William Covell and the Troubles at Enfield in 1659

Abstract

A great revolution always involves changes in land ownership. That the Puritan Revolution was no exception is proved by the story of agrarian riots in 1659 over property rights to Enfield Chase, a tract of land in Middlesex about nine miles from London. The struggle was between a moneyed group of Intruders who had encroached upon or purchased part of the Chase and a group of Inhabitants who had traditional feudal property rights, including rights of common, over the area. Their quarrel reproduced in miniature the conflict between moneyed men attached to the new capitalism and men whose wealth consisted mainly of “feudal” rights and properties—the conflict which underlay the Revolution. It is also significant because it led to the collectivist theories of William Covell, just as the agrarian struggles of the Diggers helped to provoke the communistic writings of Gerrard Winstanley. The purpose of this study is to tell the story of the troubles at Enfield and to examine Covell's pamphlets.