Rights of Common

Rights of common are the customary privileges residents of a a manor or parish have to make use of common land, which might also be called 'waste'. The land is usually owned by the lord of the manor.
Some commons might be shared by more than one parish; in this case all parish boundaries will extend into the shared common.
These rights are not available to anyone, only to the inhabitants of the parish(es) to who the common belongs.
Rights of common are typically:
The right of pasture - residents may graze beasts on the common. The toal number of beasts will usually be fixed to prevent overgrazing, and individual tenants allocated a share of the total based on the size of their landholdings.
The right of estovers - to take and cut heather, bracken and reeds from the common, to cut and take wood for fuel or fencing, and to cut timber for building (though this may be restricted to gathering fallen wood in areas under forest law). This right may require a customary payment.
The right of turbary - digging, cutting and taking peat and turves from the common to use as fuel.
The right of the soil - the right to extract minerals from the commons. This may include bog iron or outcrops of coal or ore.
The right of piscary - the right to take fish from ponds, pools and streams on the common.
A related right is the right of pannage, which allows residents of a manor to fatten pigs on beechmast and acorns in the lord's woodland. Typically pannage lasts for 60 days from mid-September to mid-November, though the exact timing will depend on when the beechmast and acorns fall. Pannage rights typically require a customary payment known as avagium.

Primary Related Location

England