224 PROC. COTTESWOLD CLUB VOL. xiil. (3) 



The mode of cultivation was at length considered waste- 

 ful, and prevented the introduction of improved methods 

 of tillage. One strip allowed to run waste would scatter 

 seeds far and wide, and pasture rights in stubble interfered 

 with the management of the land. Hence the desire was 

 felt for a different tenure. It would seem that much land 

 had been inclosed by mutual arrangement, especially in 

 the County of Kent, and very probably in time past in 

 Upton ; for other fields besides " Common Fields," as 

 recently existing, are shown in the Tithe Map as being 

 divided like them into small portions ; there are traditions, 

 too, of inclosures by arrangement. 



But a legal process at length became necessary. Under 

 Queen Anne there were two Inclosure Acts, comprising 

 1439 acres; under George I. 16, comprising 17,660 acres; 

 from the accession of George III. to the end of 1796, 1532, 

 comprising nearly three millions of acres ; in the present 

 century up to 1844 there have been 2177 Acts. The 

 movement was on the whole regarded with satisfaction, 

 until 1845, when the present Inclosure Act became law. 

 The statute is noteworthy as recognizing the importance 

 of inclosure on economic principles, as well as the neces- 

 sity of open spaces for recreation. The preamble runs: — 



" It is expedient to facilitate the inclosure and im- 

 provement of commons and other lands now subject to 

 rights of property which obstruct cultivation and the 

 productive employment of labour, and to facilitate such 

 exchanges of land as may be beneficial to the respective 

 owners." 



The time at length came when one of the last un- 

 inclosed Parishes, Upton St. Leonard's, should be dealt 

 with, at the desire of the owners of the greater part of the 

 Common fields by a Provisional Order under the pro- 

 visions of the Inclosure Acts 1845 to 1882, confirmed by 

 a Confirmation Act in 1895, which was duly ratified 



