This was an Act amending the last, by extending its scope to lammas meadows; and providing that persons who were dissatisfied with awards under the preceding Act forfeited their right of appeal if they took possession of the lands allotted to them.
[APPENDIX E.]
A NORFOLK OPEN FIELD PARISH.
The parish of Runton, adjoining Cromer, is unenclosed, and throws some light on Norfolk common field custom, and on the curious law with regard to “liberties of fold courses.” There are in the parish two villages, East and West Runton. Most of the land in the parish is either common, or open field arable land. Of the open field arable, about 600 acres are “half year land” and between four and five hundred acres “whole year land.” Both the whole year land and the half year land is intermixed, both in ownership and occupation, but the extent of intermixture has been steadily and continuously reduced. There is a tendency for adjoining strips of land to be let to one and the same farmer, and he is allowed to plough down the balks, in Runton called lawns or loons, which separate them. There are no common rights over the whole year land. There is an area of whole year land of 200 acres or more around each village, which is where one would expect to find it; and very curiously, a detached area of about 20 acres half way between the villages. There is no well marked boundary separating whole year from half year lands.
The half year lands are commonable from Michaelmas to Lady Day old style, that is from October 11th to April 11th. There is no prescribed rule of cultivation, but the customary course is:—first year, wheat; second, turnips; third, barley sown with clover, the land under this crop being “new ley land” after the barley is reaped; and in the fourth year the land remains under clover and is called “old ley land” or “ollay land.”
The peculiar feature, characteristic of Norfolk common field agriculture, is that the owner of the Abbey Farm in the next parish, has the right to pasture sheep on the half year lands of Runton; in the words of the old Act, he has the “liberty of fold courses” of Runton. Further, the Runton common right owners make up a flock called “The Collet Flock,” and it is understood that wherever the Abbey flock goes, the Collet Flock can go too.
But the two flocks are kept distinct, grazing separately, each with its own shepherd.