Award of the Commissioners under the Croydon Canal Act respecting Parson’s Mead, 2 March 1811

Summary

This document, which is stored at the Surrey History Centre, records a decision (an “award”) made by a group of officials (the “Commissioners”) who had been put in charge of making decisions about certain aspects of the construction of the Croydon Canal. The majority of the document is taken up by recitation of various provisions of the 1801 Croydon Canal Act. Some of these are administrative details, but others are more pertinent:

• The Company of Proprietors of the canal were authorised to make and maintain a public road connecting “the High Road leading from Croydon to London” (i.e. London Road) to “the Lower end of Church Street”.
• Several Commissioners were appointed and charged with settling disputes that might arise between the Company and any persons who owned or had an interest in land that could be affected by the construction of the canal or any ancillary works.
• The Commissioners were empowered to determine the purchase price or rent that should be paid for any land needed for the canal.

The award then goes on to note that in July 1810 the Company presented plans for the new road to the Commissioners, and asked said Commissioners to decide how much should be paid for the land that would be required to make this road. A decision was not made immediately, and in February 1811 the Company returned to the Commissioners with new plans for a different route.

Matters moved much more quickly this time. On 2 March 1811 the Commissioners viewed the site of the proposed road, and determined that £325 should be paid for the freehold of one acre of Parson’s Mead and £50 should be paid as compensation to be shared between the landowners and all other persons who were “interested in” the land. (These “interested” parties were most likely those who had common rights over the land. All common rights on Parson’s Mead were extinguished 14 years later by the Parson’s Mead enclosure award.) The document described on this page was drawn up and signed the same day.

Below is my transcription of the award. Bold and italic formatting reflect the different writing styles used in the document, and I have added paragraph breaks to make it easier to read. Thanks to the Surrey History Centre for allowing me to reproduce their images of the award as well as my own transcription.

My transcription

To all to whom these Presents shall come, John Corbett, Edward Browne, Robert Lucas, Francis Meager the younger Thomas Turner and George Matthew six of the Commissioners named and appointed in and by a certain act of Parliament made and passed in the forty first year of the reign of his present Majesty intituled “An Act for making and maintaining a Navigable Canal from or from near the Town of Croydon in the County of Surrey into the Grand Surrey Canal in the Parish of Saint Paul Deptford in the County of Surrey and for supplying the Towns of Croydon Streatham and Dulwich and the district called Norwood in the Parish of Croydon in the County of Surrey and the Town of Sydenham in the County of Kent with water from the said Canal” Send Greeting

Whereas it was in and by the said act of Parliament amongst other things enacted that the said several persons therein named and such other person and persons bodies politic and corporate as should at any time thereafter be possessed of one or more share or shares in the said Canal and undertaking and the successors executors advisors and assigns of such several person and persons should be and they were accordingly united into a Company for the making completing and maintaining the said navigable Canal and acqueducts [sic] and other works thereby authorized to be made according to the rules orders and directions therein expressed and should for that purpose be one body Politic and Corporate by the name of the Company of the Proprietors of the Croydon Canal

And whereas it was by the said act further enacted that it should be lawful for the said Company of Proprietors to make and maintain a Public Carriage Road from the High Road leading from Croydon to London and opposite to a field in the Parish of Croydon aforesaid then belonging to Robert Harris Esquire and marked [unclear] in the plan thereinafter mentioned across a Piece of Commonable Land called Parsons Mead then across field [sic] then belonging to Ann Maclean and in the occupation of Patrick Drummond or his undertenant and then through a Piece of Orchard or Garden Ground then or late belonging to Robert Reynolds and in the occupation of John Eling and there entering the Lower end of Church Street in the Town of Croydon aforesaid

And it was thereby further enacted that the said John Corbett Edward Browne Robert Lucas Francis Meager the younger Thomas Turner and George Matthew together with divers other persons therein named and their successors to be elected in the manner thereinafter mentioned should be and they were thereby appointed Commissioners for settling determining and adjusting all questions matters and differences which should or might arise between the said Company and the several proprietors of and persons interested in any Lands Tenements or Hereditaments which should or might be later affected or prejudiced by the execution of any of the powers thereby granted

And it was by the said Act provided and further enacted that the said Commissioners should have such qualification as therein is expressed and should not act in the execution of the said Act (otherwise than giving notice of the first meeting of the Commissioners and administering an oath or affirmation in the words therein expressed to the Commissioners) until he [sic] should have taken such Oath or Affirmation before any one or more of the said Commissioners who was or were thereby authorized and empowered to administer the same and that no person should act as a Commissioner at any meeting of Commissioners (except at the first meeting or at any adjournment thereof to be held within one Calendar month of such first meeting) unless he should have taken the said oath at some other meeting one Calendar month at least previously to the time of his claiming to act as a Commissioner

And that the said Commissioners should appoint their Clerk at their first meeting and that General and special meetings of the said Commissioners should be called and holden in such manner as is therein directed but that no meeting whatsoever of the said Commissioners (except an adjourned meeting) should at any time be had for putting into execution any of the powers or authorities vested in the said Commissioners by the said act unless fourteen days previous notice at least of every such intended meeting should be given in some Newspaper usually circulated in the County in which such meeting should be proposed to be held

and that all the powers and authorities by the said Act given to or vested in the said Commissioners (except such as might be executed without their being assembled at any meeting or meetings) should and might from time to time be exercised by the majority of the Commissioners present at every such meeting the whole number present at every such meeting not being less than five and at every such meeting one of the Commissioners present should be appointed Chairman who in case of an equal division of votes should have a casting vote

and it was thereby enacted that from time to time upon any application to be made in writing by or on the behalf of the said Company of Proprietors or by any three or more owners or occupiers of any Lands or Hereditaments to be affected by the making of the said Canal Aqueducts or works to the Clerk to the said Commissioners requesting him to appoint a special meeting of the said Commissioners the said Clerk should and he was thereby authorized and required within fourteen days next after such request or application made to give public notice in manner aforesaid of such meeting to be held at such time and place as should be specified in such notice such time not being less than fourteen nor more than twenty one days from the day on which such request or application should be made to him as aforesaid

And the said Commissioners was [sic] thereby empowered and required notwithstanding any previous or intervening adjournment of their meetings to assemble at the time and place so to be appointed in order to put into execution the powers and authorities thereby given to and vested in them respecting any matter for which such special meeting should be required And it was thereby provided that every special meeting of the Commissioners to be held upon such request or application as aforesaid for hearing or determining any particular complaint controversy dispute or difference between the said Company of Proprietors and any other person or persons should be held at some place within two miles of the place where such complaint or dispute shall arise

And it was thereby further enacted that the said Commissioners should be and they were thereby authorized and required at any of their meetings to examine witnesses upon oath to be administered by them touching any matter which might in pursuance of the said act be submitted to the consideration of the said Commissioners

and they were thereby empowered by writing under their hands and seals to determine and adjust from time to time what sum or sums of money should be paid by the said Company of Proprietors either in gross or by annual rent or payment for the absolute purchase of or as a recompence [sic] for the use of the Lands Grounds or Hereditaments which should be so set out or ascertained as thereinbefore mentioned for making the said Canal and Aqueducts or for any other the purposes of the said act

and also to adjust and determine the compensation to be made by the said Company of Proprietors for any Damages which might or should be at any time or times thereafter sustained by any bodies Politic Corporate or Collegiate or by

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Any person or persons respectively being Owners of or interested in any Lands tenements or other hereditaments for or by any reason of severing and dividing the same or by reason of the making using repairing or maintaining the said Canal and Towing Paths and the said Aqueducts and all the works and conveinencies [sic] belonging thereto or by the flowing or breaking of water over or through the banks of the said Canal or from the said aqueducts or any other works which should be made pursuant to the powers thereby given and by not ?cleaning? the same or by reason or means of the execution of any other of the powers thereby given to the said Company of Proprietors

And it was thereby further enacted that the Commissioners and ?Juries? should respectively award in all determinations judgments and verdicts which they should respectively make and give in the execution of the powers thereby vested in them (concerning the value of Lands and other hereditaments separately and distinctly from the consideration of any Damages sustained or to be sustained by any person or persons in consequence of the execution of any powers of the said act and should distinguish the value set upon the Lands and other hereditaments and the monies assessed or adjudged for such damages as aforesaid separate and apart from each other

And whereas five of the Commissioners in the said act named and duly qualified in such manner as by the said Act is directed having met at the house called or known by the name of the Grey hound [sic] Inn at Croydon aforesaid on the twenty fifth day of April one thousand eight hundred and five pursuant to a requisition to them made by the said Company of Proprietors and notice thereof duly published in the County Chronicle of the ninth day of the said month of April (the same being a newspaper usually circulated in the said County of Surrey) Did proceed to put the said Act in force and and duly appointed their Clerk in such manner and form as by the said act is directed

And whereas an application having on the twelfth day of July last been made in writing on behalf of the said Company of Proprietors to the Clerk of the said Commissioners requesting him to appoint a special meeting of the said Commissioners for the purpose of ascertaining and setting out the said road and settling the price of the Land to be taken and used in making the same the said Clerk did on the fourteenth day of the said month of July give public notice of such meeting in the Surrey Southwark and Sussex Gazette of the fourteenth day of the said Month of July last to be held at the Greyhound at Croydon aforesaid (being within two miles of the place where the dispute intended to be submitted to the said Commissioners did arise) on the thirty first day of the said month of July last

And whereas the said Commissioners parties to these presents being duly qualified in such manner as in and by the said act is directed and having taken the oath prescribed by the said Act One Calendar month and upwards previous thereto did on the thirty first day of July last meet at the Greyhound Inn at Croydon aforesaid pursuant to the said notice at which time the said Commissioners having appointed the said John Corbett their Chairman the said Company of Proprietors submitted to their consideration the then proposed line plan and dimensions of the public Carriage road by the said act directed to be made as aforesaid And also what sum or sums of money should be paid by the said Company of Proprietors for the purchase of the piece of Land part of the said Commonable Land called Parsons Mead then set out and ascertained for making a part of the said road containing by admeasurement one acre and twenty five perches and also for such compensation as aforesaid

And whereas the said Commissioners parties to these presents having heard and considered what was alledged [sic] on behalf of the said Company of Proprietors and of the Proprietors and other persons interested in the said piece of commonable Land called Parsons Mead Did determine the matters so submitted to their consideration but before they had made any award therein the said Company of Proprietors did on the fourteenth day of February last make an application to the Clerk of the said Commissioners representing to him that had become necessary to change the line of the said public Carriage road and requesting him to appoint another special meeting of the said Commissioners to review their determination on the matters aforesaid whereupon the said Clerk did on the sixteenth day of the said month of February give public notice of such meeting in the said Surrey Southwark and Sussex Gazette to be held at the Greyhound Inn at Croydon aforesaid on this day

And whereas the said Commissioners parties to these presents accordingly met this day at the place last mentioned pursuant to the said notice And the said Commissioners having appointed the said John Corbett their Chairman the said Company of Proprietors submitted to their consideration another proposed line and plan of the said public Carriage road and also what sum or sums of money should be paid by the said Company of Proprietors for the absolute purchase of the piece of Land part of the said Commonable Land called Parsons Mead [unclear] set out and ascertained for making part of the said road pursuant to the said act and in the plan drawn in the margin of these presents distinguished by the colour red and containing by admeasurement one acre or thereabouts and also for the compensation to be made by the said Company of Proprietors for any damages which might be sustained by the said several persons being owners of or interested in the said Land by reason of the severing or dividing the same or the making and maintaining the said road or in any wise relating thereto

Now these presents Witness that the said Commissioners parties to these presents having this day examined and surveyed the several Lands and grounds over or across which the said public Carriage road is now proposed to be made in pursuance of the said act and having considered the line plan and dimensions of the said road as now proposed by the said Company of Proprietors and marked and set out in the said plan drawn in the margin of these presents and having fully weighed and considered all the objections made thereto by and on behalf of the Lord of the Manor of the Rectory of Croydon otherwise Bermondsey and the proprietors and other persons interested in the said Land or Ground called Parsons Mead and also all other questions matters and differences concerning the same

Do by this writing under their hands and seals adjust and determine that the said Company of Proprietors shall pay for the absolute purchase of the fee simple and inheritance of the said piece or parcel of land lying and being in Parsons Mead aforesaid containing one acre and so set out and ascertained for making the said road as aforesaid free from all charges and incumbrances whatsoever the sum of three hundred and twenty pounds and for the damages which shall or may be sustained by the several persons being owners of or interested in the said Lands by the means aforesaid the sum of fifty pounds such respective sums to be paid so soon as the said Company of Proprietors shall take possession of the said Land

And the said Commissioners parties to these presents do hereby further adjust and determine that the said Company of Proprietors do and shall make and maintain an open wood fence on each side of the said piece of Ground so set out and ascertained as aforesaid of equal height form and quality with the present fence dividing Parsons Mead from the Turnpike road

In witness whereof the said Commissioners parties to these presents have hereunto set their hands and seals the second day of March in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and eleven

[signed: John Corbett, Edward Browne, Robt Lucas, Fras Meager Junr, Thos Turner, George Matthew]

[Witness statements:]

Sealed and delivered by the withinnamed John Corbett in the presence of [signed: Jno Roberts, [unclear]]

Sealed and delivered by the within named Edward Browne in the presence of [signed: Edward Browne Junr]

Sealed and delivered by the within named Robert Lucas Francis Meager the younger Thomas Turner and George Matthew (being first duly stampt) in the presence of [signed: Thos Twigg Clk to Mr Drummond Croydon]