The Common is common land owned by the villagers and is maintained by the Parish Council.  In former years it had been used for grazing livestock, but this would have only happened because there were far fewer cars and motorised vehicles.  The two photographs below speak volumes in that in the left photo, there are no cars, and in the right there are cars parked-up, both along the road and on the outskirts of the Common itself, by Coronation Terrace.

Note in the left photo, the Off Licence building!  Which has since been demolished and replaced with a private dwelling.  Also, the gentleman with the dog, perhaps hints at this photo being taken in the 1940's, but the actual date of this wonderful photo is unknown!

The Common sits on an underlying seam of blue clay, which is prevalent throughout the village.  Hence, the origins of the five brickmaking works which flourished at that time and employed around 100 men during the first quarter of the 20th Century.  This engendered a corresponding growth in local building and the start of the village's expansion, from what could have then been called a "hamlet".

In more recent times, the Common has been regularly cut and maintained in both a tidy and safe state.  However, the coronavirus pandemic of 2020 saw the Common left uncut for almost a year, as New Forest District Council's operational services were suspended, with staff being furloughed and released from employment.  This has since led onto discussions about creating wilding areas on the Common, although many villagers have indicated that they would prefer to have the Common's grass cut on a regular basis.  The Parish Council are therefore currently looking to establish a compromise and have cut areas for walkers and also some smaller more manageable wilding areas, which should then encourage improved diversity of both flora and fauna.