Unique open spaces

The project will look at how urban commons – open, public land that is surrounded by urban areas - have been used over the centuries and the range of legal protections currently in place. It will also investigate how people use these spaces today and how they could be used by future generations.

Four urban commons will be looked at in depth - the Town Moor, Newcastle, Mousehold Heath, Norwich, Clifton Down, Bristol and Valley Gardens, Brighton. Each of them have different origins, varying legal status and differ in their historical and current uses.   

The three-year project will bring together experts at Newcastle covering law, archaeology, history, English, architecture and creative practice with researchers from the universities of Brighton and Exeter, the National Trust and local community and cultural partners.

The project, which has been funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, will culminate in 2021 in a ‘Festival of the Common’ which will be held in Newcastle and Brighton. This will include exhibitions of the research findings, poetry and other creative writing workshops and a ‘Common Place’ book where people will be able to record their memories of the common in their city.

Chris Rodgers, Professor of Law, Newcastle University, said: “Urban commons are unique green, open spaces vital for wellbeing, culture and biodiversity in our towns and cities. By exploring how these areas have been used in the past, how they’re used today and how they could be used and - just as importantly, protected - in the future, this project will aim to bring about a greater sense of community involvement and help develop imaginative ways to preserve them for future generations.”

Different histories

One strand of the work will focus on the different histories of each of the four urban commons. Traditionally, commons were areas of fallow land or heath over which ‘commoners’ enjoyed specific access and land use rights, such as the Town Moor in Newcastle which is still used today by the Freemen of the city for animal grazing, and Mousehold Heath in Norwich which was used until the early 1900s by local people collecting fuel and feed for livestock.

The four areas range in age from medieval to Victorian, but there are some similarities in how they have been used in the past. Over the years, many urban commons have been used as sites for popular protests and acts of resistance. For example, Clifton Down witnessed a gathering of some 10,000 people in September 1908 to support the Suffragette movement. And in April 1921, two aircraft and a hangar at the aerodrome on Newcastle’s Town Moor were destroyed by arson carried out by an Irish Republican Army cell that was based in Newcastle.

Both Mousehold Heath and the Town Moor have had military connections – during the Napeoleonic wars, the government rented 11 acres of the Town Moor for an artillery depot and barracks, and traces of training trenches that were used during the First World War are still visible in places, while at different times during World War Two, Mousehold Heath was used as a US Army Air Force base and a prisoner of war camp.  

The four areas have also been popular locations for recreation. In the 18^th century, as Bristol expanded and Clifton became a fashionable place to live, Clifton Down stopped being used for grazing animals and was instead opened up to the public for leisure activities. Horse racing took place on both the Town Moor and Mousehold Heath during the 19^th century, and since 1882 the Town Moor has been used by the Hoppings, Europe’s largest travelling funfair.  

Dr Rachel Hammersley, Senior Lecturer in History, Newcastle University said: “As the way we live has changed, so this has affected how we use these different areas. A better understanding of how they have been used, the traditions connected with them, the various disputes that have taken place and how they have been remembered will help us appreciate and value them in the future.”

Another strand of the project will explore the variety of legal definitions and protections in place and will look at what a standard definition should cover and how the idea of common ownership could fit within a legal framework.

Although some of these areas have been established for centuries, there is no agreed definition of what a common is, or any central register of commons. While local authorities own many of them today, some are still privately owned. As a result, there is huge variation in the degree of legal protection – Valley Gardens in Brighton is protected only through planning law while Clifton Down is protected by an Act of Parliament. The Town Moor, also, has been protected by an Act of Parliament since the eighteenth century and is currently managed under the terms of another - the Newcastle upon Tyne Town Moor Act 1988.