I have a small farm. About two years ago a neighbour put up new fences round her land, but extended her boundary by about ten yards on to my property. She said the new position was the correct boundary if I checked my title deeds. She was right, but the land had been fenced in the original position for at least 40 years.
If you can prove that the fence was there for 40 years (more than 12 prior to 13th October 2003 will do), and your neighbours never told you the land belonged to them, you should be able to persuade the Land Registry to grant you “possessory title” to the disputed strip. You will need to draw up a statutory declaration to submit with your application, and if you can track down any previous owner to provide evidence, so much the better.