• The first record is a grant of the Manor by William I and Queen Maude to the Abbey of St. Stephen in Caen . The date of the grant has not been identified by this research but clearly would have been before 9th September 1087 .
• At some time between 1342 and 1362 the Manor was acquired by Knight Service by Guy de Bryanne upon whose death at or about 1403 the Manor passed to his two daughters. By 1449 the Manor appears to have reverted to the Crown and granted in 1484 by Richard III to Henry Percy (Earl of Northumberland) and in 1545 in the reign of Henry VIII the reversion of the Manor was granted to Katherine Countess of Northumberland.
• In 1592, during the reign of Elizabeth I, the Manor was sold jointly to William Typper and Robert Dawe hence subsequent dealings in the Manor were by private individuals ultimately becoming vested in Roger Melhuish who, with his sons, on 31st October 1743 demised the Manor to William Barber and John Spurway for a term of 200 years from William (son of Roger) Melhuish's death in 1770.
• The lease so created passed to one T.B.Chanter in 1856 and then to Augustus Langham Christie who on 6th May 1895 assigned it to the Trustees of the Royal North Devon Golf Club who in turn assigned it to the former Northam UDC in 1962, this body failed to register the transfer and the Title lapsed (although arguably it remained with the Golf Club). When the 200 year lease of 1770 expired the reversioners could not be traced and Trustees of the Melhuish estate having been appointed by Chancery sold the Common to the Devon County Council in 1973. As freeholder the County asserted that they had also acquired the Title as witnessed by the Royal North Devon Golf Club's lease, the Burrows Limitation Order and various Agreements. This was successfully challenged by the Town Council and on 20th September 1993 the Title was registered in its name on behalf of the Parishioners, notwithstanding that with the exception of 32 specified Courts all Courts Baron and Leet ceased ' to have jurisdiction from 17th October 1977 by virtue of the Administration of Justice Act 1977.
• Whilst arguably the Burrows may rank as one of the oldest established grazing commons evidence that the land was waste land of the Manor of Northam lacks the recorded antiquity of the Lordship of the Manor. The earliest evidence is to be found documented by the Court of Common Pleas in 1638 which describes certain "lands" together with a common of pasture in 'Northam Borrowes'.
• In 1708 Roger Melhuish, Lord of the Manor, filed an action in the Court of Chancery against one Thomas Vernon and others, the subject of the dispute was not a right of common but the Lord of the Manor's entitlement to dues on cargoes unloaded in the Manor and whether certain land bounded on the west by the "common called Northam Burroughs or Northam Commons onto which cargoes were unloaded was waste land of the Manor".
• In the, year 1716 George Buck and John Benson were empowered to end this dispute by investigating the nature of customary practices in the Parish and to make an appropriate and just Award. This Award, the original of which is held in the Parish Church, comprises 15 recitals of which the 10th confirms the right of pasture over the Burrows and further records that as the Parish is under the government or direction of 24 men, four of them be elected as Overseers for the preservation of the Burrows and to ensure the common is not overstocked.
• It is of interest to note that throughout this document the words 'manor' and 'parish' appear to be used synonymously and implicit in the wording of the recital the 24 men would have been what was known as the Select Vestry, hence the 4 overseers elected by them are not to be confused with the overseers of the poor who in any event would have been nominated by the County Justices under the Poor Relief Act 1601 but since the Award of 1716 a separate Ecclesiastical Parish of Appledore has been formed from the Parish of Northam and in the 1935 boundary review part of the former Northam UDC was taken into the Borough of Bideford.
• On 16th April 1861 the Vicar of Northam, the Reverend J. H. Gossett established a committee of 12 Parishioners who in turn appointed one 'Nicholas Whitley of Truro to survey and report upon the means of protecting the common from inundation. At this committee it was stated that land within the Parish was "always sold with unlimited right of pasture on the Burrows". On 8th August 1861 the Vicar summoned a meeting of all owners and occupiers of land and houses in the Parish to consider Mr. Whitley's report and at this meeting a further committee was appointed to advise parishioners generally as to the best mode of preserving and improving the Burrows. This Committee subsequently advised that the common should be regulated under the Inclosure Act of 1845, nothing came of the proposal but the committee, now named the Burrows Committee, remains in being howbeit such executive powers this committee may have enjoyed as agent of the various Lords of the Manor and lease holders were in part removed through no fault of their own when the County Council acquired the freehold.
• Upon acquisition of the freehold the County Council challenged the commoners' historic claim to the pasture in the absence of (at that time) any registration under the Commons Registration Act 1965, this prompted some 450 applications for registration under the 165 Act and was finally determined on 21st November 1977 following a lengthy public inquiry when "The right of the inhabitants of the ancient parish of Northam to graze 1200 sheep and 100 horses" was so registered and the trusteeship of this right of common devolved to the Town Council. This event removed any remaining executive power the Burrows Committee may have had. Additionally Northam Burrows being an 'Urban Common' by virtue of Section 193 of the Law of Property Act 1925 allows the public a legal right of access "for air and exercise," subject to 3 basic prohibitions, it is an offence (a) to drive a vehicle (including a bicycle) (b) to camp (c) to light a fire.
B. R. MARCHANT
Town Clerk and Steward of the Manor
April 1994
