Talk: The Charter of the Forest and our lost Commons Rights
6 July @ 7:30 pm – 8:30 pm
A talk by Myc Riggulsford
Your electricity bill may be illegal, and you can dig up clay, feed pigs, or build your own house, according to this fast-paced and fun journey through 800 years of Devon history. We may have lost or forgotten rights which entitle us all to a basic and sustainable living from our countryside – and it’s all thanks to revolting Devon commoners.
Magna Carta’s first part, the Charter of Liberties agreed at Runnymede in 1215, protected our new ruling class, the Norman barons, from being taxed and imprisoned. But a second law passed two years later, the Charter of the Forest, returned rights to ordinary people in Britain – rights such as keeping ponies and sheep, or collecting firewood on Dartmoor and Exmoor. These rights are still used today by villagers with ancient links to the land, and they may mean that we should all share this country’s natural wealth.
By knowing more about our lost rights, we can protect common assets such as ancient woodlands, and make sure young people have opportunities to explore alternative and more sustainable ways of living. The fascinating knowledge we have lost includes smallholding skills such as pannage, estovers, agistment and other archaic practices from the days before plastic.
Join science and environment journalist Myc Riggulsford for a bit of history, comedy, and some radical thinking in a thought-provoking debate about Devon’s past, the 800-year-old rights we have forgotten or allowed to lapse, and how they could help our society today.
