Abstract
ABSTRACT Between 1220 and 1349 groups of people destroyed enclosure banks, hedges and fences in defence of their common rights. Many law suits were provoked by encroachments on common pastures. This reflected the importance of an enclosure movement which had its main impact in wooded, upland or wetland landscapes. It led to large areas being taken out of common use, and a growing proportion of land being controlled by individuals. The beneficiaries of enclosure included the lords of manors, but also landholders below the gentry. The opponents of the movement had some success in preserving areas of common pasture.
Highlights
The purpose of this article is to draw attention to the enclosures of the period 1220-1349, which because they reached their height in the middle of that period could be called ‘the enclosure movement of the thirteenth century’
The focus will be on the social disruption that resulted from enclosure: all of the colonisation and rationalisation of the period involved the occupation by lay lords, monks, castle owners, peasants and townsmen of land which had previously been common and especially common pasture
We find 2148 acres (870 hectares) in Northamptonshire forests described as assarts in the early thirteenth century, or 791 acres ( 320 hectares) of assarts attributed to a single landowner (Beaulieu Abbey) in the New Forest between 1236 and 1324
Summary
The purpose of this article is to draw attention to the enclosures of the period 1220-1349, which because they reached their height in the middle of that period could be called ‘the enclosure movement of the thirteenth century’. The peasants assarters in particular have been viewed sympathetically as a socially disadvantaged group practising self-help Rational agricultural practices, such as specialised animal husbandry, were helped by the creation of compact blocks of land, like those found in some monastic granges, vaccaries and bercaries. The correct ordering of space, and even symbolism, influenced the plots and curtilages created during town planning (Johnson 2002; Lilley 2005) Some of those who planned the changes have been regarded as far-sighted improvers, notably monastic lords, and in particular the Cistercian oder. The focus will be on the social disruption that resulted from enclosure: all of the colonisation and rationalisation of the period involved the occupation by lay lords, monks, castle owners, peasants and townsmen of land which had previously been common and especially common pasture.
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