View of Creech Barrow from Corfe Common

Creech Barrow is the domed, brownish hill visible in the far distance, about four miles from the camera. In front of it is the ridgeline of the Purbeck Hills, the village of Church Knowle on their slope: the village's church and nearby Church Farm can be seen to the right of the photo, and a little to their left is the Old Rectory.

Corfe Common, in the foreground, is owned by the National Trust.

Common land in Britain in the is a leftover facet of the feudal system. It was originally land owned by the lord of the manor, and over which some manorial tenants (and sometimes other people) were granted certain rights. The most common right to be granted was that of pasturage: this was the to pasture cattle, horses, sheep or other animals on the common land.

Nowadays rights of common are directly related to land ownership: certain of the properties in Corfe Castle enjoy rights of pasturage. Thus some villagers are permitted to graze a specified number of cows and/or horses on the common for an annual fee. Each year a Hayward (in the Middle Ages, the official responsible for overseeing the harvesting of crops) is appointed to collect the annual fee and to make sure the animals are well cared for.

Other examples of rights of common include turbary (cutting peat for domestic fuel), pannage (enabling the commoner's pigs to eat beech mast and other nuts in the autumn) and piscary (fishing).