CHAPTER XVII.. The Progress of Enclosure Without Parliamentary Sanction.

THE PROGRESS OF ENCLOSURE WITHOUT PARLIAMENTARY SANCTION.

A. FROM 1845 ONWARDS.

Any statistical account of enclosure without Parliamentary sanction must necessarily be vague in comparison with the statements which it is possible to make of enclosure by Act of Parliament, and must consist of inferences from evidence of varying value. And, naturally, the evidence in general becomes scantier in proportion as the period investigated is more remote.

The Tithe Commutation maps and awards afford the richest mine of information for the period since 1836. We have seen that according to the analysis of them published by the Copyhold, Enclosure and Tithe Commission in 1873, they indicated the existence at that date of 264,307 acres of common fields. We have already seen how untrustworthy this estimate is if taken for a basis for calculating the area of existing common fields, how inaccurate it was even at the date at which it was published. But one great source of inaccuracy in it, as we have seen, is the assumption that no enclosure, other than by Act of Parliament, took place after the date of Tithe Commutation. If we could eliminate all other errors, and also get a perfectly accurate statement of the area of existing common fields, we should then know how much enclosure of common fields has taken place without Parliamentary intervention since the date of Tithe Commutation. This date, of course, is different in different parishes, but the average date is about 1845.

To eliminate all other errors it would be necessary to go over all the work again, a task which would take a single investigator several years of continual labour, and would not then be accomplished unless the investigator were himself infallible. We must therefore be content with an approximate correction.

There are no less than 11,783 separate sets of awards and apportionments, each with its map. The maps vary in size from about six or seven to over a hundred square feet each. The apportionments are bulky rolls of parchment.

The tithe maps and awards deposited with the Tithe Commission cover about three-quarters of the area of England and Wales. The amount of common field in the other quarter is estimated on the assumption that in each county the part for which there are no tithe awards in the custody of the Tithe Commission contained the same proportion of common field as the part for which title awards existed. The common fields thus estimated amount to about two-fifths of the total estimate. If the particulars given in the return for the different counties were added up, we should get the statement:--

Common Field Lands. Acres.

Areas ascertained from the tithe documents 163,823 Estimated additional areas 100,484 ─────── 264,307 ═══════

We have seen that assuming the total of 163,823 acres is correctly “ascertained,” the estimate of 100,484 acres for the other parishes is very excessive, because the most frequent reason for no title documents existing in the custody of the Tithe Commission is that the commutation of tithes was effected before 1836 by a local Enclosure Act, which swept away the common fields.

In consequence, counties which were mainly enclosed by Acts of Parliament are very partially covered by the tithe documents; counties which have few or no Acts for enclosure of common fields are nearly entirely so covered. For example, we have--

┌────────────────────────┬───────────────┬──────────────┬─────────────┐ │ │ Percentage of │ Area Covered │ │ │ -- │ Area enclosed │ by Tithe │ Area not so │ │ │ by Acts. │ Documents. │ Covered. │ ├────────────────────────┴───────────────┴──────────────┴─────────────┤ │ │ │ COUNTIES OF PARLIAMENTARY ENCLOSURE. │ │ │ │ Northampton │ 51·5 │ 148,066 │ 485,220 │ │ Rutland │ 46·5 │ 37,728 │ 54,968 │ │ Huntingdon │ 46·5 │ 83,856 │ 146,630 │ │ Bedford │ 46·0 │ 104,357 │ 191,159 │ │ Oxford │ 45·6 │ 214,889 │ 252,417 │ │ East Riding, Yorkshire │ 40·1 │ 263,473 │ 479,228 │ │ Leicester │ 38·2 │ 158,889 │ 352,539 │ │ │ │ COUNTIES WITH LITTLE OR NO PARLIAMENTARY ENCLOSURE. │ │ │ │ Devon │ Nil. │ 1,611,710 │ 46,039 │ │ Cornwall │ Nil. │ 851,486 │ 6,122 │ │ Kent │ Nil. │ 973,726 │ 29,246 │ │ Shropshire │ 0·3 │ 788,108 │ 64,385 │ │ Monmouth │ 0·4 │ 329,430 │ 16,292 │ │ Cheshire │ 0·5 │ 599,904 │ 115,931 │ └────────────────────────┴───────────────┴──────────────┴─────────────┘

Fortunately there is another possible way of calculating the probable area of common field land which would have been found in the parishes not covered by tithe documents, if it had been investigated at about the same date.

Out of the seventy-five parishes enclosed by Act of Parliament since 1850--i.e., at a later date than almost all of the tithe documents--the Tithe Commission had the maps and awards of seventy-one--all, that is, but four. Common fields subsequently enclosed were to be found in these two classes of parishes in the proportion of 71 to 4; it is a fair inference that the total area of common fields, whether subsequently enclosed or not, was distributed in the same proportion.

On this assumption we should have the following calculation:--

Common Field Lands. Acres.

Areas ascertained from the tithe documents 163,823 Estimated additional areas 9,229 ─────── Total 173,052 ═══════

No probable error in the additional estimate in this calculation would have an appreciable effect on the total.

Next, as we have noticed above, the “areas ascertained” require correction. This it is much more difficult to supply satisfactorily; all that we can do is to determine--(1) whether the number given is likely to err by excess or by defect; (2) whether the error is likely to be large.

The main purpose of the return was to establish the total amount of waste land subject to common rights, and the proportion of such land likely to be capable of cultivation. This part of the work was done with great care, and particularly with great care not to include any land which was not certainly subject to common rights. The final figure arrived at was certainly considerably in defect through the documents on which it was based failing to mention common rights in all cases where they existed.

The part of the return relating to common field lands, on the other hand, was considered of less importance; the explanatory letter says with regard to them:--

“The common field lands are generally distinguishable by the particular manner in which they are marked on the tithe maps, and their extent has been estimated by these maps.” This means that areas on the tithe maps subdivided by dotted lines were assumed to be common field lands. This method had the advantage of comprehensiveness--it is probable that scarcely any common field land escaped notice, if there were a tithe map for the parish in which it existed. I have only detected one error of omission. The common fields of Eakring were very considerably in excess of the 54 acres at which they were estimated. But on the other hand it has the disadvantage of including with common field lands numerous cases of properties or holdings which were inadequately divided from one another by fences or hedges, but which were not common fields. But it is very hard to say precisely what percentage ought to be deducted to allow for this error. Generalising from all the cases in which I have been able to put estimates for particular parishes to a test, I should say that more than one-sixth, but less than one-third of the total should be deducted. Taking the larger fraction, so as to leave the remainder under-estimated, rather than over-estimated, we have--

Acres.

Area of common field lands, by estimate above 173,052 Less one-third 57,684 ─────── 115,368

Parliamentary enclosure since 1873 has reduced the area of common fields by 14,842 ─────── 100,526 ═══════

The final remainder represents our corrected estimate of the area of common fields arable and commonable meadows of intermixed ownership which would now exist if there had been no enclosure except by Act of Parliament since about the year 1845. The total area of such fields and meadows actually existing almost certainly does not exceed 30,000 acres. We therefore may conclude that not less than 70,000 acres have been enclosed as the result of the consolidation of farms and properties and voluntary agreements and exchanges, since about the year 1845, and that not more than 100,000 acres have been thus enclosed.

The total area of common fields enclosed by Acts since 1845, together with such meadows and commons as were enclosed together with common arable fields, is 139,517 acres.

It would therefore appear that such voluntary methods of enclosure have accounted in this period for an area something between half as large an area as Enclosure Acts and five-sevenths of that area.

The proportion of villages in which common fields have been entirely got rid of by voluntary enclosure during the same period would of course be smaller; because wherever common fields exist they are subject to continual diminution by gradual enclosure; and the final application of an Act of Parliament may be merely the coup de grace. Curiously, also, it may happen that a practically complete enclosure may be effected, and years later resort be had to an Act, as in the cases of Hildersham (Cambridge), and Sutton (Northampton).

B. BEFORE 1845.

The agricultural survey of Great Britain carried out by the Board of Agriculture in 1793 furnishes us with much information about the state of enclosure of some counties, and with scraps of information about others. Where the information is fullest it may take the form of estimates of the total area enclosed or open, or the form of information with regard to particular villages. By correlating the information thus supplied with that furnished by the Acts themselves, and from other sources, we can in some cases obtain a fairly full account of the enclosure history of a county.

BEDFORDSHIRE.

The “General Report on the Agriculture of Bedfordshire” gives the following estimate of the condition of the county (p. 11):--

Acres. Enclosed meadow, pasture and arable 68,100 Woodland 21,900 Common fields, common meadows, commons and waste 217,200 ─────── Total 307,200 ═══════

The area of Bedfordshire being 298,500 acres, a slight deduction should be made from the figures under each head. But this does not affect the two striking points about the estimate: (1) that over two-thirds of the area of the county was open, and (2) that the open and commonable land amounted to over 200,000 acres.

The author proceeds: “Every parish which is commonly understood to be open consists of a certain proportion of antient inclosed land near the respective villages, but that proportion, compared with the open common field in each respective parish, does not on an average exceed one-tenth of the whole” (p. 25).

He further says that Lidlington, Sundon and Potton had been recently enclosed. Each was enclosed by Act of Parliament.

We can deal with the above information in two ways: (1) by translating it into terms of parishes, and (2) by dealing with it in terms of acres.

In Bedfordshire very little common indeed existed apart from the open field parishes. This is proved by the fact that from 1700 to 1870 there were only three enclosures of commons, apart from arable common fields, comprising an area of 867 acres, and that the tithe maps only indicated 507 acres more of commons in parishes where there were no common fields. We may safely assume that at least 200,000 acres out of our author’s 217,200 acres of open land belonged to open field villages, and that these villages also had, in accordance with his estimate, 20,000 acres of old enclosures, the area of all the open fields parishes in 1764 was, according to the estimate, about 220,000 acres; that of the enclosed parishes about 87,200 acres. If the numbers of the parishes enclosed and open were about in the same proportion, out of the one hundred and twenty-one parishes in Bedfordshire, there should have been eighty-seven open and thirty-four enclosed.

From the list of Parliamentary enclosures in the appendix, it will be seen that seventy-three parishes were enclosed by Acts passed in 1798 and later. There were also seven other parishes in which the tithe documents indicate common fields surviving up to the date of Tithe Commission, making a total of eighty parishes, which we have previously accounted for.

It would follow that about seven parishes were enclosed in Bedfordshire between 1794 and 1845 without any Act. This is in accordance with what we might reasonably expect.

Of the thirty-four parishes which by this argument were enclosed in 1790, seventeen had been enclosed by Acts passed between the years 1742 and 1783, leaving a remainder of seventeen parishes. There is obviously a strong probability that the majority of these were enclosed in the eighteenth century.

But in this calculation I have treated the 21,900 acres of woodland as though it were part of the enclosed parishes. If it be considered to belong indifferently to open and enclosed parishes, the above calculation must be modified. We then have ninety-four parishes open in 1793, and twenty-seven enclosed; fourteen out of the ninety-four would be enclosed without Parliamentary sanction between 1793 and 1845, leaving only ten parishes so enclosed at some unknown date earlier than 1793.

By dealing with the Bedfordshire estimate on the basis of acreage instead of parishes, I arrive at the following statement of the history of the enclosure of Bedford:--

Acres. Ancient woodland and waste, which passed directly into individual use, and ancient roads, &c. 43,000 Common fields, meadows and pastures enclosed before 1742 33,000 Ditto enclosed from 1742–1793 by Acts of Parliament 23,883 Ditto ″ ″ ″ ″ not by Acts 26,000 Ditto ″ ″ 1793–1900 by Acts 114,430 Ditto ″ ″ ″ ″ not by Acts 58,000 ─────── Total 298,313 ═══════

Arthur Young, in June, 1768, travelled through Bedfordshire to St. Neots, and then close to the boundary between Bedford and Huntingdon to Kimbolton and Thrapston in Northamptonshire. He found from Sandy to St. Neots the country chiefly open, and that it continued so to Kimbolton and Thrapston; though with regard to the two latter places he mentions enclosed pastures (“Northern Tour,” 2nd Ed., Vol. I., pp. 55–59). This, so far as it goes, tends to confirm our conclusions.

I am anxious not to lay any undue stress on the above arithmetical calculations; but I think it is quite clear that up to the year 1742 the condition of the county of Bedford was that indicated by Leland’s description.

Leland passed through Bedfordshire in his “Itinerary.” From Vol. I., fols. 116–120, we find that from Higham Ferrers in Northamptonshire, about 2 miles from the Bedfordshire boundary, to Bedford (14 miles) was “champaine” from Wellington village, near Bedford, to Antchille Castle (Ampthill), “12 miles almost al by Champayn Grounde, part by corne and part by Pasture, and sum baren hethy and sandy grounde.” Then “From Antchille to Dunstable X m. or more. First I passed partely by woddy ground and Enclosures. But after most parte by champaine Grounde.... And thens to Mergate al by Champaine a vj miles.” And so out of Bedfordshire. A small part of the county was ancient woodland, a smaller part was cultivated land reclaimed from the forest state, which had never passed through the common fields system of cultivation, but almost all was in the condition of the typical open field parish, common field arable, commonable meadows, and common pastures, with a certain amount of enclosure round the villages. It would appear that during the 200 years following Leland’s journey only an insignificant amount of progress in enclosure took place in Bedfordshire. This conclusion is not contradicted, but on the other hand it is not strikingly confirmed by Walter Blyth (“The English Improver,” 1649), who enumerates as unenclosed “the south part of Warwick and Worcestershire, Leicester, Notts, Rutland, some part of Lincoln, Northampton, Buckingham, some part of Bedfordshire, most part of the Vales of England, and very many parcels in most counties.”

One further point may be noticed. In Bedfordshire the percentage of the total area enclosed by Act of Parliament is exceptionally high--46·0 per cent. We find that when we make allowances for (1) contemporary voluntary enclosure, (2) for ancient woodland and for some land passing directly from the forest state into that of separate ownership and occupation, (3) for some ancient enclosing of land in the immediate vicinity of villages, there is little or no other enclosure remaining to be referred to the period before Parliamentary enclosure began--in this case the year 1742.

NORTHAMPTON, RUTLAND, S.E. WARWICK AND LEICESTER.

These four counties may be said to form a definite group, so far as their enclosure history is concerned. The main facts of their Parliamentary enclosure are shown in the following table:--

┌─────────────┬───────────────────────────────────┬───────────────┐ │ │ Acreage Enclosed │ │ │ ---- ├─────────────────┬─────────────────┤ Percentage of │ │ │ By 18th Century │ By 19th Century │ Total Area. │ │ │ Acts. │ Acts. │ │ ├─────────────┼─────────────────┼─────────────────┼───────────────┤ │ Warwick │ 124,828 │ 24,731 │ 25·0 │ │ Leicester │ 187,717 │ 12,660 │ 38·2 │ │ Rutland │ 37,180 │ 10,044 │ 46·5 │ │ Northampton │ 247,517 │ 85,251 │ 51·8 │ └─────────────┴─────────────────┴─────────────────┴───────────────┘

Like Bedford, they are all counties with a high proportion of enclosure by Act of Parliament; but they differ from Bedford in that their enclosure was much more preponderatingly effected in the eighteenth century. The proportion of eighteenth-century Acts is particularly high in Leicester, but the proportion of Acts earlier than 1760 is higher in Warwick than in any other county--twenty-nine out of 114. These counties comprise the district in which the greatest amount of agitation arose against enclosure in the seventeenth century, and that in which the effect of enclosure in causing depopulation through decay of tillage was most marked in the eighteenth century.