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From the middle of the 19th century, Parliament encouraged individuals to give land for charitable and/or other benevolent purposes (notably in relation to education and religion) by allowing the land in question to revert to the original owner or their heirs if the land ceased to be used, either permanently or for a specified period of time, for the purpose for which it was originally given. The Principal Acts are:

1. •

   School Sites Acts 1841, 1844, 1849, 1851 and 1852 — under which land might be given for use as the site of a school, or a schoolmaster’s residence, or “otherwise for the purposes of the education of poor persons in religious and useful knowledge”

2. •

   Literary and Scientific Institutions Act 1854 — under which land might be given for use as a library, museum, art gallery or other similar institution

3. •

   Consecration of Churchyards Act 1867 — under which land might be given for enlarging a churchyard or burial ground

4. •

   Places of Worship Sites Act 1873 — under which land might be given for use as a church, chapel, meeting house,