The parish of Soham, in Cambridgeshire, is another example of a great development of small holdings in connection with the persistence of open arable fields. This parish, unlike most Cambridgeshire parishes, has never been enclosed by Act of Parliament, and the tithe map indicates the survival of about 1100 acres of common field and 456 acres of common in a total of 12,706 acres. Since the tithe commutation the area of common has shrunk to about 236 acres, but from the Ordnance map it appears that there is still a very large area of open field land in four large fields, known as North Field, Clipsatt Field, No Ditch Field, and Down Field; and a smaller one, Bancroft Field. Mr. Charles Bidwell gave the Special Committee on Small Holdings (1889) the following account of holdings in this parish:—
| Under | 1 | acre | 195 | holdings. | ||
| Over | 1 | and under | 5 | acres | 77 | ″ |
| ″ | 5 | ″ | 10 | ″ | 34 | ″ |
| ″ | 10 | ″ | 20 | ″ | 43 | ″ |
| ″ | 20 | ″ | 50 | ″ | 57 | ″ |
| ″ | 50 | ″ | 100 | ″ | 32 | ″ |
| ″ | 100 | ″ | 200 | ″ | 6 | ″ |
| ″ | 200 | ″ | 500 | ″ | 8 | ″ |
| ″ | 500 | ″ | — | ″ | 5 | ″ |
(Appendix, p. 501.)
Thus the total area of the parish is held by 457 occupiers, who therefore hold, on an average, 28 acres each. In this case it is stated that the occupiers of the smallest holdings derive considerable benefit from the common. A German enquirer who visited Soham as an example of an unenclosed parish, found it less poverty stricken than the other parishes in the neighbourhood, on account, he was told, of the existence of the common pastures. (W. Hasbach, Die englischen Landarbeiter, 1894.)
Weston Zoyland.
The idea occurs to one, whether it would not have been possible to secure by an Act of Enclosure for a common field, the abolition of common rights which hindered each farmer or peasant from cultivating his holding to the best of his ability, and the laying together of the scattered strips which formed each holding, without ruining the small proprietors and small farmers, or encouraging the laying down of tilled land under pasture.
We find one example of such an attempt. The parish of Weston Zoyland, in Somerset, in 1797 enclosed 644 acres of commonable pasture, and at that time and in that neighbourhood the enclosure of Sedgemoor was being rapidly pushed on, as rapidly, in fact, as the local farmers could be induced to take up the land. Perhaps in consequence of this quenching of the land hunger of the farmers with capital, when in 1830 it was resolved to deal with the common fields, the Act took the form of one for dividing and allotting, but not enclosing, Weston Field. The consequence is that this great field of 500 acres still remains open and unenclosed; the land is specially fertile, there are an exceptionally large number of small properties in it, and it is all kept under tillage. I am informed that one of the first acts of the Weston Zoyland Parish Council, when, on coming into existence, it took over the custody of the parish maps and documents, was to re-define the roads that passed through the field, in accordance with the Commissioners’ map and award.