BTCV Handbooks Online

Book:	Dry Stone Walling
Chapter:	3 Walls and the law
Section:	Wall ownership
Metadata:	Details	Buy this book

Where a wall or bank has a ditch on one side, the wall is presumed to belong to the owner of the field on whose side of the wall there is no ditch, unless deeds state otherwise. The boundary is the side of the ditch farthest from the wall.
If the ditch exists but has been so damaged or neglected that the exact edge cannot be determined, the distance can sometimes be settled by reference to local custom. The usual width allowed is 4'6" (1.3m) from the base of the wall or bank to the far side of the ditch. However, this 'custom of the country' may not necessarily be followed by a court of law.
Where the wall or bank is ditched on both sides or on neither side, ownership is usually mentioned in the deeds. If the wall or bank is ditched on both sides, it usually belongs to both parties.
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>If the wall or bank is right on the boundary, half belongs to one person and the other half to his/her neighbour. The dividing line is taken vertically from the boundary line.
Ownership and responsibility for the maintenance of enclosure walls may be indicated by the maps accompanying Parliamentary Enclosure Acts or by evidence built into the walls themselves:
- Enclosure Award maps often set out the portion to be walled by each party, and show this by a small T mark placed with its foot on the wall line and its head into the field whose owner is to build and maintain the section of wall.
- Long enclosure walls often have heads built in at intervals, indicating the boundaries of the sections for which adjacent landowners are responsible. To show this, two heads are built immediately adjacent to one another with the coping carried across the gap to reduce weakness at this point, as shown in the diagram in Chapter 9.
- If throughstones, the coverband or topstones overhang one face only of the wall, this may or may not indicate ownership, depending on the area and the situation. In some locales the 'face side' refers to the side without protruding stones and this is the owner's side. Elsewhere it is the side with projecting stones that faces the owner's land because the throughs, coverband or topstones have been placed to keep his sheep from jumping over. Local custom may indicate which is the case in the vicinity in question. However, garden walls are usually left smooth on the outside (the side away from the owner's land) for appearance. Roadside walls are almost always left smooth on the side facing the road, irrespective of who is responsible for the wall's upkeep, in order to lessen damage to vehicles hitting the wall and to keep passers-by from climbing the wall.
If a wall is built on a boundary line, any piers or strengthening buttresses must be built on the owner's side; otherwise his/her neighbour may claim ownership on the basis of this evidence.
If there is a ditch on both sides or on neither side, and ownership is not clear in the deeds, it can be claimed by one party on the basis of 'acts of ownership', such as maintaining or rebuilding the wall or bank. In such cases it seems necessary to prove that the neighbour knew of or acquiesced in these acts and raised no objection to them. Twenty years of continual use is usually looked upon as an 'immemorial custom' conferring right of ownership.
Where the origin of a wall or bank cannot be determined and there are no acts of ownership, the wall or bank belongs to both owners in equal parts.
When land is sold the boundary may be based on Ordnance Survey field lines. These indicate the centre of a wall or bank rather than the true legal boundary, and to avoid later dispute the actual boundary should be determined before purchase.