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Cook & London & North Western Railway v Franklin and Others with respect to a certain road and right of way known as the Brewers Hill Road in the parish of Houghton Regis.

1882-1895

From: 1882 To: 1895

In November 1889 a notice was inserted in the Dunstable Gazette by the plaintiff, Thomas Daniel Cook (the owner) living at Brewers Hill Farm, to the effect 'that as the road was a private road only to the Brewer's Hill Farm he had locked the gates, and any person using it without permission would be prosecuted.' Notice boards to the same effect were also placed at the ends of the road. At a vestry meeting of Houghton Regis it was decided to appoint a committee 'to endeavour to obtain an amicable settlement of the matter with Mr Cook,' but all attempts to arrive at such proved fruitless, which the committee reported on June 12th 1890, and the matter was allowed to drop. A working carpenter Edward Franklin, living at Dunstable, however, took the case up, and on the evening of June, 14th (two days later) he proceeded to the railway level crossing gates, on which the locks and had been placed (the railway company having decided to assist the plaintiff Cook in the attempt to close the road) and with his hammer and chisel drew the staples, and asserted his right to go along the road. On numerous occasions afterwards, sometimes with large crowds of sympathisers and a band of music, he continued to assert the public right, during a period of two months, breaking upwards of forty-two padlocks from the gates, until on Aug the 9th 1890, writs were served on the said Edward Franklin and eight others. The trial gave a verdict for the defendants that 'the road is, and always has been, a public highway by usage.

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Cook, Thomas,
Franklin, Edward

HOUGHTON REGIS, rights of way, Dunstable Brewers Hill Road