A HISTORY OF DURHAM 



In the eighteenth century only 2,137 acres of common fields were in- 

 closed by Private Acts of Parliament, or about one-twelfth of the amount 

 inclosed in the seventeenth century by Chancery decree, but in 1757 began 

 a new movement for the inclosure of commons and wastes, under the in- 

 fluence of the new agriculture. The four Inclosure Acts in the reign of 

 George II relate to waste land only ; out of twenty-two others in the eigh- 

 teenth century and fifteen in the nineteenth century, only seven relate to 

 the inclosure of common arable fields, but three others extinguish rights of 

 common over them. 1 



Speaking generally, most of the later inclosures after 1759 were made 

 by Act of Parliament, but some were simply by agreement. The lord of 

 the manor generally reserved the right to minerals, subject to the payment of 

 compensation for damage by the lessee. The lord also received a certain 

 proportion of land for his rights or else a reserved rent of 6d. or 4^. per 

 acre, called at Hamsterley the bishop's groat. In this village 2,000 out of the 

 8,000 acres inclosed were not deemed worth ^d. an acre, and so George 

 Surtees, esq., one of the principal proprietors, was allowed to have them on 

 condition that he paid the bishop's groat. Bailey, from whose General View 

 of the Agriculture of Durham much valuable information has been taken, is 

 indignant when discussing the charge that inclosures wrong the poor. He 

 points out that after inclosures population and farms increase. 8 The indus- 

 trious poor must certainly be benefited by an increase of employment and an 

 increase of provisions ; and inclosing of commons can only be inimical to 

 vagabonds, sheep-thieves, and other pests of society. He admits, however, 

 that in the vicinity of populous districts there was a tendency for commons 

 to rise in rent, but elsewhere he maintained that the rights of the commoners 

 were of little worth. He tells how he let an allotment for ^75 f r which, 

 before inclosure, the owner and his tenants did not receive benefits equal to 

 as many shillings, and he ends by estimating from personal knowledge of their 

 early condition that upon an average the commons have increased ten times 

 in value by inclosures. It is certain that many agreed with him, for when 

 he wrote in 180910, there had been 114,071 acres inclosed since 1759 and 

 only 19,400 acres of common remained. Very little of this survived the 

 nineteenth century except in the far west. 



VI MODERN DURHAM 



With the eighteenth century the golden age began to return to Durham, 

 golden at least in comparison with the misery of the past. New coal mines, 

 lead mines, and iron mines were opened and old ones enlarged. Villages 

 began to spring up on the wastes, ugly and insanitary, but inhabited by a more 

 prosperous race of colliers than the old villagers had been. The bishop had 

 always owned or leased lead and iron mines in Weardale, there had been 

 since the seventeenth century a flourishing iron industry about Winlaton, and 

 coal, stone, and salt had been worked in the Palatinate at least from the 

 twelfth century, but now a new spirit entered into all industries in Durham 



1 For dates and other information as to inclosures see App. No. 2. 

 * Bailey, Gen. View of the Agrlc. ofDur. 98. 



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