,THE FACE OF THE COUNTRY. i8i 



no purpose. The laws of supply and demand, 

 though little understood, were as inexorable then as 

 now, and labour went where work and wages were 

 awaiting it. A great part of England went 

 temporarily out of cultivation, and we may be sure 

 that a remote and difficult country, like that around 

 Exmoor, would not escape. The district, it is 

 reasonable to suppose, remained depopulated for a 

 great length of time, and the wilder parts probably 

 never regained their former population, though 

 agriculture revived and the growth of corn somewhat 

 increased 



We can tell the dates of much of the modern 

 enclosure by the dates of the various Enclosure Acts, 

 and indeed, were it necessary, the whole of the lands 

 enclosed could be identified from the plans attached 

 to the enclosure awards which are in the office of the 

 Clerk of the Peace. 



The principal acts are dated : 



Anstey, 1825 



Dulverton, 1848 



Exmoor, i8i8 



Exford and Almsworthy, 1840 



Winsford, 1848 

 Porlock, 1854 

 Stoke Pero, 1848 

 High Bray, 1863. 



Such fences as there were to the ingrounds up to 

 recent times consisted simply of stone-faced banks, 

 which were innocent of the huge growths of beech 

 and hornbeam which they carry now. These banks 

 can have been little or no impediment to the deer, 

 the hounds, or the riders, and glorious must have 

 been the gallops a bold rider on a good horse must 



