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The English Peasantry and the Enclosure of Common Fields

Chapter 23: APPENDIX A. STATISTICAL SUMMARY OF ACTS ENCLOSING WASTE
By Gilbert Slater
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About This Book

A historical and economic study of the enclosure of common fields in England, tracing the process through maps, parish case studies, and statistical appendices. It outlines different village systems, surveys remaining open-field parishes, and examines instances such as the Isle of Axholme and recent enclosures. It distinguishes Parliamentary and extra-Parliamentary enclosure, treats related practices like run-rig, and compares English patterns with New England. The work assesses agricultural consequences including depopulation, the rise of landless labour, and poverty, and draws implications for rural policy, arguing for measures to restore communal access to land and cooperative agricultural practice.

APPENDIX A.

Statistical Summary of Acts of Enclosure Enclosing Common Pasture and Waste only.

  Acts specifying Acreage Enclosed. Acts not specifying Acreage Enclosed. Total. Acres Enclosed
per annum.
Acts. Acreage as stated. Acts. Acreage estimated. Acts. Acres.
1727–1760 49 65,203 7 9,315 56 74,518 2,192
1761–1792 292 411,952 47 66,307 339 478,259 14,946
1793–1801 153 230,249 29 43,642 182 273,891 30,432
1802–1815 469 615,970 95 123,773 564 739,743 52,839
1816–1845 202 164,994 42 34,306 244 199,300 6,643
Totals. 1,165 1,488,368 220 277,343 1,385 1,765,711  

From 1727 to 1760 the number of Acts of this class passed per annum was steadily increasing, the Seven Years’ War (1756–1763) apparently acting as a stimulus. During this period the average acreage enclosed per Act was 1330·7 acres. The increase in the number of Acts continued up till 1792, and again at a greatly enhanced rate after the beginning of the great French war. From 1761–1792 the average acreage enclosed per Act was 1410·8 acres; from 1792–1801, 1504·9 acres. In 1801 a Clauses Act, termed “A General Enclosure Act” was passed to facilitate Parliamentary proceedings. This had the double effect of increasing the average number of Acts passed per annum from 20 to 43, but of reducing the average acreage per Act to 1313·4 acres. From 1816–1845 the average acreage per Act was 816·8 acres.