After Enclosure

Here is a map of a village at around 1850, six generations after the last mapping. The landowner lives in the Baronial Hall. Recent generations were involved in the agricultural revolution.

Productivity improved in agriculture because permanent arable and permanent grass lands became mixed in use, so that clover (and other legumes) with dung and urine increased land fertility. Animals on common land and leaving land fallow were not as efficient. Crop yeilds doubled where land had been reasonable, good arable land did not show the same benefit in crop yields.

Regional specialisation (suiting the soil) was also important given the increase in transport distance for produce. This needed enclosure.

At first enclosure was to benefit sheep farmers and improve the wool trade. War demanded more efficient agricultre than the Open Field System could deliver. Enclosure was at first voluntary but, due to resistance, became compulsory through legislation with many of the first acts through the 1760s and 1770s affecting the Midlands.

The rotation system could take place better within enclosed and concentrated farms. Wheat, roots (mangolds, turnips), cereal (barley, oats) and legumes (clover, peas, beans) was one rotation system.

Animal movement was more restricted with enclosure reudcing the spread of disease. Much common land was swept away. They had been lighter and sandier than Open Field System arable areas, but now they were seen as good for crops.

Lord 'Turnip' Townshend recommended root crops as a way to replenish the soil. Robert Bakewell was known for new breeding methods and improving frainage to land. Thomas Coke was able to turn arid heathland into fertile fields through treatment.

The number of people working on the land fell as agriculture became more efficient, and machinery (including Jethro Tull's revolutionary seed drill) became ever more important. Those who relied on common land to graze a few animals lost their livelihoods. Some profits were released into the growing financial system to help factories spread, so that many people forced to labour for farmers left the land altogether and went into the growing towns.

Did the population on the land go up or down? Explain the answer.

Peter Jones and his family never stops working the land. What were the crops involved in the four-field rotation system that meant it did not need to rest?

What was the new feature regarding boundaries to the farm and within it?

What happened to the common land and the cottages upon it?

What happened to the method of sowing seed?

What did Jethro Tull do?

Identify two other people involved in agricultural change.

What place was there for education and training in farming under this system?

What do you suppose was the impact on some people of the loss of Common Land rights?

The Result of the Agricultural Revolution

The Result of the
Agricultural Revolution