It is considered of considerable importance for wildlife, and it was formerly part of the Stanmore and Harrow Weald Commons and Bentley Priory Site of Special Scientific Interest, but in 1987 the boundaries of the SSSI were revised to exclude the Common.

[1][2] It has been designated by the Mayor of London as a Site of Metropolitan Importance for Nature Conservation.

Following the inclosure acts, one of the rights granted to the commoners was gravel extraction, and this took place on a large scale in the 19th century.

In the 1880s there was an attempt to get government agreement to the sale of the Common, but a successful campaign to oppose this was supported by W. S. Gilbert, who lived locally at a house called Grim's Dyke.

[6] The Harrow Weald Common Conservators are now a friends group which manage the site.