Enclosure in Kesteven
Mills, Dennis R.
Agricultural History Review, Volume 7 part 2 (1959)
Abstract
Generally speaking, the enclosure movements of the sixteenth to nineteenth centuries assumed their greatest importance in the areas where the open-field system had been most firmly established, that is, in the ‘Midland Triangle’ and scarpland England, with the exception of parts of the south-east. Although it has long been recognized that there were local and regional contrasts within these areas, many of them still remain to be studied in detail. Detailed studies are essential to a fuller understanding of the variations in the pace of enclosure from one period to another and from one place to another.
The present paper has therefore been prepared in an attempt to summarize some of the source material for Kesteven and to put forward some tentative conclusions based upon it. Particular attention has been paid to the mapping of enclosure evidence and to relating it to what is known of soil conditions, land utilization, and differences in land tenure and ownership. Some consideration is also given to the economic effects of enclosures, since they provide a very important clue to the original motives for enclosure.
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