Land Utilization in England at the End of the Eighteenth Century

Abstract

IT is a matter of both practical and educational interest to discover what possibilities exist for comparison between present and past uses of land in England. Of present utilization, thanks to work of Land Utilization Survey of Great Britain, we can and shall learn much. But how far is it possible to reveal past conditions of land use? Hitherto attention has been drawn to two past periods' for which data are available, namely, later Middle Ages, for which Domesday Book is chief source, and mid-nineteenth century, for which tithe maps of parishes afford valuable and detailed material. It is object of this paper to suggest that it is possible also to reconstruct, in sure outline if not in precise detail, differential uses of land in England towards close of eighteenth century. This work is possible because literary and cartographical materials then available are more abundant and more fruitful than for earlier periods; further, it may well prove suggestive as a basis for comparison, since advances in agricultural organization and technique made English farming at that time both enlightened and prosperous. Amongst relevant literary material for latter half of eighteenth century, apart from works of topographers who tended to copy from each other,2 there are able studies of rural economy, written by William Marshall, and numerous volumes written or edited by Arthur Young. (These latter writers, in contrast to topographers, were something like field geographers, and wrote from direct observation.) In addition, there are a number of county maps, drawn on scales between 212 inches and i inch to mile, most remarkable and valuable of which are surveys of John Roque.3 Finally, most important material of all, which has not received from geographers attention it deserves, consists of survey of British agriculture which was carried out, county by county, from 1794 onwards. This survey was sponsored by Board of Agriculture and Internal Improvement, which was established in I793 under presidency of Sir John Sinclair and with Arthur Young as secretary.4 The object of survey, according to Sir John Sinclair, was to discover the cultivation of surface (sc. of land), and resources to be derived from it. The county reports are not, it is true, equal in quality or content. Some were based on