During Medieval times, Kenley Common and
Riddlesdown formed part of the waste land of the Manor of
Watendone. The soil was by then too poor to grow crops,
make hay or even coppice woodland. The only economic use
was therefore as pasture to graze livestock. Commoners
had legal rights to gather fuel, livestock bedding and
roofing, as well as rights to graze. The City of London
bought the land from the then Lord of the Manor Edmund Byron
in 1883 alongside the other Coulsdon Commons.
In 1917 the Common and adjacent farmland was requisitioned for an
airfield where aircraft were assembled and tested before being
flown to the Western Front. After the First World War the
northern part of the Common was returned to the City Corporation
but the southern part was kept for the airfield. To make up
for this loss, farmland overlooking Whyteleafe was transferred to
the City Corporation and agreement made that other land
would be given back to the Corporation if it was no longer
needed for mililtary purposes. This has happened around the
airfield, outside the perimeter track, which is now looked after as
Kenley Common.
War damage to the Common was made good in the 1940s and in the
early 1950s fields were hay cut and some areas grazed by Jersey
cattle and ponies. However, much of the chalk grassland on
the steeper slopes, where haymaking was difficult, became overgrown
with shrubs and trees. It wasn't until we reintroduced
grazing in the 1990s that we had an alternative means of managing
this area and were able to restore open chalk grassland here.
Today, the Second World War
features of Kenley Airfield are the Common's most valuable
historical remains. The surviving blast pens, eight of
which lie on the Common, are protected as Scheduled Monuments
by English Heritage. Special conditions apply as to how
they should be maintained or restored. The Kenley
Tribute was built and dedicated during the Millennium and is
the forcus for Remembrance Day and other commemorations.
The whole of the original Second World War airfield is a
Conservation Area.
Veteran Trees
There are a few scattered open grown maiden oaks that are about
200 years old on what was the original Common. Similarly
there are maiden oaks of considerable age grown as standards in the
ancient coppice woodland that was added to the original
Common. Here there are large ash coppice stools which are
wide enough at the base to suggest that they are 300+ years
old. Many of these were last coppiced around 60 years ago,
perhaps in response to wartime needs for fuel.