Christchurch's modern borough has hundreds of acres of open spaces, a considerable proportion of which is common land yet relatively unknown, and certainly not featured in any depth in published works.

 This book attempts to redress this and to bring these delightful and ancient, and accessible common lands to wider attention and greater public enjoyment. We have confined our study to those commons for which the inhabitants of the Old Borough of the town had rights.

There are chapters on Town Common, Quomps, Ogber, Portfield, Millhams, Stocker's Mead and others.

There are also accompanying suggestions to the chapters on how to explore each of the commons on foot, for they appear to be an untapped resource for leisure and tranquillity in an increasingly built-up modern borough.