Inclosure of Greasby Commons

They hang the man and flog the woman

Who steals a goose from off the Common

But let the greater villain loose

Who steals the Common off the goose.

Greasby residents in the 19th century owned little. They did, however, have Commoners Rights over a piece of land near the old village centre and a second area near today’s Irby Mill pub. They could feed their animals there and collect firewood, etc. That land was owned by John Ralph Shaw, Lord of Greasby, but it was of little commercial value due to the Rights of the Commoners. Shaw had inherited his land and fortune in 1829 from his great-uncle, John Shaw, ex-Mayor of Liverpool and ex-slave trader. In 1867 an Inclosure Act affecting Greasby Common was passed by Parliament. The Common was to be divided among local landowners; the residents would lose their Commoners Rights and would get nothing in return. The division of the Common, as drawn up by Land Surveyor John Whalley and approved by the Inclosure Commissioners in March 1869, was as follows:- to John Ralph Shaw, allotment 1 approximately 1¼ acres, equal to one-fifteenth of the value of the Common land and based on him being the owner of the Common; also to John Ralph Shaw allotments 2, 12, 15, 18, 19a, 19b, 21, 22, 23 and 24, totalling approximately 13½ acres and based on his ownership of other land and property in Greasby township; to other Greasby landowners allotments 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 16, 17 and 20, totalling approximately 5¾ acres. Those other local landowners were Mesham, King, Bythell, Beley, Guile, Hodgson, Realey and the Trustees of Calday Grange Endowed School. Shaw had acquired 72% of the now-valuable total and had sold all of it before the Surveyor had even written the Award document. Thus the Surveyor's Award shows, for example, allotments 23 & 24 “Edward Realey of Greasby Cheshire as purchaser from the said John Ralph Shaw”. Greenhouse Farm buildings (then called Greasby Green Farm) stood on a part of the Common which became allotment 18 and was allocated to Shaw. He sold it to the Rev Philip Raulin Robin and Philip Frederic Garnell.

Inclosure legislation ended around 1875. If Greasby Common had survived until then, just another eight years, it would probably still be common land today.

That land is now occupied by numbers 164 to 182 Greasby Road, Clovelly Court, the shop premises from Salon 154 to Age UK, numbers 1 to 19 and 2 to 84 Arrowe Road, St Nicholas Church, Tudor Grange, Greasby Health Centre and the Greasby Centre. There is, fortunately, a section which is still available for public recreation. That section, the triangle of grass and trees bordered by Greasby Road, Frankby Road and the Health Centre & its car park, is protected as Urban Greenspace under the Unitary Development Plan 2000 legislation (listed as ‘site 196: Greasby Road open space’).

While, probably, nobody would complain about a Greasby resident collecting firewood on this remnant of the Common it is unlikely that taking your pigs, geese or hens to feed there would be permitted today.

Source: Cheshire Record Office Ref: QDE 1/45