Parliamentary Enclosure in England: An Introduction to Its Causes, Incidence, and Impact, 1750-1850The enclosure of common land into smaller privately owned units of land by parliamentary intervention transformed the traditional open-field system of farming which gave even the poorest a share in the common land. Despite its long-term benefits, its methods and immediate consequences were controversial, dispossessing the rural poor from their land. This text analyzes the extent and impact of parliamentary enclosure regionally, examining the processes by which land was reorganized, cultivation extended into former waste lands and old practices transformed. It stresses the degree of local variation and the mixture of motives and effects which make the subject complex. The book also weighs up the evidence for the effect of enclosure on the poor, looking afresh at old conclusions and providing new insights. |
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Common terms and phrases
acreage acres affected Agricultural History Review allotments Annals of Agriculture areas Arthur Young Award Barton-upon-Humber Bedfordshire Buckinghamshire Cambridge Univ Cambridgeshire cent claims Commissioners common rights commons and waste commutation compensation considerable corn cottagers counter-petition counties cows crops cultivation drainage employment enclosed land enclosure Acts England example expanding expenses farming favour fences field land fields and commons figure former common freeholders grass grazing Guilden Morden heavily enclosed holdings Husborne Crawley Ibid important improvement increased industrial instances involved Kingston Deverill landlords landowners large number later eighteenth century Lincolnshire Lincs livestock Longleat lord major manor meet Midlands Napoleonic Wars Norfolk Northamptonshire objections occupiers old enclosures open fields open-field arable opposition Otmoor parish Parliament parliamentary enclosure pasture perhaps period Pertenhall poor post-enclosure private Act production proportion proprietors re-allocation rents roads sheep small farmers small owners soil surveyor tenants Thirsk tion tithe-owner tithes Turner Waresley waste land
References to this book
England's Revelry: A History of Popular Sports and Pastimes, 1660-1830 Emma Griffin Limited preview - 2005 |