DECREASE OF DEMESNE LAND 97 



the abuses at which it was aimed were dying a natural death, 

 though enclosure often acted hardly on the poor man. 



The manorial system went on steadily decaying, and by 

 this time the demesne lands had much diminished in area on 

 most manors. Many parcels had been sold to the new land- 

 lord class, who had made their fortunes in the towns and, 

 like most Englishmen, desired to become country gentlemen. 



Much of the demesne had been sold in small lots to well- 

 off tradesmen, and as the villeins had become copyholders 

 a large part of the land was owned or occupied by yeomen 

 or tenant farmers, who cultivated from 20 to 150 acres. Many 

 of the labourers also owned or rented cottages with 4 or 5 

 acres attached to them. Such was the rural society at the end 

 of the Tudor period. The progress of enclosures helped to 

 destroy this, for the labourers gradually ceased to own or 

 occupy land, farms increased in size, the ownership of land 

 came to be more and more the privilege of the rich, and 

 people flocked in increasing numbers to the towns.^ In five 

 Norfolk manors in Elizabeth's time only from one-seventh to 

 one-tenth was in demesne, and little of what was left was 

 farmed by the lord, but let to farmers on leases.^ On some 

 manors the demesne land lay in compact blocks near the 

 manor house ; on others it was in scattered strips of various 

 size ; in others it lay in blocks and strips. The following 

 particulars of a manor in Norfolk give a good picture of 

 an estate in 1586-8, the tenants on it, their rank, and the size 

 of their holdings : — 



Horstead with Staninghall, 2,746 acres. 

 The tenants with messuages in the village were : — 



• Transactions of the Royal Historical Society (New Series), xix. 103. 

 " Ibid. xi. 74 sq. 



CURTLER JJ 



