B. BEFORE 1845.
The agricultural survey of Great Britain carried out by the Board of Agriculture in 1793 furnishes us with much information about the state of enclosure of some counties, and with scraps of information about others. Where the information is fullest it may take the form of estimates of the total area enclosed or open, or the form of information with regard to particular villages. By correlating the information thus supplied with that furnished by the Acts themselves, and from other sources, we can in some cases obtain a fairly full account of the enclosure history of a county.
Bedfordshire.
The “General Report on the Agriculture of Bedfordshire” gives the following estimate of the condition of the county (p. 11):—
| Acres. | |
|---|---|
| Enclosed meadow, pasture and arable | 68,100 |
| Woodland | 21,900 |
| Common fields, common meadows, commons and waste | 217,200 |
| Total | 307,200 |
The area of Bedfordshire being 298,500 acres, a slight deduction should be made from the figures under each head. But this does not affect the two striking points about the estimate: (1) that over two-thirds of the area of the county was open, and (2) that the open and commonable land amounted to over 200,000 acres.
The author proceeds: “Every parish which is commonly understood to be open consists of a certain proportion of antient inclosed land near the respective villages, but that proportion, compared with the open common field in each respective parish, does not on an average exceed one-tenth of the whole” (p. 25).
He further says that Lidlington, Sundon and Potton had been recently enclosed. Each was enclosed by Act of Parliament.
We can deal with the above information in two ways: (1) by translating it into terms of parishes, and (2) by dealing with it in terms of acres.