Wolvercote Commoners’ Committee

Wolvercote Commoners’ Committee was set up to manage three areas of common land in Wolvercote – two of which are now Sites of Special Scientific Interest – on behalf of all who live in the parish.

It protects Common Rights dating back to 1279, as well as fostering and maintaining interest in local amenities.

The people of Wolvercote have enjoyed the right to pasture animals on Wolvercote Common for hundreds of years. Those rights were first confirmed in 1279 and extended in 1562, with grazing recorded in the Domesday Book. Traditionally, any householder resident in the parish held these rights – a custom rooted in evidence predating the Norman Conquest.

The committee has worked hard to preserve these rights over the centuries. Its predecessors fought major legal battles in 1553, 1649, 1762 and 1843, and as recently as 1993 successfully resisted an attempt to bring the commons into the ownership of Oxford City Council.

Today the committee issues temporary grazing certificates to those who can demonstrate need and would have qualified before the Commons Registration Act 1965, and continues to protect and promote the common land for the benefit of Wolvercote residents.