26 AN INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH RURAL HISTORY 



empowered the lord to enclose certain of the common 

 lands, provided enough pasture was left for the use of the 

 tenants. But it was difficult to decide whether enough 

 had been left. Moreover, the remedy at law was costly : 

 hence many of the unfortunate peasants gave up the struggle 

 and drifted to the towns. 



Two points in connection with the enclosing of land 

 for sheep-farming are worthy of special mention at this 

 stage. In the first place, such enclosures were not confined 

 to the fifteenth century. They began at least a century 

 earlier. Secondly, it should be carefully noted that only 

 a small part of the land was enclosed during this period. 

 It has been estimated that, even as late as 1685, little more 

 than half the total area of England was cultivated at all, 

 and that more than half of this cultivated area was still 

 farmed on the old open-field system. In other words, 

 only about one-fourth of the surface of England was en- 

 closed before the end of the seventeenth century. 



Results of Enclosures. 



The general results of the sheep-farming " boom " may 

 be thus summarized : (1) There had been created in 

 England a great woollen industry, thereby increasing the 

 royal revenue. (2) The establishment of the domestic 

 system of manufacture, many families being engaged in 

 spinning and weaving in their own homes. (3) The circula- 

 tion of money had become more common. (4) Landowners, 

 traders, and monasteries had become enormously rich. 

 (5) Many villages had >een destroyed and thousands of 

 poor people rendered temporarily homeless. 



Briefly, it may be stated that many landowners had 

 been enriched, whilst thousands of peasants had become 

 " landless " an^ had thereby been reduced to poverty. 



