138 ENGLISH FIELD SYSTEMS 



to three-field husbandry, had there been no change since the 

 fourteenth century; and that part, as it happens, was the one 

 least inclined to undertake enclosure. Elsewhere in the old two- 

 field territory a four-field system, or one still more advanced, had 

 arisen as a testimony to the best efforts of open-field husbandry 

 to achieve efficient agricultural method. 



For those midland and southern counties in which the two- 

 and three-field system once prevailed there is abundant evidence 

 of its long-continued existence, • and the enclosure history of these 

 counties did not in general differ greatly from that of Oxfordshire. 

 In certain western counties, however, where there were pretty 

 clearly two or three fields at an early time, similar long life was 

 not granted. In the preceding chapter it was pointed out at 

 length that marked irregularities in field arrangements had al- 

 ready appeared there in the sixteenth century, and that enclosure 

 was frequently in progress. It remains to inquire how much open 

 field remained to be enclosed by act of parliament. 



The region in question comprised the forest area which ex- 

 tended over the northern parts of Warwickshire, Worcestershire, 

 Staffordshire, and Derbyshire. It reached westward and south- 

 ward to include the fertile valleys of the Wye and Severn, 

 passing thence into the low-lying stretches of Somerset. Through- 

 out large parts of the eight counties within this region there was a 

 tendency from the sixteenth century onward to increase the area 

 under pasture. The relatively small extent of the arable left to 

 be affected by parHamentary activity can be roughly gauged 

 from Slater's list of acts and areas.^ In the valley of the Severn 

 and in the plain of Somerset several townships procured awards, 

 but the amount of arable enclosed by each award was seldom 

 great. Elsewhere the acts were less numerous. As Slater 

 records them, there were twenty-nine for Herefordshire,^ seven 



^ Slater, English Peasantry, Appendi.x. 



2 Ibid. They are assigned to Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, Shropshire, and 

 the counties mentioned above. 



^ English Peasantry, Appendix. His Herefordshire list includes at least three 

 acts that shoidd have been omitted. The Wigmore petition of 1772 distinctly 

 states that it is concerned with 600 acres of " common wood," not with 600 acres 

 of common arable, as Slater has it. The award for Bredwardine (with Dorston), 



