Claim to small piece of land

[West End]

Do I have any rights to claims a small piece of land that according to local residents has formed part of the garden of my old cottage which I have recently moved into for between 20 and 30 years. One of my neighbours, whose property is leasehold say it belongs to them, and it is on their deeds however, they have no access to it other than over a wall or through my garden and they have not used it for over 20 years. They are threatening to put a fence up so we can not use it. What rights do I have, and what rights do they have, can I remove this fence if they put it up?

[Postdog]

No one can answer that. You'd best engage a solicitor who can do the relevant searches. or you could try the land registry online http://www.landreg.gov.uk/

[buildersmate]

As Postdog says, if you and your neighbours plots are registered land for a couple of pounds you can download the title plan of both your plot and his plot. That will show you with whom the land in question is registered. It is just possible that the parcel of land has a separate title number, but that is unlikely.
If you also download the text of the title title itself it will say if there is an easement (a legal right of way - in this place on foot for him to go to the piece of land. No easement, then he can't access it though your land.
Regarding the wall, it depends what is on the other side of this wall. If it is public highway, bridleway or footpath, he could knock a hole though it and gain legal access that way. If you or another landowner own the land on the other side then his plot is indeed landlocked and he cannot get to it. You have no rights on it however until you have maintained it for over 10 years when you could start the process of registering it in your name. He cannot get to it (so in theory cannot erect a fence around it). The best solution for him would then be to sell it - but he may not see it that way.
You will almost certainly have to employ a solicitor to sort it out but you could do some of the groundwork to establish the facts yourself cheaply.

[West End]

Many thanks for your advice to postdog and buildersmate. The other side of the wall lies his land though this is leasehold (as is the bit of land in question) Our main concerns are if he decides to climb over the wall whilst we are at work and put up a fence, as he says he will do, can we take it down as he is putting up a fence but without any concent from who he leases the land from so would we be entitled to remove the fence and place it back over his wall? This is just ridiculous as the land in question is a small strip which he cannot access apart from over the wall and he has mature plants and trees blocking the wall from his side in any case, he is just being plain mean!! When we bought the house only a few months ago our solicitor told us that the piece of land was so small it is hard to tell from the plan.