The Chronology of English Enclosure, 1500-1914.

The article discusses the legal land enclosure that took place in England over a period of more than 400 years. A great deal of the land of England was enclosed in one way or another during the course of the eighteenth century, but in the light of the evidence now available, a strong case can be made out for the seventeenth rather than the eighteenth century as holding the pre-eminent position in the history of English enclosures. Although the source material necessary to enable one to establish precise measurements of the rate of pre-parliamentary enclosure in the various English counties may be lacking, there is no shortage of comment by seventeenth- century observers on the extent of enclosure in their own counties, or in those through which they traveled. A great deal of this contemporary comment has already been well digested in the secondary material now available on this subject. By drawing together the observations of contemporaries and the wealth of secondary material published in this century, it is now possible to suggest a new synthesis for the timing of enclosure in England.