of commoners used the wood and heath—their livestock obliging by chewing down young tree shoots—today there is only one commercial grazer. The conservators were forced to intervene to stem
8316-675: The Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). Under section 38 of the Commons Act 2006, you need consent to carry out any restricted works on land registered as common land under the Commons Registration Act 1965. Restricted works are any that prevent or impede access to or over the land. They include fencing, buildings, structures, ditches, trenches, embankments and other works, where
8448-454: The Welsh and 16% of the English commons. Cattle are registered on 35% of Welsh and 20% of English commons, whilst horses and ponies are registered on 27% of Welsh and 13% of English commons. In some cases rights to graze goats, geese and ducks are registered, whilst in others the type of livestock is not specified. These figures relate to the number of common land units, and due to discrepancies in
8580-738: The administration of the poor laws was the main civil function of parishes, the Poor Law Amendment Act 1866 , which received royal assent on 10 August 1866, declared all areas that levied a separate rate or had their own overseer of the poor to be parishes. This included the Church of England parishes (until then simply known as "parishes"), extra-parochial areas , townships and chapelries . To have collected rates this means these beforehand had their own vestries, boards or equivalent bodies. Parishes using this definition subsequently became known as "civil parishes" to distinguish them from
8712-495: The arrival of the railway, which opened up employment opportunities and afforded the chance to travel easily and quickly to and from the village. In the History of Wraysbury published in 1862, G.W.J. Gyll extolled the benefits to the village: Railways have much improved the locality and the condition of the people also, and it is a powerful solvent to diminish provincial rusticity, local and self-importance; class prejudice and all
8844-669: The authorities at other heathland areas in the New Forest and Surrey". In 2008 the Foundation for Common Land was created in the UK to try to enhance the understanding and protection of commons. The legal position concerning common land has been confused, but recent legislation has sought to remedy this and remove the legal uncertainties so that commons can be better used and protected. Most commons are based on ancient rights under British common law , which pre-date statutes passed by
8976-460: The centre of a dispute between some local residents and the forest's governing body, the Board of Conservators, which is responsible for administering the forest's 24 km of common land. The conservators wished to restore the forest's landscape to one that predominantly consisted of heathland—its defining characteristic until the mid-twentieth century, but something that was in danger of being lost after
9108-399: The charter, the charter may be transferred to a parish council for its area. Where there is no such parish council, the district council may appoint charter trustees to whom the charter and the arms of the former borough will belong. The charter trustees (who consist of the councillor or councillors for the area of the former borough) maintain traditions such as mayoralty . An example of such
9240-502: The common was an integral part of the manor , and was thus part of the estate held by the lord of the manor under a grant from the Crown or a superior peer (who in turn held his land from the Crown; it is sometimes said that the Crown was held to ultimately own all land under its domain). This manorial system, founded on feudalism, granted rights of land use to different classes. These could be appurtenant rights whose ownership attached to tenancies of particular plots of land held within
9372-458: The commoners were able to find better-paid work in other sectors of the economy. As a result they largely stopped exercising their rights; relatively few commoners exist today. Much common land is still used for its original purpose. The right to graze domestic stock is by far the most extensive commoners right registered, and its ongoing use contributes significantly to agricultural and rural economies. Rights to graze sheep are registered on 53% of
9504-537: The council are carried out by a paid officer, typically known as a parish clerk. Councils may employ additional people (including bodies corporate, provided where necessary, by tender) to carry out specific tasks dictated by the council. Some councils have chosen to pay their elected members an allowance, as permitted under part 5 of the Local Authorities (Members' Allowances) (England) Regulations 2003. The number of councillors varies roughly in proportion to
9636-464: The council of the urban district or borough in which they were contained. Many urban parishes were coterminous (geographically identical) with the urban district or municipal borough in which they lay. Towns which included multiple urban parishes often consolidated the urban parishes into one. The urban parishes continued to be used as an electoral area for electing guardians to the poor law unions . The unions took in areas in multiple parishes and had
9768-466: The council will an election be held. However, sometimes there are fewer candidates than seats. When this happens, the vacant seats have to be filled by co-option by the council. If a vacancy arises for a seat mid-term, an election is only held if a certain number (usually ten) of parish residents request an election. Otherwise the council will co-opt someone to be the replacement councillor. The Localism Act 2011 introduced new arrangements which replaced
9900-537: The court case lasted until 1870 when it ended with the complete vindication of Smith. Development of common land is strictly controlled. The government states that common land should be open and accessible to the public, and the law restricts the kind of works that can be carried out on commons. HM Planning Inspectorate is responsible for determining applications under the 2006 Act regarding common land in England, and several other pieces of legislation regarding commons and greens. All applications are determined on behalf of
10032-459: The creation of town and parish councils is encouraged in unparished areas . The Local Government and Rating Act 1997 created a procedure which gave residents in unparished areas the right to demand that a new parish and parish council be created. This right was extended to London boroughs by the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007 – with this, the City of London
10164-521: The deeds of another property. A number of commoners still exercise rights, for example, there are 500 practising commoners in the New Forest , and there is a federation of commoners in Cumbria . In many cases commons have no existing commoners, the rights having been neglected. It was a common a belief that if a squatter and their friends could—between sunrise and sunset in a single day—build
10296-489: The definitions of common land with the Commons Registration Act 1965 (c. 64), which established a register of common land. Not all commons have owners, but all common land by definition is registered under Commons Registration Act 1965, along with the rights of any commoners if they still exist. The registration authorities are the county councils, and when there is no ownership, a local council, such as
10428-463: The desire to have a more local tier of government when new larger authorities have been created, which are felt to be remote from local concerns and identity. A number of parishes have been created in places which used to have their own borough or district council; examples include Daventry (2003), Folkestone (2004), Kidderminster (2015) and Sutton Coldfield (2016). The trend towards the creation of geographically large unitary authorities has been
10560-510: The earlier legislation is provided by the Commons Act 2006 . Under Schedule 2(4) to the Act, applications that failed to achieve final registration under the 1965 Act may, in certain circumstances, be reconsidered – offering, in effect, a second chance for the land to be confirmed ('re-registered') as common. Land that is re-registered in this way will enjoy the special legal protection afforded to common land. It will also become subject in due course to
10692-595: The east of St Andrew 's Church revealed evidence of human activity in Neolithic times. Many hundreds of flint artefacts were found and are now in the care of the Windsor Museum collection. The village name was traditionally spelt Wyrardisbury ; it is Anglo Saxon in origin and means "Wigred's fort". Its name is recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Wirecesberie and as Wiredesbur in 1195. The name
10824-439: The ecclesiastical parishes. The Church of England parishes, which cover more than 99% of England, have become officially (and to avoid ambiguity) termed ecclesiastical parishes . The limits of many of these have diverged; most greatly through changes in population and church attendance (these factors can cause churches to be opened or closed). Since 1921, each has been the responsibility of its own parochial church council . In
10956-884: The effect of those works is to prevent or impede access. They also include, in every case, new solid surfaces, such as for a new car park or access road. Some commons are managed by boards of conservators for the wider public benefit. However, for areas where these are not established, or an improved system is required, the Commons Act 2006 provides for the establishment of commons councils to manage common land. The Standard Constitution Regulations relating to commons councils were formally approved in April 2010, and commons councils are most likely to be useful where they can improve current management practices. This may be where commons are in agricultural use, but where it can be difficult to reach agreement on collective management. Commons councils are voluntary and can be established only where there
11088-409: The elements of isolation melt away in its presence. The railway through our parish has been of great use to it; has enhanced the value of property, as is the case wherever such a project has been executed, despite the fears of those who repressed the enterprise. William Thomas Buckland was the local surveyor and valuer employed to handle the compensation claims resulting from the purchases of land for
11220-534: The established English Church, which for a few years after Henry VIII alternated between the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of England , before settling on the latter on the accession of Elizabeth I in 1558. By the 18th century, religious membership was becoming more fractured in some places, due in part to the progress of Methodism . The legitimacy of the parish vestry came into question, and
11352-455: The estate. The population of Wraysbury remained relatively static during the 19th century, with a slight increase between the 1801 return of 616 and the final census of the century which gave a population figure of 660. This compares to a population figure for Wraysbury of 3,641 in the 2001 census. For centuries, agricultural and mill work had been the principal areas of employment for the villagers; and as late as 1831, census returns show that of
11484-417: The fencing of land within a registered common is not allowed, as this is a form of enclosure and denies use of the land to others. A celebrated landmark case of unauthorised fencing of a common was in 1866 by Lord Brownlow who illegally enclosed 434 acres of Berkhamsted Common to add to his Ashridge Estate . Brownlow had failed to buy out the commoners, so resorted to this action. A public outcry followed, and
11616-520: The frequent floods which often resulted in the village being cut off from the rest of the county. George Harcourt , Lord of the Manor , suggested that a new road should be built on higher ground from Bowry's Barn to the Colne Bridge, to replace the old road which ran along ditches susceptible to flooding. The 1848 Tithe map , drawn by surveyor William Thomas Buckland showing the proposed route of
11748-645: The gift and continued patronage (benefaction) of the lord of the manor , but not all were willing and able to provide, so residents would be expected to attend the church of the nearest manor with a church. Later, the churches and priests became to a greater extent the responsibility of the Catholic Church thus this was formalised; the grouping of manors into one parish was recorded, as was a manor-parish existing in its own right. Boundaries changed little, and for centuries after 1180 'froze', despite changes to manors' extents. However, by subinfeudation , making
11880-455: The government at the time of the Local Government Act 1972 discouraged their creation for large towns or their suburbs, but there is generally nothing to stop their establishment. For example, Birmingham has two parishes ( New Frankley and Sutton Coldfield ), Oxford has four, and the Milton Keynes urban area has 24. Parishes could not however be established in London until the law was changed in 2007. A civil parish can range in area from
12012-475: The invasion of trees, scrub and bracken that threatened the ecologically precious heathlands, cutting down saplings, removing scrub and mowing the bracken. Some residents complained that the results looked like a First World War battle field. This is not a problem restricted to this common, but according to Jonathan Brown writing in the Independent on 21 April 2007 "similar debates are raging between locals and
12144-434: The land as they wish. However, for common land the owner's rights are restricted, and other people known as commoners have certain rights over the land. The landowner may retain other rights to the land, such as rights to minerals and large timber, and to any common rights left unexercised by the commoners. The commoners will continue to exercise their rights, or have a document which describes their rights, which may be part of
12276-424: The land become restricted to the owner, and it ceases to be land for the use of commoners. In England and Wales the term is also used for the process that ended the ancient system of arable farming in open fields . Under enclosure, such land is fenced ( enclosed ) and deeded or entitled to one or more owners. The process of enclosure began to be a widespread feature of the English agricultural landscape during
12408-459: The land, the poor of the district would have had 'real' or ' customary rights ', for example to feed their livestock or gather wood for fuel. The only beneficiaries from enclosure were those who could show legal rights over the common land , such as copyholders and tenants of the manor . The enclosure enshrined their rights, converting "rights of common" and allocating an area of land commensurate with their rights, as close to their farmhouse as
12540-452: The land. Such rights sometimes had the effect of preventing enclosure and building development on agricultural land. Most of the medieval common land of England was lost due to enclosure. In English social and economic history, enclosure or inclosure is the process which ends traditional rights such as mowing meadows for hay , or grazing livestock on common land formerly held in the open field system . Once enclosed, these uses of
12672-422: The late 19th century, most of the "ancient" (a legal term equivalent to time immemorial ) irregularities inherited by the civil parish system were cleaned up, and the majority of exclaves were abolished. The census of 1911 noted that 8,322 (58%) of "parishes" in England and Wales were not geographically identical when comparing the civil to the ecclesiastical form. In 1894, civil parishes were reformed by
12804-1019: The major features of Hythe End is the river water extraction facility. This was built in 1910 by the Metropolitan Water Board to supply water from the River Thames to its works in Ashford Common via the Staines Aqueduct . This first feeds the King George VI Reservoir and continues eastwards, passing the water treatment works at Kempton Park , to provide some of the supply of the Kempton Park Reservoirs and another water treatment works at Hampton . The Buckinghamshire Way long-distance walking route begins in Hythe End, as
12936-484: The manor must only exercise his rights so far as to leave a "sufficiency" of resource for commoners. This was at issue in 1889 when the lord of the manor and owner of Banstead Downs and Heath, a Mr Hartopp, excavated gravel and threatened to reduce the available pasture. The meaning of sufficiency was challenged in court, expert witnesses stated that the grazing capacity was 1,200 animals, the commoners rights totalled 1,440 animals, and 600 animals were normally turned out. It
13068-465: The mid 19th century. Using a longer historical lens the better terms are "pre-separation (civil and ecclesiastical) parish", "original medieval parishes" and "new parishes". The Victoria County History , a landmark collaborative work mostly written in the 20th century (although incomplete), summarises the history of each English "parish", roughly meaning late medieval parish. A minority of these had exclaves , which could be: In some cases an exclave of
13200-526: The need for fences while maintaining their effective individual interest in them, as each ewe remains on her particular area. Lambs usually learn their heft from their mothers. Also known as 'hoofing' in some areas like North Yorkshire. This ability to keep sheep from straying without fences is still an important factor in sheep farming on the extensive common land in upland areas. Surviving commons are almost all pasture, but in earlier times, arable farming and haymaking were significant, with strips of land in
13332-465: The new district councils (outside London) to review their parishes, and many areas left unparished in 1972 have since been made parishes, either in whole or part. For example, Hinckley , whilst entirely unparished in 1974, now has four civil parishes, which together cover part of its area, whilst the central part of the town remains unparished. Some parishes were sub-divided into smaller territories known as hamlets , tithings or townships . Nowadays
13464-470: The new railway. This business of Buckland & Sons grew into an estate agency, which had an office in Windsor High Street for the following 150 years. Where is Wraysbury, I can scarce find it on the map? asked an associate of G.W.J. Gyll. Once the railway had put the village on the map, the next steps were to improve road access, and more importantly, to alleviate the adverse effects of
13596-651: The new road, can be seen at the Centre for Buckinghamshire Studies in Aylesbury . Harcourt also suggested a replacement for the old "Long Bridge" over the River Colne should be built, and a new suspension bridge , designed and paid for by Harcourt, was built by civil engineer Mr Dredge. The parish church of St Andrew is a Gothic structure, intermediate between Norman and Early English , supposed to have been built by King John . The parish registers its date from
13728-488: The other conurbations. Civil parishes vary greatly in population: some have populations below 100 and have no settlement larger than a hamlet , while others cover towns with populations of tens of thousands. Weston-super-Mare , with a population of 71,758, is the most populous civil parish. In many cases small settlements, today popularly termed villages , localities or suburbs, are in a single parish which originally had one church. Large urban areas are mostly unparished, as
13860-433: The ownership of the holder of the right (the commoner) or is a right held in gross i.e. unattached to land. This includes details of the owner(s) of the common land. Entries in this section however, are not held to be conclusive. Numerous inconsistencies and irregularities remained, mainly because a period of only three years was given for registration submissions. However, there is now an opportunity to clear these up under
13992-401: The parish the status of a town, at which point the council becomes a town council . Around 400 parish councils are called town councils. Under the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007 , a civil parish may be given one of the following alternative styles: As a result, a parish council can be called a town council, a community council, a village council or occasionally
14124-404: The parish. As the number of ratepayers of some parishes grew, it became increasingly difficult to convene meetings as an open vestry. In some, mostly built-up, areas the select vestry took over responsibility from the entire body of ratepayers. This innovation improved efficiency, but allowed governance by a self-perpetuating elite. The administration of the parish system relied on the monopoly of
14256-562: The parish; the church rate ceased to be levied in many parishes and became voluntary from 1868. During the 17th century it was found that the 1601 Poor Law did not work well for very large parishes, which were particularly common in northern England. Such parishes were typically subdivided into multiple townships , which levied their rates separately. The Poor Relief Act 1662 therefore directed that for poor law purposes 'parish' meant any place which maintained its own poor, thereby converting many townships into separate 'poor law parishes'. As
14388-471: The past, most pasture commons would have been grazed by mixtures of cattle, sheep and ponies (often also geese). The modern survival of grazing on pasture commons over the past century is uneven. The use of hefting (or heafing ) – the characteristic of some breeds of sheep for example, keeping to a certain heft (a small local area) throughout their lives – allows different farmers in an extensive landscape such as moorland to graze different areas without
14520-499: The perceived inefficiency and corruption inherent in the system became a source for concern in some places. For this reason, during the early 19th century the parish progressively lost its powers to ad hoc boards and other organisations, such as the boards of guardians given responsibility for poor relief through the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834 . Sanitary districts covered England in 1875 and Ireland three years later. The replacement boards were each entitled to levy their own rate in
14652-411: The population of the parish. Most rural parish councillors are elected to represent the entire parish, though in parishes with larger populations or those that cover larger areas, the parish can be divided into wards. Each of these wards then returns councillors to the parish council (the numbers depending on their population). Only if there are more candidates standing for election than there are seats on
14784-455: The primary right is to pasture livestock . In the uplands, they are largely moorland , on the coast they may be salt marsh , sand dunes or cliffs , and on inland lowlands they may be downland , grassland , heathland or wood pasture , depending on the soil and history. These habitats are often of very high nature conservation value, because of their very long continuity of management extending in some cases over many hundreds of years. In
14916-499: The public access land now shown on the Ordnance Survey Explorer maps. The Commons Act 2006 (c. 26) is an important recent piece of legislation. The act: Several hundred square kilometres of 'waste land' that was provisionally registered under the Commons Registration Act 1965 was not, in fact, finally registered. As a consequence, it ceased to be recognised as common land. A partial remedy for this defect in
15048-493: The public right of access introduced by the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000; or depending on location, may qualify as a section 193 'urban' common (in which case, it would also be subject to a right of access for horse-riders). The act of transferring resources from the commons to purely private ownership is known as enclosure , or (especially in formal use, and in place names) Inclosure . The Inclosure Acts were
15180-696: The registers and large numbers of small commons with no rights in England, the apparent distinction between Wales and England may be exaggerated. Today, despite the diverse legal and historical origins of commons, they are managed through a community of users, comprising those who hold rights together with the owner(s) of the soil. Such communities generally require joint working to integrate all interests, with formal or informal controls and collaborative understandings, often coupled with strong social traditions and local identity. However, 26% of commons in Wales, and as many as 65% in England, have no common rights shown on
15312-531: The registers. Such areas are derived from wastes of manors , where rights probably existed formerly. When such open habitats are no longer grazed they revert to scrub and then dense woodland, losing the grassy or heathland vegetation which may have occupied the land continuously for many centuries. In 2007, Ashdown Forest , the Sussex heathland which was the setting for the Winnie-the-Pooh stories, became
15444-644: The reign of the first Tudor king, Henry VII , which is Grade II * listed. Friary Island is a low-lying residential island about 400 metres long and 100 metres wide. It is accessed by two bridges over a narrow branch of the River Thames . At a parish level, the village is represented by eleven councillors of the Wraysbury Parish Council. At the district level, the village is part of the Datchet, Horton and Wraysbury electoral ward and
15576-493: The religious education of the Baptist flock. The new chapel , with its elegant slender tower , was opened on 16 October 1862; the building works had cost around £800. The striking terracotta relief panel, The City of Refuge , on the front elevation of the chapel, was created by the renowned Doulton & Co artist George Tinworth and is signed with his monogram . After Buckland's death, James Doulton, his son-in-law and
15708-438: The right to create civil parishes was extended to London boroughs , although only one, Queen's Park , has so far been created. Eight parishes also have city status (a status granted by the monarch ). A civil parish may be equally known as and confirmed as a town, village, neighbourhood or community by resolution of its parish council, a right not conferred on other units of English local government. The governing body of
15840-483: The same time productivity increased enough to create a surplus of labour. The increased labour supply is considered one of the factors facilitating the Industrial Revolution . Following the era of enclosure, there was relatively little common land remaining of value although some residual commoners remained until the end of the Second World War. By that time lowland commons had become neglected because
15972-450: The secular functions of the parish vestry . A civil parish can range in size from a sparsely populated rural area with fewer than a hundred inhabitants, to a large town with a population in excess of 100,000 . This scope is similar to that of municipalities in continental Europe, such as the communes of France . However, unlike their continental European counterparts, parish councils are not principal authorities , and in most cases have
16104-471: The southernmost point of that county. Sunnymeads is the linear western neighbourhood bordering the River Thames , and has its own railway station. Although long part of Wraysbury administratively, its almost uninterrupted narrow green belt that continues to render it a separate settlement. The station is unmanned with no inside waiting areas. Both during and after the Second World War , Sunnymeads
16236-403: The time of year when certain rights could be exercised. For example, the occupier of a particular cottage might be allowed to graze fifteen cattle , four horses , ponies or donkeys , and fifty geese , whilst the numbers allowed for their neighbours would probably be different. On some commons (such as the New Forest and adjoining commons), the rights are not limited by numbers, and instead
16368-565: The town was part of the constituency of Windsor and Maidenhead which was consistently held by the Conservative Party. The following people and military units have received the Freedom of the Parish of Wraysbury. Civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government . It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to
16500-524: The village was redrawn by Thomas Bainbridge and shows the distribution of the lands in the following enclosure. Immediately prior to this the common land of the village was owned by the Lord of the Manor of Wraysbury, at that time John Simon Harcourt , the church and the trustees of William Gyll Esq., although, as common land, they were subject to legal rights of pasture and grazing for copyholders and other tenants. In addition to those with legal rights over
16632-598: The year 1734. William Pynchon , the founder of Springfield, Massachusetts , died in Wraysbury in 1662 and was buried at St Andrew's Church. The only place of worship in Wraysbury until 1827 was the Anglican church of St Andrew . Local farmer, surveyor and auctioneer William Thomas Buckland , wishing to provide an alternative place of worship for nonconformists , built the Wraysbury Baptist Chapel to his own design. The original Baptist meeting place
16764-478: Was a favourite destination for Londoners who would lease or acquire plots and build modest shacks on the river. Few of these original houses still exist as they have been demolished and more permanent, larger houses have been built in their place. Sunnymeads Masonic Lodge – King John 's hunting lodge may only in name date to the time of the Magna Carta – it is a restored late 14th-century building, dating to
16896-485: Was convenient. The poor were overlooked in this process, and were no longer allowed to forage for fuel or graze their animals. The smaller landowners of Wraysbury to benefit from enclosure included Nathanial Wilmot, Nathanial Matthews, Shadrach Trotman and Thomas Buckland, all of whose names had previously appeared on the Wraysbury Court rolls as copyhold owners. The village saw another major change in 1848 with
17028-488: Was decided sufficiency was whether enough grazing would be available for all the animals that could be turned out. The judgment was that "The Lord is bound to leave pasture enough to satisfy the commoners rights whether such rights are to be exercised or not". Commoners also have the right to "peaceful enjoyment" of their rights, so that they cannot be hindered by the lord of the manor. This was first proposed in 1500 and became case law in 1827. Pasture commons are those where
17160-470: Was made part of the new non-metropolitan county of Berkshire in 1974, under the Local Government Act 1972 . The Wraysbury Reservoir is located to the east, administratively wholly in the Spelthorne district of Surrey , although it was historically divided between Buckinghamshire and Middlesex . Investigation by Windsor and Wraysbury Archaeological Society of a field in the centre of Wraysbury to
17292-481: Was opened in 1827 and Buckland was the principal minister until his death some 40 years later. Gyll, in his History of Wraysbury , described the establishment of the chapel: Much praise is to be given to the officiating, minister of the Baptists in Wraysbury, Mr. William Thomas Buckland, who exercises his vocation at the chapel here to a well disposed and confiding auditory, while to his wife and family are entrusted
17424-627: Was sometimes accompanied by force, resistance, and bloodshed, and remains among the most controversial areas of agricultural and economic history in England. Enclosure is considered one of the causes of the British Agricultural Revolution . Enclosed land was under control of the farmer who was free to adopt better farming practices. There was widespread agreement in contemporary accounts that profit making opportunities were better with enclosed land. Following enclosure, crop yields and livestock output increased while at
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