MikeKAY
05-04-2005, 11:26 PM
Baron’s son stakes claim to village common land
By Joanna Bale
THE rural tranquillity of North Norfolk is being threatened by a bizarre feudal battle between villagers and an Old Harrovian aristocrat who claims that their land is really his.
Robert Harbord-Hamond, the youngest son of the 11th Lord Suffield, has enraged local people in a number of villages by his attempts to reclaim common land that once belonged to his ancestors.
He has put barbed wire fencing round the 34-acre common in Hanworth so that he can graze cattle, and his security guards patrol it nightly.
Now, using the royal solicitors Farrer & Co, he has written to villagers in Roughton and Aldborough stating that their commons and village greens are his.
Hanworth villagers will go to Norwich County Court tomorrow to try to settle the ownership dispute. The village’s hundred residents have raised nearly £1,000 for a fighting fund and have promised to share costs if they lose the case, with pledges of about £40,000.
Mr Harbord-Hamond, a former City trader and reformed drug addict, moved to Hanworth nine months ago. He lives alone in a rented cottage, drives a battered pickup truck and does not own, as far as anyone can tell, even one head of cattle. But this has not stopped him in his quest to claim thousands of acres.
Jill Wilton, whose cottage overlooks the common in Hanworth, said: “When he moved here he started acting as if he owned the place. When workmen started putting up a fence we called the police but they refused to get involved, saying it was a civil dispute.”
Villagers say the land was signed over to the parish council in 1974 when it was registered with the Commons Commissioner. A document signed by Doris Harbord, a distant relative of Mr Harbord-Hamond, proves this, they say.
In Roughton, two miles away, Gil Hunt, the chairman of the parish council, is determined that Mr HarbordHamond’s plans to sell their common to developers will never be realised. The strip of land, about 650ft by 160ft, has swings and benches and a stream running through it. It is prized by the residents who admit that, without it, the village has few attractive features.
Mr Hunt said: “He wrote saying he wanted to take over the common so we wrote back and said the land was registered in the name of the council with the Land Registry and that we will continue to administer it. We have not heard back.”
Villagers in Aldborough are confident that they have stopped Mr Harbord-Hamond after he wrote to them claiming that their village green was his. One resident said: “We sent him a very snotty letter and he backed down.”
The Suffield barony was created in 1774. The estate originally covered thousands of acres. It was put into trust by the third Lord Suffield to protect it from his gambling son and was eroded as the family fell on hard times. The current baron lives in a rented cottage in the grounds of his former family seat at Gunton, which has been turned into luxury maisonettes.
Mr Harbord-Hamond said last night: “I have recently brought the estate out of trust. I have documentation to say that I own this land which is the remains of a poorly run estate which I am trying to get back on its feet. I am gradually taking on my responsibilities, but there has been a bit of resistance to change.”
Any Englishmen care to explain this to me? O_o Link. (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1594451,00.html)
By Joanna Bale
THE rural tranquillity of North Norfolk is being threatened by a bizarre feudal battle between villagers and an Old Harrovian aristocrat who claims that their land is really his.
Robert Harbord-Hamond, the youngest son of the 11th Lord Suffield, has enraged local people in a number of villages by his attempts to reclaim common land that once belonged to his ancestors.
He has put barbed wire fencing round the 34-acre common in Hanworth so that he can graze cattle, and his security guards patrol it nightly.
Now, using the royal solicitors Farrer & Co, he has written to villagers in Roughton and Aldborough stating that their commons and village greens are his.
Hanworth villagers will go to Norwich County Court tomorrow to try to settle the ownership dispute. The village’s hundred residents have raised nearly £1,000 for a fighting fund and have promised to share costs if they lose the case, with pledges of about £40,000.
Mr Harbord-Hamond, a former City trader and reformed drug addict, moved to Hanworth nine months ago. He lives alone in a rented cottage, drives a battered pickup truck and does not own, as far as anyone can tell, even one head of cattle. But this has not stopped him in his quest to claim thousands of acres.
Jill Wilton, whose cottage overlooks the common in Hanworth, said: “When he moved here he started acting as if he owned the place. When workmen started putting up a fence we called the police but they refused to get involved, saying it was a civil dispute.”
Villagers say the land was signed over to the parish council in 1974 when it was registered with the Commons Commissioner. A document signed by Doris Harbord, a distant relative of Mr Harbord-Hamond, proves this, they say.
In Roughton, two miles away, Gil Hunt, the chairman of the parish council, is determined that Mr HarbordHamond’s plans to sell their common to developers will never be realised. The strip of land, about 650ft by 160ft, has swings and benches and a stream running through it. It is prized by the residents who admit that, without it, the village has few attractive features.
Mr Hunt said: “He wrote saying he wanted to take over the common so we wrote back and said the land was registered in the name of the council with the Land Registry and that we will continue to administer it. We have not heard back.”
Villagers in Aldborough are confident that they have stopped Mr Harbord-Hamond after he wrote to them claiming that their village green was his. One resident said: “We sent him a very snotty letter and he backed down.”
The Suffield barony was created in 1774. The estate originally covered thousands of acres. It was put into trust by the third Lord Suffield to protect it from his gambling son and was eroded as the family fell on hard times. The current baron lives in a rented cottage in the grounds of his former family seat at Gunton, which has been turned into luxury maisonettes.
Mr Harbord-Hamond said last night: “I have recently brought the estate out of trust. I have documentation to say that I own this land which is the remains of a poorly run estate which I am trying to get back on its feet. I am gradually taking on my responsibilities, but there has been a bit of resistance to change.”
Any Englishmen care to explain this to me? O_o Link. (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1594451,00.html)