When you buy a property, you assume you have the right to own and use its land. But that hasn’t always been the case; we look at the evolution of land ownership in the UK.
All land was owned by the monarch through the feudal system that dominated the UK and Europe between the 9th and 15th centuries. The monarch granted land to the lords, in return for their allegiance and military service. The lords then divided the land amongst their tenants, or “vassals”, who were free men under the protection of the lord, usually in a subservient or subordinate position. In exchange for their use of the land, the lord’s tenants promised further services, including military service, labour and the provision of goods.
The feudal system began to fall apart in the late Middle Ages and property rights became more widespread with trade and commerce. The 1215 Magna Carta established the right not to be deprived of property without “due process of law”. Then, in 1535, the Statute of Uses finally enabled landowners to transfer their property without referring to the feudal lord.
The Enclosure Acts of the 18th and 19th centuries changed the way land was owned and used. The Acts allowed landowners to enclose common land and make it private property.
The Law of Property Act of 1925 made the buying and selling of land simpler. This was followed in 1967 by the Leasehold Reform Act which gave tenants the right to buy their homes from landlords. The Housing Act 1980 followed, which allowed council tenants the right to buy their homes from local authorities. A single register of all land in England and Wales was only introduced in 2002, with the Land Registration Act.
Many medieval land terms are still in use today, including:
Burgage – a plot of land leased from the lord or monarch to townsmen. Burgage plots were long, narrow strips of land that extends away from a main street. As such, they maximised the number of properties fronting the street, to allow for a greater number of commercial buildings, such as workshops, shops and taverns. Tenants (“burgesses”) were required to pay rent in cash, rather than in goods under the agricultural feudal system.
Hide – (meaning “family”) was a landholding of usually 60-120 acres, dependent on the quality of the land. This was used as a basis for early taxation. In some areas this use of land was known in different terms, such as the “sulung” in Kent, which was around twice the size of an average hide.
Knight’s fee – the amount of land granted to support a knight and his family in payment for military service of 40 days a year. The number of hides they were worth varied. Those in receipt of the knights fee were often no more wealthy than those who worked the land.
Hundred – was a division of land possibly once comprising 100 hides. The Chiltern Hundreds consist of the hundreds of Burnham, Desborough and Stoke. The Steward and Bailiffs of the Chiltern Hundreds and of the Manor of Northstead were positions traditionally paid for by the monarch. Nowadays, they are unpaid, formal titles that are applied for when an MP needs to disqualify themselves from the Commons.
Shire – a subdivision of a county headed by a shire reeve (later sheriff). Shires were most commonly divided into hundreds.
Lets leave rods, poles and perches for another day!