hoskins' england class 6

W.G. Hoskins and the Making of the English Landscape

Class 6. A Curse Upon the Land. Parliamentary Enclosure

Tutor: Keith Challis

hoskins-england.blogspot.co.uk

Recap: Last Week (An Excess of Sheep)

• Hoskins Rural Idyll (?)

• Tudor to Georgian England– The Landscape in 1500– The Enclosure of the Midland Fields– The Flowering of Rural England– Country Houses and Parks

• 60 years on: Critique of Hoskins and a counterpoint

• Historic mapping and Map Regression• Laxton Group project: Working with historic mapping

Hoskins’s England hoskins-england.blogspot.co.uk

Class Summary

Structure

• Nostalgia and the immemorial past• A curse upon the Land: Parliamentary Enclosure• 60 years on: Critique of Hoskins and a counterpoint

Coffee Break

• Researching Enclosure and Tithe Commutation• Laxton Group project: Tracing Enclosure at Laxton


Class Summary Learning Outcomes

• Understand the fundamental impact of Parliamentary Enclosure on the English Landscape

• Appreciate more recent ideas about the impact of Enclosure

• Appreciate the sources of evidence and research methods for exploring enclosure

• Become familiar with the physical traces of past enclosure on the Laxton landscape.


Section 1: A Curse Upon the Land:Parliamentary Enclosure and the Landscape

A Curse Upon the Land

Nostalgia and the Immemorial Past

• “In the great majority of parishes it was a complete transformation from the immemorial landscape of the open fields…into the modern chequer-board pattern”



• “A villager who had played in the open fields as a boy, or watched sheep in the common pasture, would have lived to see the modern landscape of his parish completed and matured…Everything was different: hardly a landmark of the old parish would have remained. Perhaps here or there the old man would have found some evidence of the former world…”



Chapter 6: Structure• The Extent of Enclosure• The Date of Parliamentary Enclosure• The New Landscape• The Fields• Hedgerows and Trees• Roads• Farmhouses



The Extent of Enclosure• 4.5 million acres of

Open Field enclosed by Act of Parliament

• 3000 parishes affected• Geographically focused

on East Yorkshire, the Midlands and East Anglian



The Date of Parliamentary Enclosure

• Principally 1750-1850• Only 237 acts before

1760• 1479 between 1760

and 1844, after which the General Enclosure Act led to 164 further awards



The New Landscape• Transformation of

medieval landscape of open field, common pasture and waste into a closed, regulated, private landscape of field and farm



The Fields• Small hedged fields dominate

enclosed landscape• Rectangular forms and straight

lines dominate• “A regular field pattern of

straight hedges and squarish fields of roughly the same size” particularly when enclosing waste and common

• A monotonous field-pattern and continuous greensward

• Regional variations, eg. n East Anglia conversion of heath to arable dominated


A Curse Upon the LandHedgerows and Trees• Fields hedged with

quickset, whitethorn/hawthorn with shallow ditch and fence

• When mature hedges cut and laid

• Ash and Elm trees planted at irregular intervals, when mature give impression of woodland

• Fox coverts in Midlands• Freestone walls in areas of

abundant building stoneHoskins’s England hoskins-england.blogspot.co.uk


Roads• Wide, (20 yards plus)

straight, hedged roads based on efficient linkage of places rather than ancient ways

• Wide roads reflect poor surface conditions

• Metalled roads a contemporary innovation, not directly linked to enclosure



Farmhouses• Consolidation of holdings

into compact blocks led to gradual relocation of farms away from village core.

• Larger farmers/graziers pioneered move

• Elsewhere gradual process driven by economics and decay of old farm buildings


Section 2: Sixty Years On


The politics of Enclosure• Hoskins focused on the

physical transformation of the landscape.

• The impact of enclosure is not social but aesthetic

• A romantic yearning for lost landscapes, typified by Clare (p.194)

• Social critique of enclosure absent

• Little reference to contemporary voices of dissent



John Clare 1793 – 1864) • An English poet, the son of a

farm labourer, who came to be known for his celebratory representations of the English countryside and his lamentation of its disruption.

• A conservative romantic voice in an age of dissent.

• “I am as far as my politics reaches 'King and Country'—no Innovations in Religion and Government say I. With the old dish that was served to my forefathers I am content”


A Curse Upon the LandDissent• Enclosure was a contested

change from Gerrard Winstanley in the 1640s on

• The earth (which was made to be a Common Treasury of relief for all, both Beasts and Men) was hedged into Inclosures by the teachers and rulers, and the others were made Servants and Slaves…Take note that England is not a Free people, till the Poor that have no Land, have a free allowance to dig and labour the Commons, and so live as Comfortably as the Landlords that live in their Inclosures


A Curse Upon the LandDissent• Record of broadside ballads

and folk song

• Sermons - The crying sin of England, of not caring for the poor.: Wherein inclosure, viz. such as doth unpeople townes, and uncorn fields, is arraigned, convicted, and condemned by the Word of God. Being the chief heads of two sermons, preached at the lecture at Lutterworth in Leicester-shire in May last, and now published in love to Christ, his country, and the poor. Vicar of Knaptoft, Leicestershire.


A Curse Upon the LandSocial Impact

The main arguments against enclosure were:(i) that the common pastures and waste lands were the mainstay of the independent poor; they were overgrazed, that was often as a result of overstocking by the wealthiest commoners who were the people agitating for enclosure(ii) enclosure engrossed already wealthy landowners, force poor people off the land and into urban slums, and resulted in depopulation.

• Millions of people had customary and legal access to lands and the basis of an independent livelihood was snatched away from them

• There was no requirement, in the parliament of the day, to declare a "conflict of interest".

• Out of 796 instances of MPs turning up for any of the Oxfordshire bills, 514 were Oxfordshire MPs, most of whom would have been landowners.


• The losers in the process of enclosure were the landless, who had no ownership rights over the commons, but who gained a living from commons that were open access. These people had few rights, appeared on no records, and received nothing in compensation for the livelihood they lost.

• There was also a class of smallholders who did have legal rights, and hence were entitled to compensation. However, the amount of land they were allocated "was often so small, though in strict legal proportion to the amount of their claim, that it was of little use and speedily sold." Moreover, the considerable legal, surveying, hedging and fencing costs of enclosure were disproportionate for smaller holdings.




Coffee Break


Section 3: Researching Enclosure and Tithe Commutation

Researching Enclosure


Parliamentary Enclosure

• Enclosure is the consolidation or extending of land holdings into larger units. 50% of English parishes enclosed

• May be done by powerful landowners, or mutual agreement amongst landowners. Often no records of such early enclosures

• From early 18th century enclosure by Act of Parliament, initially separate private Acts, after 1801 general public Acts



• Acts appoint commissioners who divide the land after detailed surveys. Usually survey accompanied by a map

• Enclosure awards include written description of roads footpaths, drains, land allotments by owner (including Lord of Manor), glebe (church) land, common, ancient enclosure, etc.

• Allotments of consolidated land, rights, responsibilities and Tithes (usually commuted for rent) are given in the Award and shown on the map

Enclosure in Nottinghamshire



The Enclosed Landscape



Enclosure Maps



Helperthorpe: Enclosed in 1805

Reconstructing Landscape from Enclosure Evidence

Past landscapes reconstructed





Tithe Commutation• Tithes were payments in kind

of a agreed proportion of yearly profits from farming made by parishioners for support of the clergy

• After the dissolution of the monasteries much church land and many tithes passed into lay hands

• Often money payments were substituted for in kind payments and with enclosure this became the norm



• In 1836 the Government passed the Tithe Commutation Act, appointing 3 commissioners to work out the substitution of a variable corn rent in place of tithes throughout England

• Agreements (apportionments) drawn up between tithe owners and land owners included a map but these vary greatly in quality and accuracy. The best ones were approved by the Commissioners

• Areas where enclosure or other agreement had previously brought about the commutation of tithes have no apportionments or map

Tithe Maps

Alverthorpe: Tithe Map 1845

• Landowners names

• Occupiers names

• Plot No. referring to plan

• Name and description of Land and Premises

• State of cultivation

• Area

• Amount of rent charge apportioned




Enclosure Records at the National Archives

• Much nationally important material

• Good explanatory materials and guides

• Access to Archives Search

• A consolidated on-line search engine for UK-wide archives


http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk


The Nottinghamshire Archives

• County HouseCastle Meadow RoadNottinghamNG2 1AG


http://www.nottinghamshire.gov.uk/learning/history/archives/


Manuscripts and Special Collections at UoN

• The University of NottinghamKing's Meadow CampusLenton LaneNottingham

• Extensive collection of East Midlands material, especially for Laxton


http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/manuscriptsandspecialcollections

Section 4: Tracing Enclosureat Laxton

Enclosure at LaxtonIdentifying Early

Enclosure• Evidence of enclosure

either from waste or of Open Field based on map and field name evidence.

• Much land in the east of the parish appears to have been enclosed from wood or waste.


Enclosure at Laxton

The New Farms of the 1729

• Four new Farms created by the Pierrepont Estate as part of a reorganisation of the Parish in the early 18th century that say some enclose and clearance of woodland

• Each comprised both open field strips and an enclosed “infield”


Enclosure at Laxton

The Enclosure of the East Field

• The Manvers’ Estate substantially reorganised the open fields, amalgamating strips and enclosing some areas in the early 19th century.

• The remaining strips in the East Field were enclosed in 1903


1835

Enclosure at Laxton

The Enclosure of the East Field

• Enclosure and amalgamation to larger strips allowed agricultural improvement and the use of modern farm equipment


c1900

Self Assessment

Learning Outcomes• Understand the broad changes to the

English Landscape brought about by Parliamentary Enclosure

• Recognise some of the social affects of enclosure

• Am familiar with some of the documents produced by Enclosure and where to access them


Further Study

Suggested Reading• A short history of Enclosure in Britain by Simon

Fairlie (link from website)

• Hoskins Chapter 7 for next week.

Self Study Themes• Explore the maps of Laxton on the website, to

what extent can you identify changes in land use through field patterns?


hoskins' england class 6

Documents

uka curse

landscapea curse

laxtonhoskinss england

farmhoskinss england

awardshoskinss england

worldhoskinss england

immemorial pasta curse

immemorial landscape