Fifty-eight parishes were enclosed by Acts subsequently to the date of his report, and one parish (Lutton) remained open to the date of tithe commutation. This leaves six out of the sixty-five open or partially enclosed parishes of his report, in which enclosure was completed by the middle of the nineteenth century without any Act.
Of the forty-one parishes wholly enclosed before 1793, twenty were enclosed by Acts of Parliament, leaving twenty-one parishes which might have been enclosed contemporaneously without Acts, or to be assigned to the time previous to the beginning of Parliamentary enclosure.
Some of this enclosure is certainly to be assigned to an early date. Celia Fiennes, as we have seen, found more enclosure as she came to Huntingdon from Cambridge. Leland also found enclosure in the smaller county.
“From Cambridge to Elteste village al by champeyne counterey 8 miles. St. Neotes 4 miles. From St. Neotes to Stoughton Village by sum enclosid ground a 3 Miles, it is in Huntendunshir. From Stoughton to Meichdown Village a 4 Miles be much Pasture and Corne ground ... there be goodly Gardens, Orchards, Ponds, and a Parke thereby.”
THE EASTERN COUNTIES.
The story of the enclosure of Essex and Suffolk is almost completely told by the map. Each is sharply divided into a larger part very anciently enclosed, without Acts of Parliament, and a smaller part close to the boundaries of Hertford, Cambridge, and Norfolk, which was enclosed at a late date by Acts of Parliament. Essex has but one Act belonging to the eighteenth century, and that is dated as late as 1795. Suffolk has nine Acts belonging to the eighteenth, and forty-four belonging to the nineteenth century.
The additional information available only serves to bring out more clearly the very striking contrast between the regions of ancient and recent enclosure.
On the one hand we find that the Parliamentary enclosure of the extreme west and north-west portion of Essex is only part of the recent enclosure of that part.