John Morton was a preacher and farmer who, in the nineteenth century, saved Bucklebury Common in Berkshire from enclosure, and therefore ensured it continued to be accessible to all.
Morton was born into a poor family in 1788. His father died when he was eight years old, and he moved with his mother to Hope Cottage, in Bucklebury, to live with relatives.
Bucklebury possessed one of the biggest commons in Berkshire. It provided a livelihood for 170 families, who depended on its resources. These included grazing and bracken for bedding their animals, water for their households, and wood for their fires.
Although he grew up before education became compulsory, he was fortunate enough to attend a local charity school, known as a Bluecoat School. Only reading, writing, arithmetic and scripture would have been taught, but that was a good education when so many poor children had none. He could not have achieved all he did in his life if he had been illiterate.
When he was about 13, he fell gravely ill with a terrible fever and nearly died. Although he recovered, he was left with a bad limp. This meant it was difficult for him to join in the games with his friends, but he did his best not to be left out and would join in where he could or go hunting squirrels with them on the Common.
After he left school, he worked on local farms and eventually moved to run Holly Farm. He married a woman named Sarah and they had six children: two boys and four girls. Some of their great, great, great, great grandchildren still live in the parish.
Morton began to turn away from the Church of England and to attend the newly formed congregational church in Thatcham. He became a Sunday school teacher and in 1816 he started to preach in the open air, travelling through the local villages. His sermons were sometimes disrupted by those who worshipped at the Anglican church: they mocked and harassed him, throwing eggs, and threatening him with cudgels. Undeterred he continued, and he became a familiar figure in the area. He attracted a following and his headquarters became a disused blacksmith’s shop on Turner’s Green.
In 1834, the new Lord of the Manor, Mr Winchcombe Hartley, decided to enclose the common. A Bill was presented to Parliament for its enclosure. Morton was by now an influential figure in the Bucklebury area and he took a leading role in fighting the Bill, knowing what hardship and impoverishment this enclosure would bring to the local people.
Morton engaged counsel to support the cause and contacted the MP for Reading, Mr Walter, asking for his support. He rode to London, arriving on 16thApril 1834, to help defeat the Bill. In his absence, his wife ran the farm and he sent letters from London with instructions for the tasks that needed to be completed.
After numerous worried letters home, more fundraising and many prayers, the bill was defeated and freedom of Bucklebury Common was ensured for all time on May 8th 1834.
After the Bill was defeated, John Morton’s congregation raised nearly £400 from public subscription and finally built a chapel on the site of the old blacksmith’s shop in Turners Green. It was opened on July 31st1840. Morton preached in his chapel until he died in 1871, at the age of 83. He was buried in the chapel grounds.
Morton could never have known how important his efforts would be to future generations. Life in Bucklebury continued much as it had done, until WWI. So many local men were killed that their families could no longer keep and look after the same number of animals. The common, lacking the grazing, started to become overgrown with scrub. A way of life that had lasted for generations began to disappear.
During WWII the Common was requisitioned by the army and closed to the local population. The top soil was removed and built into huge mounds that remain to this day. Huts were built to house American servicemen: people of colour on one side of the road and whites the other.
After the war, homeless families were temporarily housed in the huts until new council houses could be built.
The Common is now part of the North Wessex Downland Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Parts of it have been restored to that increasingly rare habitat, lowland heath, home to nightjars, adders and glorious displays of heather in late summer.
Owing to the number of footpaths created by the local people in the past, taking their animals to graze, Bucklebury is said to have more footpaths than any other parish in England and is now an enormous asset to walkers.
Morton’s chapel still stands: a testament to this remarkable man. He could never have guessed the benefits his actions would have on future generations, and Bucklebury Common would be a lasting memorial to one man’s courage and dogged determination to stand up to the local Lord of the Manor, buck the national trend of land enclosure, and win against the odds.
By Wynne Frankum, a U3A Shared Learning Project researcher for the Citizens Project
Documents and letters pertaining to opposition of Bill to Enclosure of Bucklebury Common 1834
Acknowledgments:
Helen Relf, Bucklebury History Group
Arthur l Humphreys, Bucklebury: A Berkshire Parish. The Home of Bolingbroke. 1701-1715 (1932)
Mr. Hartley Russell
Cecilia Millson, Bucklebury’s Heritage
The people of Bucklebury for their contributions
Documents and additional images courtesy of Bucklebury History Society.
