50 WESTMORLAND AGRICULTURE. 1800— 1900 



and later by the railways, had a great and educating effect on minds 

 which, given the opportunity, quickly seized upon the idea of extending 

 their trade with the large manufacturing towns. To grasp this oppor- 

 tunity, energy and work had to be applied to reclaiming the commons, 

 and if a return commensurate with the expense and labour was to be 

 looked for it had to be carried out in a thorough and efficient manner. 

 That this was not done in every case is to be regretted — for the county 

 is poorer for it to-day. 



In the legal sense a " common " or " common land " is any land 

 which is subject to rights of common, and is either — 



(a) " waste lands " or (b) " common fields." 



(a) " Common or waste land is almost always, but not neces- 

 sarily, owned by the lord of the manor, subject to rights of common 

 exercisable throughout the whole year— this right of common is 

 common of pasture, but also includes any right of taking profit out 

 of the land, such as fern, heath, gorse, sand, turf, &c." 



(6) " Common fields are open tracts of arable or meadow land 

 belonging in separate strips or plots to various owners. These, when 

 under tillage or shut up for hay, are occupied in severalty ; but at 

 other times of the year (or during the whole year in the case of fallows) 

 are subject to the exercise of rights of common." 



In the General Report on Inclosures, drawn up by order of the 

 Board of Agriculture in 1808, it is said : " It would certainly have been 

 extremely desirable, had it been in the power of yoiu: Committee to 

 have fiurnished the Board with an exact statement of the extent of 

 Waste Lands in the Kingdom." In this report the wastes and commons 

 of the county are given as 405,120 acres, or three-quarters of the whole 

 area, an estimate based on Bishop Watson's calculation made in 1794. 

 The wastes inclosed during the first 40 years of George III., i.e., to 

 t8oi, were nine in number, with a total of 10,283 acres inclosed, and 

 an increase in the culture of wheat from nothing to 272 acres. The 

 nine commons inclosed were Orton, Long Marton, Ormside, Warcop 

 (2), Appleby, Kirkby Thore, and Morland (2). 



Of " Common Fields," held as such, there is little evidence, only 

 four have been inclosed, viz. : Bolton, 22 acres in 1808 ; Soulby, 90 

 acres in 1810 ; Kendal, " Mint's Feet," 105 acres in 1811 ; and Barton, 

 130 acres in 1819. From the return of 1874 it will be seen that only 



