Studying enclosure

These pages will help you find out more about research into enclosure, and about the documents digitised for this website. They offer suggestions to get you started, and to encourage familiarity with the some of the documents and sources available.

Parliamentary enclosure has been the subject of lively debate for well over a hundred years, and the debate is continuing. Research has focussed on the causes, processes and impact of enclosure in terms of economic and agricultural development, social impact and landscape change.

An important recent work on enclosure in Berkshire, outlining the chronology of enclosure in the county, is Ross Wordie’s Enclosure in Berkshire, 1485-1885 (2000). Attached to this website are two other pieces of work:

• a study of the impact of enclosure on the landscape in selected north Berkshire parishes
• a survey, with selected documents, of enclosure in Englefield

The documents on this website, the maps and awards produced as a result of the process of Parliamentary enclosure, are central to any study of the subject. But to explore the subject fully you will need to read widely and explore many other sources as well, both in the Royal Berkshire Archives and elsewhere.

The maps and awards are supplemented by additional descriptive material. Looking at them will help you find out

• What proportion of the parish was enclosed
• The shape of the fields, their size and uniformity of shape
• How land was distributed under enclosure, and whether allottees built up consolidated holdings
• Who was allotted land
• How much land was allotted for glebe, the poor, gravel pits and similar uses, and whereabouts it was
• If there were exchanges under enclosure, how they affected landholdings
• What roads were awarded and how many of these were new roads

Pre- and post-enclosure maps are not available on this site. Most are available in the Royal Berkshire Archives, or in the case of modern maps, from local booksellers. The main documents to look for are:

• John Rocque’s map of Berkshire, 1761. This presents a view of the county at a scale of 2 miles: 1 inch. However, it was not created as an official survey and should be used with caution
• Pre-enclosure manuscript maps, at various scales. Available for some parishes only
• Tithe maps. Drawn up for most parishes in the years immediately following 1836. In the case of later enclosures these will show the pre-enclosure landscape
• Ordnance Survey six-inch to the mile maps, first edition. This shows the landscape as it was in the mid-1870s. These maps are available on this site
• Modern Ordnance Survey maps (1:10,000, 1:25,000 are best). These can be used to discover the picture today.

By comparing enclosure maps with other maps you can see

• How enclosure re-shaped the landscape
• How the new fields compared (in size and shape) to the old
• Whether the new field boundaries followed old boundaries or cut across them
• Whether the roads followed old routes
• How much of the immediate post-enclosure landscape survived until the 1870s
• How much of the enclosure landscape is visible today

By surveying the landscape itself together with the maps and awards, you can find out

• Where the land was of variable quality, and how this land was allocated
• How many enclosure hedges survive

Parliamentary enclosures typically generated a number of records other than the maps and awards. The Royal Berkshire Archives holds a number of such documents which can be studied in the searchroom. These include enclosure Acts, commissioners’ minutes and commissioners’ working papers. Reading Local Studies Library holds copies of local newspapers, which contain notices inserted by the commissioners and sometimes reports of significant events. Other sources, such as parish registers, and (for the later period) census returns and directories, can help us find out about the people involved.

Use this route to discover

• Who the leading promoters of enclosure were
• How the process began
• The names of the commissioners. Where did they meet, and how often?
• The name of the surveyor
• Further information about the allottees
• Whether there was opposition to enclosure, and how it manifested itself
• How long the process lasted
• How much it cost and how the costs were allocated

The main issues are well covered in Michael Turner, Enclosures in Britain, 1750-1830 (1984) and G E Mingay, Parliamentary Enclosure in England, 1750-1850 (1997). In addition to summarising recent writing on enclosure, these books also offer useful pointers for further research.

For other books on enclosure, see the bibliography