Market Gardener in Barnes
One of many forced to sell or vacate land for the construction of the railways. In 1846 James got £40 compensation for his crops.
In the early days of railway construction the private Railway Companies had to negotiate the purchase of land from hundreds
or thousands of individual landowners along a prospective route. From 1825 Parliament debated each new Railway Company
proposal for reasoning, impact and viability. The passing of the Richmond (Surrey) Railway Act 1845 meant the Company was
“authorized and empowered to enter into and upon the Lands and Grounds of any Person or Persons…. for making, preserving,
improving, completing, maintaining, and using the said Railway”. The Lands Clauses Consolidation Act, 1845 helped standardise
the rules of best practice and covered many points including compensation schemes; the landowner’s right to object; adherence to
approved plans; to repair roads damaged or otherwise interfered with; Companies not entitled to minerals found on the land unless
expressly purchased; making good on completion and relevant penalties for not adhering to the law.
Some landowners and tenants accepted token sums, the wealthier landowners had the clout to get the best price or afford to fight
in the courts to refuse to sell. Tenants may have to give up an arable crop for example or lose access to grazing land for their
livestock. Market gardeners such as James Priseman would be granted compensation.
The Richmond Railway Co. complained that landowners in Barnes were particularly resistant. The line would need to pass
through Barnes Common which was the property of St Paul’s Cathedral, and Barnes Commoners with grazing rights on that land,
refused immediate possession. According to Leslie Freeman’s research Henry Higgs, a tenant on a Mrs Chapman’s land accepted
£215 compensation, while Mrs Chapman herself refused an offer of £1,000, demanding the company either take the entire field or
build a bridge over it! She finally settled five months later on £1,443 8s 8d (£150,000 today).
James accepted £40 (£4,200 today) for his crops and interest in the land. He and his wife Frances left Barnes for central London
where he took work as a clerk, a grocer, a shopman before returning to gardening in the 1870s.
** Download Leslie Freeman’s full and fascinating history of the railway from the Barnes and Mortlake History Society
Newsletter June 1996 http://www.barnes-history.org.uk/maps/BandMmap/railway.pdf
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