APPENDIX A (11)
Wakefield, Yorks.—Enclosure Act, 1793
Area.—2300 acres ‘or thereabouts.’
Nature of Ground.—Open Common Fields, Ings, Commons, Waste Grounds, within the townships of Wakefield, Stanley, Wrenthorpe, Alverthorpe, and Thornes.
Parliamentary Proceedings.—January 23, 1793.—Petition from several owners and proprietors for enclosure. Leave given to prepare bill. January 28, Wilberforce presented it; February 18, it was committed to Wilberforce, Duncombe and others.
February 28.—Petition against the bill from the Earl of Strafford, stating that the bill will greatly affect and prejudice his property. Petition referred to Committee.
Same day, Petition against the bill from several Persons, being Owners of Estates and Occupiers of Houses in the Town and Parish of Wakefield. ‘Setting forth, That, if the said Bill should pass into a Law, as it now stands, the same will greatly affect and prejudice the Estates and Property of the Petitioners, (viz.), their being deprived of the Benefit they now receive from the Pasturage of the Ings, from the 12th of August to the 5th of April, and for which they cannot receive any Compensation adequate thereto, as well as the Restrictions which exclude the Inhabitants from erecting Buildings on Land that may be allotted to them for Twenty, Forty, and Sixty Years, on different Parts of Westgate Common, as specified in the said Bill.’ This petition also was referred to the Committee.
Report and Enumeration of Consents.—March 12.—Wilberforce reported from the Committee that the Standing Orders had been complied with, that they had considered the first Petition (Lord Strafford’s), (no one had appeared to be heard on behalf of the second Petition), that they found the allegations of the Bill true, that ‘the Parties concerned’ had given their consent to the Bill, and also to adding one Commissioner to the three named in the Bill ‘(except the Owners of Estates whose Property in the Lands and Grounds to be divided and inclosed is assessed to the Land Tax at £5 per Annum or thereabouts, who refused to sign the Bill; and also, except the Owners of Estates whose Property in the said Lands and Grounds is assessed to the Land Tax at about £51 per Annum, who have either declared themselves perfectly indifferent about the Inclosure, or not given any Answer to the Application made to them respecting it; and that the whole Property belonging to Persons interested in the Inclosure is assessed to the Land Tax at £432 per Annum, or thereabouts ...).’
Bill passed Commons and Lords. March 28, Royal Assent.
Main Features of Act.—(Private, 33 George III. c. 11.)
Commissioners.—Four appointed. (1) Richard Clark of Rothwell Haigh, Gentleman; (2) John Renshaw of Owthorp, Notts, Gentleman; (3) John Sharp of Gildersome, Yorks, Gentleman; (4) William Whitelock of Brotherton, Yorks, Gentleman; the first representing the Duke of Leeds, the second the Earl of Strafford (no doubt this was the Commissioner added in Committee), and the other two representing the Majority in Value of the Persons interested. Any vacancy to be filled up by the party represented, and new Commissioners to be ‘not interested in the said Inclosure.’ Three to be a quorum. In case of dispute and equal division of opinion amongst the Commissioners, an Umpire is appointed (Isaac Leatham of Barton, Gentleman); the decision of Commissioners and Umpire to be final and conclusive.
Payment To Commissioners.—2 guineas each for each working day. The Surveyors (2 appointed) to be paid as Commissioners think fit.
Claims.—All claims with full particulars of the nature and tenure of the property on behalf of which the claim is made are to be handed in at the 1st or 2nd meeting of the Commissioners; no claim is to be received later except for some special cause; and the determination of the Commissioners as to the various claims is to be binding and final. There are, however, three exceptions to the above, (1) Persons claiming in virtue of Messuages and Tofts need not prove usage of common; (2) Any Person who is dissatisfied with regard to his own or some one else’s claim, may give notice in writing, and the Commissioners are then to take Counsel’s opinion on the matter. The Commissioners are to choose the Counsel, who is to be ‘not interested in the Premises.’ The Commissioners may also on their own responsibility take Counsel’s opinion at any time they think proper; Counsel’s opinion is to be final. The costs are to be paid by the party against whom the dispute is determined, or otherwise as the Commissioners decide; (3) The Earl of Strafford is exempted from specifying particulars of Tenure in making his claim, for there are disputes on this subject between the Duke and the Earl, ‘which Matters in Difference the said Duke and Earl have not agreed to submit to the Consideration or Determination of the said Commissioners.’ The Commissioners need not specify the tenure of the Earl’s share in making their award, and if the Duke and Earl go to law about their dispute and the matter is settled in a Court of Equity, then the Commissioners are to make a second special Award for them.
System of Division—Special Provisions:
Provisions for the Lord of the Manor—‘the Most Noble Francis, Duke of Leeds.’—
(1) Such part of the Commons and Waste Grounds as is ‘equal in Value to One full Sixteenth Part thereof in lieu of and as a sufficient Recompence for his Right to the Soil of the said Commons and Waste Grounds, and for his Consent to the Division and Inclosure thereof;
(2) An allotment of the Commons and Waste Grounds to be (in the judgment of the Commissioners) a fair compensation for his Coney Warrens which are to be destroyed;
(3) An allotment equal in value (in the judgment of the Commissioners) to £40 a year as compensation for the reserved Rents he has been receiving from persons who have made incroachments during the last 20 years;
(4) An allotment or allotments of not more than 5 acres in the whole, to be awarded in such place as the Duke or his Agents appoint, close to one of his stone quarries, as compensation for the right given by the Act to other allottees of the Common of getting stone on their allotments;
(5) The value of all the timber on allotments from the common is to be assessed by the Commissioners, and paid by the respective allottees to the Duke. If they refuse to pay, the Duke may come and cut down the timber ‘without making any Allowance or Satisfaction whatsoever to the Person or Persons to whom any such Allotment shall belong, for any Injury to be done thereby’;
(6) The Duke’s power to work Mines and to get all Minerals is not to be interfered with by anything in this Act but the ‘Owners or Proprietors of the Ground wherein such Pits or Soughs shall be made, driven, or worked, or such Engines, Machines or Buildings erected, or such Coals or Rubbish laid, or such Ways, Roads or Passages made and used,’ are to have a ‘reasonable Satisfaction for Damages.’ The payment of the reasonable Satisfaction however is not to fall on the Duke, but on all the allottees of the Commons and Waste Grounds who are to meet together in the Moot Hall and appoint a salaried officer to settle the damages and collect the money by a rate raised according to the Poor Rate of the previous year. If the claimant and the officer fail to agree, arbitrators, and ultimately an umpire, can be appointed.
Provisions for Tithe Owners.—A fair allotment is to be given to the Vicar in compensation for his small Tythes. In cases where the allottees have not enough land to contribute their due share to the tithe allotment, they have to pay a yearly sum instead.
For Stone and Gravel, etc.—Suitable allotments for stone and gravel, etc., to be made ‘for the Use and Benefit’ of all allottees ‘for the Purpose of getting Stone, Sand, Gravel, or other Materials for making and repairing of the public Roads and Drains’; but these allotments are not to include any of the Duke’s or of his tenants’ stone quarries.
Provision for the Poor.—None.
Allotment of Residue.—(1) The open fields are to be divided out amongst the present proprietors in proportion to their present value and with regard to convenience; unless any owner of open-field land specially asks for an allotment elsewhere; (2) The owners of Ings are to have Ings allotted to them, unless they wish for land elsewhere; (3) The Commons and Waste grounds are first to have the various allotments to the Lord of the Manor and the Vicar specified above, and also the allotment for Stone and Gravel for roads deducted from them, and then the residue is to be allotted ‘among the several Persons (considering the said Duke of Leeds as one) having Right of Common in or upon the said Commons and Waste Grounds’ in the following fashion; one half is to be divided among the Owners or Proprietors of Messuages, Cottages or Tofts with Right of Common, according to their several Rights and Interests; the other half, together with the rest and residue of Land to be divided, is to be allotted among the Owners or Proprietors of open common fields, Ings, and old inclosed Lands according to their several rights and interests ‘without any undue Preference whatsoever.’ The Commissioners are also directed to pay due regard to situation and to putting the different allotments of the same person together. Allotments are to be of the same tenure, i.e. freehold or copyhold, as the holdings in respect of which they are claimed, but no fines are to be taken on account of the allotment.
With respect to the allottees of allotments on Westgate Moor, a special clause (see petition on January 23) is inserted. They are forbidden to put up any House, Building or Erection of any kind on one part for 20, on another for 40, on another for 60, years, unless the Duke consents, the object being ‘thereby the more advantageously to enable the said Duke, his Heirs and Assigns, to work his Colliery in and upon the same Moor.’
The award, with full particulars of allotments, etc., is to be drawn up and is to be ‘final, binding, and conclusive upon all Parties and Persons interested therein.’
If any person (being Guardian, etc., tenant in tail or for life of lessee, etc.) fails to accept and fence, then Commissioners can do it for him and charge; if he still refuses, Commissioners can lease allotment out and take rent till Expenses are paid.
Incroachments.—Incroachments 20 years old are to stand; those made within 20 years are to be treated as part of the Commons to be divided, but they are, if the Commissioners think it fit and convenient, to be allotted to the person in possession without considering the value of erections and improvements. Three contingencies for allotment to the person in possession are provided for;—(1) if he is entitled to an allotment, his incroachment is to be treated as part or the whole of his allotment;
(2) If his incroachment is of greater value than the allotment he is entitled to, then he is to pay whatever extra sum of money the Commissioners judge right;
(3) If he is not entitled to any allotment at all, then he has to pay the price set on his incroachment by the Commissioners.
If the Commissioners do not allot an incroachment to the person in possession, they may sell it at public auction and apply the money to the purposes of the Act, or they may allot it to someone not in possession, in which case a ‘reasonable’ sum of money is to be given to the dispossessed owner, the new allottee paying the whole or part of it.
The above provisions apply to the ordinary incroachers; the Duke has special arrangements. If he has made any new incroachments during the last 20 years in addition to any older incroachments, these new incroachments are to be valued by the Commissioners, and the Duke is to have them either as part of his allotment or for a money payment, as he chooses; also ‘whereas the Tenants of the said Duke of Leeds of the Collieries on the said Commons and Waste Lands ... have from Time to Time erected Fire Engines, Messuages, Dwelling Houses, Cottages and other Buildings upon the said Commons and Waste Lands, and made several other Conveniences thereon for the Use and Accommodation of the said Collieries, and the Persons managing and working the same, a great Part of which have been erected and made within the last Twenty Years, these are not to be treated like other incroachments, but are to ‘be and continue the absolute Property of the said Duke of Leeds, his Heirs and Assigns, in as full and ample Manner’ as if the erections had been made more than 20 years before.
Fencing.—All allotments are to be fenced at the expense of their several proprietors ‘in such Manner, Shares and Proportions as the said Commissioners shall ... direct’ with the following exceptions—(1) the Vicar’s allotment for small Tithes is to be fenced by the other proprietors; (2) the allotments to Hospitals, Schools, and other public Charities are to have a certain proportion deducted from them to cover the cost of fencing. Allottees who refuse to fence can be summoned before a J.P. by their neighbours, and the J.P. (who is not to be interested in the Enclosure) can make an order compelling them to fence.
To protect the new hedges, it is ordered that no sheep or lambs are to be turned out in any allotment for 7 years, unless the allottee makes special provision to protect his neighbour’s young quickset, and no beasts, cattle or horses are to be turned into any roads or lanes where there is a new-growing fence.
Expenses.—Part of the Commons and Waste Grounds is to be sold to cover the expences; if the proceeds do not cover the costs the residue is to be paid by the allottees in proportion to their shares, and any surplus is to be divided among them, But Hospitals, Schools, and Public Charities are exempted from this payment, a portion of their allotments, in fact, having been already deducted in order to pay their share of Expenses. The Commissioners are to keep an account of Expenses, which is to be open to inspection. The owners of Ings are to pay a sum of money in return for the extinction of the right of Eatage (referred to by the Petitioners) on their land from August 12 to April 5; and this money is to be applied for the purposes of the Act.
If allottees find the expenses of the Act and of fencing more than they can meet, they are allowed (with the consent of the Commissioners) to mortgage their allotments up to 40s. an acre. If they dislike this prospect, they are empowered by the Act, at any time before the execution of the Award, to sell their rights to allotment in respect of any common right.
Compensation to Occupiers.—Occupiers are to pay a higher rent in return for the loss of the use of common rights. The clause runs as follows:—‘That the several Persons who hold any Lands or other Estates, to which a Right of Common upon the said Commons and Waste Grounds is appurtenant or belonging, or any Part of the said Open Common Fields or Inclosures, by virtue of any Lease, of which a longer Term than One Year is unexpired, shall and are hereby required to pay to their respective Landlords such Increase of Rent towards the Expences such Landlords will be respectively put to in Consequence of this Act, as the said Commissioners shall judge reasonable, and shall by Writing under their Hands direct or appoint, having Regard to the Duration of such respective Leases, and to the probable Benefit which will accrue to such respective Lessees by Reason of the said Inclosure.’
Roads.—Commissioners to have full power to set out and shut up roads and footpaths (turnpike roads excepted).
Power of Appeal.—To Quarter Sessions only, and not in any cases where the Commissioners’ decisions are final, binding, or conclusive, as they are, e.g. on claims (except the Earl of Strafford’s) and on allotments.
Award.—Not with Clerks of Peace or of County Council, or in Record Office.