Thank you

4/4: ... and most nature lovers experience the outdoors through very narrow corridors of land. The pattern of losing the commons in small steps is still with us.

3/4: ... survival as people suddenly found themselves shut out of land they had relied on for generations.

It feels relevant today because access to land in England is still highly restricted. Only a small proportion of the countryside is legally open to roam, ...

2/4: During the early 1800s those rights were narrowed through enclosure, fencing and new legal controls. What had been a community resource was turned into something owned and managed for private or Crown profit. The 1831 uprising was not simply a protest. It was a defence of everyday ...

1/3: For me, the story of Warren James captures a moment when a living commons was steadily taken away. The Foresters in the Forest of Dean had long-standing communal rights to timber, grazing and mining. These were not privileges handed down from above, they were part of a shared way of life.

Whenever I think about the loss of the commons, this is one of the stories of resistance that comes to mind.

This was literally the first I’d heard of it

Also worth including
@kateraworth.bsky.social into this conversation

Massive congratulations, Nick!! Thanks so much for the progress updates, really enjoyed following your journey

Would be lovely if this was our national motto, tbh

The other word is ‘at’

Yep, me too.