Award of the Commissioners of the Croydon Canal with respect to thirty perches of land in Parson’s Mead, 8 January 1814

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:

• A company was set up “for making completing and maintaining the said Navigable Canal and the Aqueducts and other Works thereby authorized to be made”, known as the Company of Proprietors of the Croydon Canal.
• 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 on 8 January 1814 the Company asked the Commissioners to decide how much should be paid for thirty perches of land, part of a meadow called Parson’s Mead. The stated reason for needing this land was to create a connection between the canal wharf on the other side of London Road and a railway which the Company had recently constructed along the route of the present-day Tamworth Road. This railway ran down Tamworth Road to connect with the Surrey Iron Railway where it passed through the western end of Church Street, in the area now known as Reeves Corner.

The Commissioners decided that £60 should be paid for the freehold of the land, and £10 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.

I am not convinced that this sale ever actually went ahead. The western boundary of the 30 perches of land, as shown in the map included here, runs directly through the middle of one of the plots of land (lot 19) offered for sale by the Caldcleugh family in May 1835 — over a year before the canal finally closed. It is possible that the Company did buy the land, and later sold it back; but even if so, it seems very unlikely that they ever built anything on or over it.

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 Fuller, Robert Lucas, Thomas Turner, George Matthew and Francis Meager the younger five 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 Surry [sic] 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 Surry [sic] 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 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 Administrators and Assigns of such several Person and Persons should be and they were accordingly united into a Company for making completing and maintaining the said Navigable Canal and the Aqueducts 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 Proprietors of the Croydon Canal

And it was thereby further enacted that the said John Fuller Robert Lucas Thomas Turner George Matthew and Francis Meager the younger together with divers other Persons therein named and their Successors to be elected in 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 taken 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 is therein 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 unto the other 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 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 general and special Meetings of the said Commissioners should be called and holden in such manner as is therein directed but that no Meeting whatever 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 the least of every such intended Meeting should be given in some Newspaper usually circulating in the County in which such Meeting should be proposed to be held

and that all powers and authorities by the said Act given to or vested in the said Commissioners (except such as might be executed without 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 any 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 Voices should have a casting Vote

and that if it should happen that there should not appear at any Meeting or Meetings to be held under the powers of the said Act any Commissioner or Commissioners to adjourn or if they should omit to make an Adjournment then and in such Case and as often as the same should so happen any three or more of the said Commissioners might at any time or times revive or continue the Meetings of the said Commissioners by calling another Meeting to be holden at such time or times as any such three Commissioners should appoint and at any place within two Miles of the said Canal or other Works public notice being given in manner aforesaid by the same Commissioners of all such Revivals or Continuations of the said Meeting

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 and payment for the absolute purchase of or as a recompence for the use of the Lands Grounds or Hereditaments which should be so set out and ascertained as thereinbefore mentioned for making the said Canal and Aqueducts or for any other the purpose 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 sustained by any Bodies politic or corporate or collegiate or by any person or persons respectively being Owners of or interested in any Lands Tenements or other Hereditaments for or by 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 Conveniences belonging thereto

And it was thereby further enacted that the said Commissioners should award (in all Determinations and Judgments which they should make and give in execution of the powers thereby vested in them) concerning the value of Lands and other Hereditaments separately and distinctly from the consideration of any other damages sustained or to be sustained by any person or persons in consequence of the execution of any of the powers of the said Act and should distinguish the value set upon the Lands and other Hereditaments and the Money 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 Greyhound Inn at Croydon aforesaid (the same being within two miles of the said Canal) 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 Surry [sic]) did proceed to put the said Act in force and duly appointed their Clerk in such manner and form as by the said Act is directed

And whereas the Commissioners present at the last Meeting which was duly holden on the twenty ninth day of April one thousand eight hundred and twelve having omitted to make an adjournment three of the said Commissioners parties to these Presents did call another Meeting to be holden on this day at the said Inn called the Greyhound Inn at Croydon aforesaid and duly gave public notice of the said Meeting in a Newspaper called the Morning Chronicle being a Newspaper usually circulated in the said County of Surry [sic]

And whereas the said Commissioners parties to these presents being duly qualified as in and by the said Act is directed and having taken the Oath prescribed by the said Act one calendar month and upwards before the day of the date of these Presents did meet on the day of the date of these Presents at the said House called the Greyhound Inn at Croydon aforesaid at which time the said Company of Proprietors did submit to the Consideration of the said Commissioners parties to these Presents what sum or sums of Money should be paid by the said Company of Proprietors in gross for the absolute purchase of All that piece or parcel of Land or Ground containing by Admeasurement thirty Perches or thereabouts situate on the East side of Parsons Mead in the said Parish of Croydon and adjoining to the West side of the High Road leading from London to Croydon which said piece or parcel of Ground has been set out and ascertained by the said Company of Proprietors in pursuance of the said Act for the purpose of making a Railway from the present Railway belonging to the said Proprietors in Parsons Mead aforesaid across the said High Road to the North West Corner of the Wharf of the said Company of Proprietors and which said piece or parcel of Ground is more particularly delineated and described in the Map or Plan thereof drawn in the Margin of these Presents and also for the Compensation to be made by the said Company of Proprietors for any Damages which may be sustained by the several Persons being Owners of or interested in the said Land or Ground by reason of the severing and dividing the same or by the making using repairing and maintaining the said Railway or in any wise relating thereto

Now these Presents witness that the said Commissioners parties to these Presents having considered the Plan and Particulars of the said Railway proposed to be made by the said Company of Proprietors in and through the said piece or parcel of Land delineated 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 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 or Ground situate lying and being in Parsons Mead aforesaid containing by measurement thirty Roods [sic] or thereabouts and so set out and ascertained for making the said Railway as aforesaid free from all Charges and Incumbrances whatsoever the sum of Sixty Pounds and for the damages which shall or may be sustained by the several Persons being Owners of or interested in the said Land or Ground by the means aforesaid the sum of Ten Pounds such respective sums of Money to be paid so soon as the said Company of Proprietors shall take possession of the said Land or Ground

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 that side of the said piece of Land or Ground so set out and ascertained as aforesaid which adjoins to Parsons Mead aforesaid of equal heigth [sic] form and quality with the present Fence dividing Parsons Mead from the Turnpike Road and that the said Company of Proprietors do and shall remove the Gate now standing in the Eastern Fence of the said Piece of Ground and fix the same in the Eastern Fence of Parsons Mead aforesaid immediately beyond the north end of the said piece of Ground

In witness whereof the said Commissioners parties to these Presents have hereunto set their hands and seals the eighth day of January in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and fourteen.

[signed: John Fuller, Robt Lucas, Thos Turner, George Matthew, Fras Meager]

[Witness statement:]

Signed sealed and delivered by the within named John Fuller, Robert Lucas, Thomas Turner, George Matthew and Francis Meager in the presence of

[signed: Thos Twigg
Clerk to Mr Drummond Croydon.]