56 ENCLOSURES OF THE FIFTEENTH III 



wool during the period from 1451-1540 (nearly a century), 

 in "spite_ of the rise of wages, was m all probability the 

 more effective production which enclosure facilitated. 



The truth of the matter is that a change of this sort was_ 

 inevitable if England was ever to advance out of the most 

 primitive condition and methods of cultivation. Nor is it 

 easy to answer the advocates of the change to pasture 

 at least from the point of view of free competition. 

 Mr. Leadam a has come to the conclusion that the increase 

 in the value of arable open land which was turned to pasture 

 was as much as 23 per cent., and this, not because the gross 

 value of the produce was thereby increased, but because the 

 net value was higher ; in other words, because the saving of 

 labour on a pasture farm, especially at a time when wages 

 were rising, reduced expenses. 2 



Here, however, we are not concerned to discuss the in- 

 evitable character of the revolution but to estimate its 

 results, and these were doubtless grave. It is not my aim 

 toUeal at length with this subject except as it affected the 

 ownership of Jand, and therefore a few words must suffice. 



First, then /the substitution^of pasture for arable farming 

 and the enclosing- of the strips on the common field finally 

 v broke up the manorial economy which was already becoming 

 ojrt of date. The grazier wanted fewer men to tend his 

 sheep than had been needed as long as the land lay under 

 the plough. Whether therefore he was the lord on his 

 demesne or tenant on the manor, when he consolidated 



1 Domesday of Enclosures, vol. i. 66. 



a The rise in the price of wool is also given as a cause of the change 

 of arable into pasture, but the price of wool stood at about 4s. to 6s. 

 a tod from 1451-1540, and only rose to 20s. subsequently. This, 

 therefore, was not the primary cause. Hasbach, Die englischen 

 Landarbeiter, p. 28. For an interesting example of a dispute whether 

 enclosure should be adopted, cf. Victoria County Hist. : Durham, vol. ii. 

 238 ; also Hist, of Northumberland, vol. iii. 264. 



