Editing Chobham Common (section)

==History==
[[Peat]] and [[tumuli]] at the site suggest that, like other non-mountainous heaths, Chobham Common was transformed from to mostly shrubs, grass and bog when late [[Paleolithic Europe|Paleolithic]] [[farmer]]s and wood-gatherers cleared much of the primary [[woodland]] that before their arrival cloaked the country.<ref>{{National Heritage List for England |num=1008887 |desc=Bowl barrow 150m north-west of Pipers Green Stud |access-date=11 October 2013}}</ref> This exposed and degraded the fragile topsoils of the site, creating the conditions favoured by [[heathland]]. After the initial clearance the area would have been kept free of trees by grazing and fuel gathering. The specific earliest periods of occupation were the [[Neolithic period]] and the [[Bronze Age]]; analysis of peat cores from areas with similar [[geology]] and patterns of settlement elsewhere in southern [[Great Britain|Britain]] would suggest the [[heathland]] on Chobham Common emerged at some time during these periods.

An [[enclosure|inclosure award]] was made by Parliament in 1855 of part to the [[Arthur Onslow, 3rd Earl of Onslow|Earl of Onslow]] outright, the rest, for example, in 1911 comprising "several thousand acres of [[common land]]" was uninclosed but associated with his land, at which time [[Chobham]] remained a large parish (i.e. village or town) in southern England, covering {{convert|9057|acres}}.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=42998 |title=Parishes: Chobham |editor-first=H. E. |editor-last=Malden |publisher=Institute of Historical Research |year=1911 |work=A History of the County of Surrey: Volume 3 |access-date=11 October 2013}}</ref>

In addition to the Great Camp of 1853, the common also hosted the Battle of Chobham Common in September 1871, as part of the Autumn Manoeuvres of that year.<ref name="Man's influence on Chobham Common">{{cite web |last1=Webster |first1=Graham |title=Man's influence on Chobham Common |url=https://chobhamcommon.wordpress.com/ |access-date=8 July 2015}}</ref>  During the First World War, trenching exercises were held in August 1915 in advance of Kitchener's Third Army's mobilisation in France.<ref name="Man's influence on Chobham Common"/>

[[File:Lake at Chobham Common - geograph.org.uk - 158276.jpg|thumb|Lake at Chobham Common]]

Chobham Common was used by the military during the 1920s and 1930s, and throughout the [[Second World War]].  Captured enemy tanks were also tested in the common as was equipment to detonate land mines using flails and probably caused the significant damage that lead to reseeding.<ref name="Man's influence on Chobham Common"/>

Immediately after the [[Second World War]], the southern part was [[plough]]ed and seeded with an annual [[grass]] to allow the natural vegetation to re-establish, while the area north of Staple Hill, which was not as heavily damaged, was allowed to recover naturally. By the 1950s, plants and associated small animals were recovering well. At this time the common was heavily grazed by [[rabbit]]s with little [[scrubland|scrub]] and large areas of close-cropped [[Calluna|heather]] and [[gorse]]. [[Myxomatosis]] reached the area in 1955 and consequently the heather and [[gorse]] on Chobham Common grew and scrub began to develop. By the 1960s scrub including [[Blackberry|brambles]] was starting to become a problem.  [[Surrey County Council]] purchased the slightly reduced area comprising the common from [[William Onslow, 6th Earl of Onslow]] for £1 per acre by in 1966.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.surreyheath.gov.uk/leisure/ParksandRecreationAreas/chobhamcommon.htm |title=Chobham Common |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20061231070307/http://www.surreyheath.gov.uk/leisure/ParksandRecreationAreas/chobhamcommon.htm |archivedate=2006-12-31 |publisher=Surrey Heath Borough Council}}</ref>

===Monuments===
* There are three [[scheduled monument]]s on Chobham Common: a [[Bronze Age]] [[tumulus|barrow]], and two [[Earthworks (engineering)|earthworks]] of unknown date and origin known as "The Beegardens".
* [[Queen Victoria]] reviewed troops encamped on the Common, including the Light Brigade (famous from the "[[Charge of the Light Brigade]]"), before their departure to the [[Crimea]] during the [[Crimean War]] in 1853. The Victoria Monument erected on the site in 1901 commemorates this review.