This study investigates common land in Norfolk from the Middle Saxon period to the present day, charting the significant changes in form, use, legal standing, and popular perception that occurred. Exploring the subject from a 'long-view' allows this dissertation to expound and to develop theories only observable from such a perspective, yet, by studying closely the range of individual commons within a single county, it is equally able to recognise and advance theories of local significance. Although arranged chronologically, three largely separate but interrelated aspects of common land are evolved: commons as landscape, commoning as the embodiment of a social relationship between landowner and commoner, and commoning as a detached concept describing a theory of societal interaction. From its beginnings in the Saxon period through to the present day, the important points of development and transition are indicated, discussed and related to larger social and economic trends. Many of the developments in common land are national in scope but this study ties them firmly to detailed changes within the local landscape. By looking at commons in Norfolk over 1200 years this dissertation concludes that common land is remarkable for its flexibility and for being able to adapt and to be adapted within a changing physical and economic landscape. However, because common land exists as a concept over and above its physical form, its relevance is also evolving within a social and intellectual landscape.