From Annual Register, 1769, p. 116 (Chronicle for July 16):
‘Holland Fen, in Lincolnshire, being to be inclosed by act of parliament, some desperate persons have been so incensed at what they called their right being taken from them, that in the dead of night they shot into the windows of several gentlemen whom they thought active in procuring the act for inclosure; but happily no person has been killed.’
Amending Act, 1770.
Parliamentary Proceedings.—January 25, 1770.—Petition for an amending Act from the Commissioners who carried out the previous one; stating that ‘the Posts and Rails for many Miles in the Division Fences, which have been erected pursuant to the Directions of the said Act, have been pulled down, and the greatest Part thereof destroyed, together with great Part of the Materials for completing the said Fencing,’ and asking for leave to take down the Fencing and to make wide ditches instead.
Leave given. Bill passed both Houses and received Royal Assent.
Main Features of Amending Act.—(Private, 10 George III. c. 40.)
The Commissioners are empowered to take down the posts and rails, and to make ditches 10 feet wide and 5 feet deep as boundaries instead.
The Posts and Rails are to be sold, and the proceeds are to defray the expenses of this Act and the costs of the Commissioners. The Commissioners are to have a sum of £31, 10s. each as payment, with 2 guineas deducted for each day’s absence.
Edward Draper, Clerk to the Commissioners, is to be repaid up to £1000, his costs in prosecuting fence-destroyers.
If any proprietor has already made ditches wide enough, he is to be repaid his proportion.