GAnRIFJ. FLA TIES. 8i 



plouoh team) ; \iri^ate=:30 acres, or one man's lioldini]^. As the jjopula- 

 tion increased these lands were naturally lontinually encroached on and 

 inclosed 1)\ the large holders, and the action taken sei-ms to ha\e caused 

 no particular c-omjilaint or hardshij:) so long as the quantity of land amj)ly 

 supplied the wants of all. The agitation against the inclosure for 

 private ownership and use became lirst an important suhject in the 

 fourteenth century, whi-n an extending demand tor I'Jiglish wool 

 induced the large owners to commence inclosing immense tracts ot what 

 had been until then tdmmon lands, and e\icting numbers of the culti- 

 vating tenants at will, and small squatters, and substituting [Kisturage 

 for tillage. 



This system of large holdings was advocated by both h'itzherbert and 

 Tusser (writers whose careers have been dealt with in these pages). 

 Inclosures had been made and allowed since the reigns of Henry III. and 

 Edward II., with the limitation of leaving sufificient for those who had 

 right of common, and some unpopular actions in this direction were the 

 principal causes of Jack Cade's rebellion about 1450. About a hundred 

 years later a similar rebellion was caused through the inclosure of land 

 brought about by the dissolution of the monasteries in the reign of 

 Henry MIL, the abbey lands being transferred and gi\en to lay owners, 

 who proved not nearly such easv landlords as the monks. With the 

 increase in population the cultivation of land was becoming more 

 of a commercial consideration, and a nev\' kind of landholder was 

 arising, governed bv a more commercial instinct, " men who were 

 permitted to inclose under certain conditions not more than sixtv 

 acres, or one-sixth of the waste of the manor, whic-h ever should be 

 best for the benefit of poor ministers. A great movement took place 

 in favour of inclosures in the last part of the eighteenth and first part of 

 the nineteenth century ; it was a movement to get rid of common fields, 

 and to inclose wastes and common lands. 



In 1760, before the tide of im losuresas understood to-dav had begun 

 to set in, a large portion of the land was in common fields, each \illage 

 or town having sometimes two or fcjur, but usualK' three, broad strips of 

 grass, divided b\- landmarks called headlands and baulks of turf into 

 s, divided amongst the inhabitants. These lidds 

 on a customar\- svstem of agriculture, .ind were 

 rights ol tallow and common j)a.sture. The r(|)orts 

 ullure a few years later greatl\- strengthened this 



\r\-\ many Inelosure .\cls were laid before I'arlia- 

 iti- .\cls were ver\ incouNcnienl , as four-iiflhs of 

 n right had to lonsent befoic the inclosure was 

 1' oi t lie ( Onimiltee of Agricultui-c in 1 794 suggested 

 losuns ; Parliament was ai.)proached, but the bill 

 ut-nlly it was re\i\ed, passed by the Commons, i>ut 



G 



