Ludshott Common’s history of human usage extends back far beyond its acquisition in 1908 and management by the National Trust. The extensive heath landscape, punctuated by swathes of scrub and bush, has arisen over centuries of agricultural grazing. Historical documents that date back to the thirteenth century show that Ludshott Common and adjacent Waggoners Wells once belonged to extensive areas of manorial common land. The acidic, free-draining and sandy nature of the soil, and the undulating topography of the terrain prevented intense arable exploitation of the land. However, the proliferation of gorse, heather and bracken, and the exposed, open nature of the landscape made it particularly well suited to pastoral grazing.

Although the earliest written documents attest to grazing on this landscape in the thirteenth century, this pastoral tradition is widely thought to date back to the Dark Ages, and possibly to prehistory. Ludshott Common forms part of a family of ancient heath and wood-pasture geography extending across north-western Europe, on which the ancient tradition of grazing has ensured a landscape that has remained largely unchanged for hundreds of years. The need for animal bedding and fuel ensured that the gorse, heather and bracken were used by the local people rather than removed, and the constant pressures of grazing herbivores ensured that thick scrub and arboreal vegetation remained limited. This geographical equilibrium led to the development of a unique and stable ecosystem of birds, insects and other small animals.

As far as historical records can tell, rights to graze sheep, cattle, ponies, goats, geese and pigs were granted by the Lord of the Manor at Ludshott in the thirteenth century, although similar use of the land in all likelihood dates back to prehistory. Interestingly, these rights are still held by commoners in the nearby Selbourne village, although they aren’t used.

These rights lost their significance towards the end of the nineteenth century, as free-grazing was being replaced by more formal, intensive farming. With no economic value, the Commons were quickly being given over to development for housing and Ludshott Common came under threat. When Ludshott Common and woodlands were submitted for sale by auction at the beginning of the twentieth century, it looked as if the ancient environment was about to be changed forever.

Fortunately, the National Trust was established at this time with the raison d’étre of preserving these fast-disappearing ancient landscapes. Ludshott Common itself had a particular significance for the Trust, since Sir Robert Hunter, co-founder of the Trust, was Chairman of the Ludshott Common Preservation Committee. When the land was put up for auction, Sir Robert Hunter considered it essential that the Trust succeed in acquiring the land and protecting it. In 1908 the Trust, with substantial public support, raised £1,000 to buy the Common, and a further £1,350 for the surrounding woodland (Lord Eversley, 1910).

Fig 1-1: View of the open heathland on Ludshott Common

Since that date, the National Trust has been responsible for maintaining the natural equilibrium of the site and its ecosystem. Having maintained its environmental status quo for unknown hundreds of years, it may have seemed that preservation of the Common would be an extremely low maintenance affair. However, the development of agriculture by the twentieth century had rendered free grazing obsolete, and this essential and ancient practice had been intrinsic in the site’s ecosystem. Without the pressures that grazing placed on the environment and its flora, there was an ever-present risk that the scrub and woodland would intrude upon the heathland and transform the landscape. To this day, the National Trust has always been involved in cutting back the woodland and preventing the spread of gorse and bracken, and signs of these endeavours are always in evidence on the Common.

A further duty of the National Trust, one is that is universal to all the landscapes under their management, is to ensure that the land is kept available for public enjoyment, and its natural beauty safeguarded. This meant that the National Trust were obligated to prevent anyone from manipulating the land for any activity, or altering it any way, that would preclude public enjoyment. These duties would prove to be far more challenging (as war, population pressure and fires took their toll) than anyone could have predicted when the Common was bought at the beginning of the twentieth century. Landscape change, which had been kept at bay for hundreds of years, was due to make a huge impact on the site, and present great challenges to the Trust personnel who managed it.

(c) Matthew Tilley