The manor of Eybury also passed into lay hands. In the Act 28, Henry VIII. c. 49, it is stated as lately in the occupation of Richard Whashe; and a person of that name rented the more considerable part of it known as Ebury Farm in 1592, direct from Queen Elizabeth. Other portions of the manor were similarly rented by persons who underlet the land again, thereby occasioning great wrong to the inhabitants at large—for notwithstanding the great length of time these lands had been in priestly possession, the people, in some measure, appear to have maintained a claim over them, and considerable portions were always laid open for use in common at Lammas-tide (Aug. 1). This ancient right these lessees under the Queen appear to have been determined to resist, and enclosed the fields with gates and hedges, on which the inhabitants appealed, in 1592, to Lord Burleigh, High Steward of Westminster, for his interference in their behalf. He ordered Mr. Tenche, his under-steward, to empanel an inquest; and the decision of the jury being favourable to the petitioners, they, thinking they should have Lord Burleigh’s countenance, proceeded on Lammas-day to assert their rights. The gates were pulled down, and the fences cut away, on which the tenants appealed on their part to Burleigh, who, again referring the matter to Mr. Tenche, that functionary, after inquiry, replied, that “certain of the parishioners of St. Martin’s and St. Margaret’s assembled together,” and made an entry into their “ancient commons” by making “a small breach in every enclosure;” that some of those assembled “were of the best and ancientest of the parishes; that they carried no weapon, and had only four or five shovels and pickaxes, and had divers constables with them to keep her Majesty’s peace;” and that “having thus laid open such grounds as they challenged to be their commons, they quietly retired to their houses, without any further hurt-doing.” One Peter Dod, in his evidence before the inquest, said “they told him they would break open to Knight’s Bridge and Chelsey;” and R. Wood, a constable, testified to the breaking of the enclosure at “Aubery Farm towards Chelsey,” whence they crossed to “Crowfield,” at the upper end of Hyde-park.