OXFORDSHIRE IN 1794 AND 1809 235 



restrictions of the former course of husbandry, and appropriating 

 each of the various sorts of land to that use to which it is best 

 adapted. 2. The prevention of the loss of time, both as to labourers 

 and cattle, in travelling . . . from one end of a parish to another ; 

 and also in fetching the horses from distant commons before they 

 go to work. 3. There is a much better chance of escaping the 

 distempers to which cattle of all kinds are liable from being mixed 

 with those infected, particularly the scab in sheep. This circum- 

 stance, in common fields, must operate as a discouragement to the 

 improvement of stock. ... 5. The great benefit which arises 

 from draining lands, which cannot so well, if at all, be done on 

 single acres and half acres, and would effectually prevent the rot 

 amongst sheep, so very common in open field land. 6. Lastly 

 the preventing of constant quarrels, which happen as well from the 

 trespasses of cattle, as by ploughing away from each others' land." 

 Otmoor, near Islip, containing " about four thousand acres," is 

 mentioned as the largest and most valuable tract of waste in the 

 county. " This whole tract of land lies so extremely flat, that the 

 water, in wet seasons, stands on it a long time together, and of 

 course renders it very unwholesome to the cattle, as well as the 

 neighbourhood. The sheep are thereby subject to the rot, and the 

 larger cattle to a disease called the moor evil. The abuses here 

 (as is the case of most commons where many parishes are concerned) 

 are very great, there being no regular stint, but each neighbouring 

 householder turns out upon the moor what number he pleases. 

 There are flocks of geese likewise kept on this common, by which 

 several people gain a livelihood." 



In 1809, Arthur Young reported on Oxfordshire, 1 where he 

 found that, in proportion to its extent, more land had been enclosed 

 since 1770 in the county than in any other part of England. Otmoor 

 and Wychwood Forest were still uninclosed wastes. Apart from 

 the question of productiveness, he urged that the enclosure of the 

 latter district was necessary on moral grounds. " The vicinity is 

 filled with poachers, deer-stealers, thieves, and pilferers of every 

 kind ; offences of almost every description abound so much, that 

 the offenders are a terror to all quiet and well-disposed persons ; 

 and Oxford gaol would be uninhabited, were it not for this fertile 

 source of crimes." Nearly one hundred parishes still remained in 

 open-fields. " It is," says Young, speaking of open-field practices, 

 1 Young's Oxfordshire (1809), pp. 87, 236, 239, 102. 



