workingclasshistory:

On this day, 15 July 1902, the ‘Leckhampton Stalwarts’ led a march of 2,000 people from the centre of Cheltenham to Leckhampton Hill, where they tore down a cottage built by the new quarry owner. The Stalwarts were led by Walter Ballinger, a clay-digger, who was styled in the press as ‘The King of the Common’. The others were William Sparrow (road sweeper), Charlie Burford (labourer), Leonard Luce (painter), and John Price (tailor). The hill was quarried for its limestone for nearly 400 years, and for most of that time local people used the hill for recreation and travel. Piano merchant Henry Dale bought the quarries, as speculation, in 1894, and his first act was to post notices closing the paths and rights of way over the hill. He built a cottage for his foreman, Cratchley, which blocked a right of way and filled in a ‘pit’ where working people held a fair every Easter. Frustration came to a head in 1902 when at least 2,000 people marched on the hill and tore down the cottage, watched by the police who stated it was done ‘with no unnecessary circumstances of disorder.’ Tramway cottage was rebuilt and the Stalwarts set out to tear it down again in 1904 but the Riot Act was read and the ‘Stalwarts’ arrested and sentenced to hard labour. In 1927, Dale’s quarry company went bankrupt and the council bought the whole hill. It was designated as common land and today it remains open to all. Here is a short history of enclosure in Britain: https://ift.tt/2uHT5TB https://ift.tt/2ml9LdW