The Contested Common Land project brought together historians from Lancaster University with expertise in manorial court archival research, and environmental lawyers in Newcastle Law School, to examine the environmental governance of common land from an interdisciplinary, historical and contemporary perspective It provides some of our most ecologically sensitive environments and landscapes; it is an important agricultural resource; and a recreational resource that provides public access to the countryside for walking and other recreational uses An examination of modern governance mechanisms and the emergence of sustainable land management as a discrete objective for the future of our Commons