Nomansland Common

In the last ice age a glacier dammed the river (which then flowed from Dunstable) south of Sandridge into St Albans Vale, creating a lake.

Nomansland has, throughout its history, been recognised for uniquely poor soil quality for agricultural purposes, although flint axe heads suggest that the common may have been cleared for grazing as long ago as 4000 BC.

[3] Nomansland Common, as its name implies, is extra-parochial, and was the source of frequent disputes between the monastery of St Albans and that of Westminster, both claiming it to be within their respective dioceses, and the manors of Sandridge and Wheathampstead.

In 1428 a shepherd died on the common and the Vicar of Sandridge claimed the body for burial, but the men of Wheathampstead spirited the corpse away and buried it in their churchyard.

In 1460 the Second Battle of St Albans was fought on Bernards Heath, and part of the conflict (the flight of the Yorkists) occurred on the common.

On 2 June 1833 Simon Byrne, the famous bare-knuckle fighter, died after a particularly bloody encounter at Nomansland which lasted no less than 99 rounds.