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            2
  THE ENCLOSURES IN ENGLAND




  STUDIES IN HISTORY, ECONOMICS AND PUBLIC LAW

  EDITED BY THE FACULTY OF POLITICAL SCIENCE OF
  COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY

  Volume LXXX]  [Number 2

  Whole Number 186




  THE ENCLOSURES IN ENGLAND
  AN ECONOMIC RECONSTRUCTION

  BY
  HARRIETT BRADLEY, Ph.D.

  _Assistant Professor of Economics, Vassar College
  Sometime University Fellow in Economics_

  New York
  COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY

  LONGMANS, GREEN & CO., AGENTS
  LONDON: P.S. KING & SON, LTD.
  1918




  "It fareth with the earth as with
  other creatures that through
  continual labour grow faint and
  feeble-hearted."
                  _From speech made in the House of Commons, 1597_



  To
  EMILIE LOUISE WELLS




  CONTENTS

                                                                     PAGE

  INTRODUCTION                                                        11
    The subject of inquiry--No attempt hitherto made to verify the
    different hypothetical explanations of the enclosures--Nature of the
    evidence.

  CHAPTER I
  THE PRICE OF WOOL                                                   18
    Accepted theory of enclosure movement based on price of
    wool--Enclosures began independently of Black Death and before
    expansion of woollen industry--Price of wool low as compared with that
    of wheat in enclosure period--Seventeenth-century conversions of
    pasture to arable--Of arable to pasture--Conversion not explained by
    change in prices or wages--Double conversion movement due to condition
    of soil--Summary.

  CHAPTER II
  THE FERTILITY OF THE COMMON FIELDS                                  51
    Dr. Russell on soil fertility--Insufficient manure--Statistical
    indications of yield--Compulsory land-holding--Desertion of
    villains--Commutation of services on terms advantageous to serf--Low
    rent obtained when bond land was leased--Remission of
    services--Changes due to economic need, not desired for improved
    social status--Poverty of villains--Cultivation of demesne
    unprofitable.

  CHAPTER III
  THE DISINTEGRATION OF THE OPEN FIELDS                               73
    Growing irregularity of holdings--Consolidation of holdings--Turf
    boundaries plowed under--Lea land--Restoration of fertility--Enclosure
    by tenants--Land used alternately as pasture and arable--Summary of
    changes.

  CHAPTER IV
  ENCLOSURE FOR SHEEP PASTURE                                         86
    Enclosure by small tenants difficult--Open-field tenants
    unprofitable--Low rents--Neglect of land--High cost of
    living--Enclosure even of demesne a hardship to small
    holders--Intermixture of holdings a reason for dispossessing
    tenants--Higher rents from enclosed land another reason--Poverty of
    tenants where no enclosures were made--Exhaustion of open fields
    recognised by Parliament--Restoration of fertility and reconversion to
    tillage--New forage crops in eighteenth century--Recapitulation and
    conclusion.

  INDEX                                                              109




INTRODUCTION


The enclosure movement--the process by which the common-field system
was broken down and replaced by a system of unrestricted private
use--involved economic and social changes which make it one of the
important subjects in English economic history. When it began, the
arable fields of a community lay divided in a multitude of strips
separated from each other only by borders of unplowed turf. Each
landholder was in possession of a number of these strips, widely
separated from each other, and scattered all over the open fields, so
that he had a share in each of the various grades of land.[1] But his
private use of the land was restricted to the period when it was being
prepared for crop or was under crop. After harvest the land was grazed
in common by the village flocks; and each year a half or a third of
the land was not plowed at all, but lay fallow and formed part of the
common pasture. Under this system there was no opportunity for
individual initiative in varying the rotation of crops or the dates of
plowing and seed time; the use of the land in common for a part of the
time restricted its use even during the time when it was not in
common. The process by which this system was replaced by modern
private ownership with unrestricted individual use is called the
enclosure movement, because it involved the rearrangement of holdings
into separate, compact plots, divided from each other by enclosing
hedges and ditches. The most notable feature of this process is the
conversion of the open fields into sheep pasture. This involved the
eviction of the tenants who had been engaged in cultivating these
fields and the amalgamation of many holdings of arable to form a few
large enclosures for sheep. The enclosure movement was not merely the
displacement of one system of tillage by another system of tillage; it
involved the temporary displacement of tillage itself in favor of
grazing.

In this monograph two things are undertaken: first, an analysis of the
usually accepted version of the enclosure movement in the light of
contemporary evidence; and, secondly, the presentation of another
account of the nature and causes of the movement, consistent with
itself and with the available evidence. The popular account of the
enclosure movement turns upon a supposed advance in the price of wool,
due to the expansion of the woollen industry in the fifteenth and
sixteenth centuries. Landlords at this period (we are told) were
increasingly eager for pecuniary gain and, because of the greater
profit to be made from grazing, were willing to evict the tenants on
their land and convert the arable fields to sheep pasture. About the
end of the sixteenth century, it is said, this first enclosure
movement came to an end, for there are evidences of the reconversion
of pastures formerly laid to grass. An inquiry into the evidence shows
that the price of wool fell during the fifteenth century and failed to
rise as rapidly as that of wheat during the sixteenth century.
Moreover, the conversion of arable land to pasture did not cease when
the contrary process set in, but continued throughout the seventeenth
century with apparently unabated vigor. These facts make it impossible
to accept the current theory of the enclosure movement. There is, on
the other hand, abundant evidence that the fertility of much of the
common-field land had been exhausted by centuries of cultivation. Some
of it was allowed to run to waste; some was laid to grass, enclosed,
and used as pasture. Productivity was gradually restored after some
years of rest, and it became possible to resume cultivation. The
enclosure movement is explained not by a change in the price of wool,
but by the gradual loss of productivity of common-field land.

This explanation is not made here for the first time. It is advanced
in Denton's _England in the Fifteenth Century_[2] and Gardiner, in
his _Student's History of England_,[3] accepts it. Prothero[4] and
Gonner[5] give it some place in their works. Dr. Simkhovitch, at whose
suggestion this inquiry was undertaken, has for some time been of the
opinion that deterioration of the soil was the fundamental cause of
the displacement of arable farming by grazing.[6] This explanation,
however, stands at the present time as an unverified hypothesis, which
has been specifically rejected by Gibbins, in his widely used
text-book,[7] and by Hasbach,[8] who objects that Denton does not
prove his case. In this respect the theory is no more to be criticised
than the theory which these authorities accept, for that does not rest
upon proof, but upon the prestige gained through frequent repetition.
But the matter need not rest here. It is unnecessary to accept any
hypothetical account of events which are, after all, comparatively
recent, and for which the evidence is available.

Of the various sources accessible for the study of the English
enclosure movement, one type only has been extensively used by
historians. The whole story of this movement as it is usually told is
based upon tracts, sermons, verses, proclamations, etc. of the
sixteenth century--upon the literature of protest called forth by the
social distress caused by enclosure. Until very recently the similar
literature of the seventeenth century has been neglected, although it
destroys the basis of assumptions which are fundamental to the
orthodox account of the movement. Much of significance even in the
literature of the sixteenth century has been passed over--notably
certain striking passages in statutes of the latter half of the
century, and in books on husbandry of the first half. Details of
manorial history derived from the account rolls of the manors
themselves, and contemporary manorial maps and surveys, as well as the
records of the actual market prices of grain and wool, have been
ignored in the construction of an hypothetical account of the movement
which breaks down whenever verification by contemporary evidence is
attempted.

The evidence is in many respects imperfect. It would be of great
value, for instance, to have access to records of grain production
over an area extensive enough, and for a long enough period, to
furnish reliable statistical indications of the trend of productivity.
It would be helpful to have exact information about the amount of land
converted from arable to pasture in each decade of the period under
consideration, and to know to what extent and at what dates land was
reconverted to tillage after having been laid to grass. There are no
records to supply most of this information. It is possible that the
materials for a statistical study of soil productivity are in
existence, but up to the present time they have not been published,
and it is doubtful if this deficiency will be supplied. It is even
more doubtful whether more can be learned about the rate of conversion
of arable land to pasture than is now known, and this is little.
Professor Gay has made a careful study of the evidence on this
question, and has analysed the reports of the government commissions
for enforcing the husbandry statutes before 1600,[9] and Miss Leonard
has made the returns of the commission of 1630 for Leicestershire
available.[10] The conditions under which these commissions worked
make the returns somewhat unreliable even for the years covered by
their reports, and much interpolation is necessary, as there are
serious gaps in the series of years for which returns are made. For
dates outside of the period 1485-1630 we must rely entirely on
literary references. Unsatisfactory as our statistical information is
on this important question, it is far more complete than the evidence
on the subject of the reconversion to tillage of arable land which had
been turned into pasture.

It is to the unfortunate social consequences of enclosure that we owe
the abundance of historical material on this subject. Undoubtedly much
land was converted to pasture in a piece-meal fashion, as small
holders saw the possibility of making the change quietly, and without
disturbing the rest of the community. If enclosure had taken no other
form than this, no storm of public protest would have risen, to
express itself in pamphlets, sermons, statutes and government reports.
Enclosure on a large scale involved dispossession of the inhabitants,
and a complete break with traditional usage. For this reason the
literature of the subject is abundant. When, however, the process was
reversed, and the land again brought under cultivation, there was
involved no interference with the rights of common holders. It was to
the interest of no one to oppose this change, and no protest was made
to call the attention of the historian to what was being done.
References to the process are numerous enough only to prove that
reconversion of land formerly laid to grass took place during the
fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth centuries--to an extent of which
not even an approximate estimate can be made.

Imperfect as the evidence is from some points of view, it is
nevertheless complete for the purposes of this monograph. It would be
impossible, with the material at hand, to reconstruct the progress of
the enclosure movement, decade by decade, and county by county,
throughout England. My intention, however, is not so much to describe
the movement in detail as it is to give a consistent account of its
nature and causes. Even a few sixteenth-century instances of the
plowing up of pasture land should be enough to arrest the attention of
historians who believe that the conversion of arable land to pasture
during this period is sufficiently explained by an assertion that the
price of wool was high. What especial circumstances made it
advantageous to cultivate land which had been under grass, while other
land was being withdrawn from cultivation? Contemporary writers speak
of the need of worn land for rest for a long period of years, and
remark that it will bear well again at the end of the period. Evidence
such as this is significant without the further information which
would enable us to estimate the amount of land affected. For our
purposes, also, the notice of enclosure of arable land for pasture on
one group of manors in the early thirteenth century is important as an
indication that the fundamental cause of the enclosure movement was at
work long before the Black Death, which is usually taken as the event
in which the movement had its beginning. Low rents, pauperism, and
abandonment of land are facts which indicate declining productivity of
the soil, and statistical records of the harvests reaped are not
needed when statutes, proclamations, and books of husbandry describe
the exhausted condition of the common fields. The fact that the
enclosure movement continued vigorously in the seventeenth century is
conclusively established, and when this fact is known the
impossibility of estimating the comparative rate of progress of the
movement in the preceding century is of no importance. Upon one point
at least, the evidence is almost all that could be desired. The
material for a comparison of the prices of wheat and wool throughout
the most critical portion of the period has been made accessible by
Thorold Rogers.[11] It is to this material that the defenders of the
theory that enclosures are explained by the price of wool should turn,
for they will find a fall of price where they assume that a rise took
place. Instead of an increase in the supply of wool due to a rise in
its price, there is indicated a fall in the price of wool due to an
increase in the supply. The cause of the increase of the supply of
wool must be sought outside of the price conditions.

Acknowledgment should here be made of my indebtedness to Dr. V. G.
Simkhovitch of Columbia University, without whose generous help this
study would not have been planned, and whose criticism and advice have
been invaluable in bringing it to completion. Professor Seager also
has given helpful criticism. Professor Seligman has allowed me the use
of books from his library which I should otherwise have been unable to
obtain. For material which could not be found in American libraries I
am indebted to my mother and father, who obtained it for me in
England.


Footnotes:

[1] V. G. Simkovitch, _Political Science Quarterly_, vol. xxvii, p. 398.

[2] (London, 1888), pp. 153-154. Denton refers here to Gisborne's _Ag.
Essays_, as does Curtler, in his _Short Hist. of Eng. Ag._ (Oxford,
1909), p. 77.

[3] Vol. i, p. 321.

[4] _English Farming Past and Present_ (London, 1912), p. 64.

[5] _Common Land and Enclosure_, p. 121.

[6] See _Political Science Quarterly_, vol. xxxi, p. 214.

[7] _Industry in England_ (New York, 1897), p. 181.

[8] _Hist. of the Eng. Ag. Laborer_ (London, 1908), p. 31.

[9] _Pub. Am. Ec. Assoc._, Third Series (1905), vol vi, no. 2, pp.
146-160: "Inclosure Movement in England."

[10] _Royal Hist. Soc. Trans._, New Series (1905), vol. xix, pp.
101-146: "Inclosure of Common Fields."

[11] _Cf. infra_, p. 26.




CHAPTER I

THE PRICE OF WOOL


The generally accepted version of the enclosure movement turns upon
supposed changes in the relative prices of wool and grain. The
conversion of arable land to pasture in the fifteenth and sixteenth
centuries is accounted for by the hypothesis that the price of wool
was rising more rapidly than that of grain. The beginning of the
enclosure movement, according to this theory, dates from the time when
a rise in the price of wool became marked, and the movement ended when
there was a relative rise in the price of agricultural products.
Before the price of wool began to rise, it is supposed that tillage
was profitable enough, and that nothing but the higher profits to be
made from grazing induced landholders to abandon agriculture. The
agrarian readjustments of the fourteenth century are regarded as due
simply to the temporary shortage of labor caused by the Black Death.
High wages at this time caused the conversion of some land to pasture,
according to the orthodox theory, and from time to time during the
next two centuries high wages were a contributing factor influencing
the withdrawal of land from tillage; but the great and effective cause
of the enclosure movement, the one fundamental fact which is insisted
upon, is that constant advances in the price of wool made grazing
relatively profitable. It is usually accepted without debate that the
withdrawal of arable land from tillage did not begin until after the
Black Death, that the enclosures of the fifteenth and sixteenth
centuries were caused by a rise in the price of wool, and that the
conversion of arable land to pasture ceased when this cause ceased to
operate.

Against this general explanation of the enclosure movement, it is
urged, first, that the withdrawal of land from cultivation began long
before the date at which the enclosure movement, caused by an alleged
rise in the price of wool, is ordinarily said to have begun. The
fourteenth century was marked by agrarian readjustments which have a
direct relation