| Common Field Lands. Acres. | ||
|---|---|---|
| Areas ascertained from the tithe documents | 163,823 | |
| Estimated additional areas | 100,484 | |
| 264,307 | ||
We have seen that assuming the total of 163,823 acres is correctly “ascertained,” the estimate of 100,484 acres for the other parishes is very excessive, because the most frequent reason for no title documents existing in the custody of the Tithe Commission is that the commutation of tithes was effected before 1836 by a local Enclosure Act, which swept away the common fields.
In consequence, counties which were mainly enclosed by Acts of Parliament are very partially covered by the tithe documents; counties which have few or no Acts for enclosure of common fields are nearly entirely so covered. For example, we have—
| — | Percentage of Area enclosed by Acts. | Area Covered by Tithe Documents. | Area not so Covered. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Counties of Parliamentary Enclosure. | |||
| Northampton | 51·5 | 148,066 | 485,220 |
| Rutland | 46·5 | 37,728 | 54,968 |
| Huntingdon | 46·5 | 83,856 | 146,630 |
| Bedford | 46·0 | 104,357 | 191,159 |
| Oxford | 45·6 | 214,889 | 252,417 |
| East Riding, Yorkshire | 40·1 | 263,473 | 479,228 |
| Leicester | 38·2 | 158,889 | 352,539 |
| Counties with little or no Parliamentary Enclosure. | |||
| Devon | Nil. | 1,611,710 | 46,039 |
| Cornwall | Nil. | 851,486 | 6,122 |
| Kent | Nil. | 973,726 | 29,246 |
| Shropshire | 0·3 | 788,108 | 64,385 |
| Monmouth | 0·4 | 329,430 | 16,292 |
| Cheshire | 0·5 | 599,904 | 115,931 |
Fortunately there is another possible way of calculating the probable area of common field land which would have been found in the parishes not covered by tithe documents, if it had been investigated at about the same date.
Out of the seventy-five parishes enclosed by Act of Parliament since 1850—i.e., at a later date than almost all of the tithe documents—the Tithe Commission had the maps and awards of seventy-one—all, that is, but four. Common fields subsequently enclosed were to be found in these two classes of parishes in the proportion of 71 to 4; it is a fair inference that the total area of common fields, whether subsequently enclosed or not, was distributed in the same proportion.
On this assumption we should have the following calculation:—
| Common Field Lands. Acres. | ||
|---|---|---|
| Areas ascertained from the tithe documents | 163,823 | |
| Estimated additional areas | 9,229 | |
| Total | 173,052 | |
No probable error in the additional estimate in this calculation would have an appreciable effect on the total.