Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Parliamentary enclosure and changes in landownership in an upland environment : Westmorland c.1770-1860.
AU - Whyte, Ian D.
N1 - RAE_import_type : Journal article RAE_uoa_type : History
PY - 2006/10/1
Y1 - 2006/10/1
N2 - The impact of parliamentary enclosure on landownership, especially on small proprietors, has been considered mainly in the context of lowland open-field arable communities. However, it also affected extensive areas of upland common pasture in northern England. This article examines parliamentary enclosure in Westmorland where the context of enclosure and the structure of rural society were markedly different from southern England, particularly in the prevalence of customary tenures with rights effectively equivalent to freehold. A study of sales of allotments in enclosure awards, and changes in landownership between awards and subsequent Land Tax returns, shows that there was considerable continuity of occupation by smaller proprietors despite enclosure. Parliamentary enclosure in Westmorland does not appear to have caused the large scale disappearance of small owners or their transformation into landless wage labourers. Small owner-occupied farms remained a characteristic feature of this area into the later nineteenth century.
AB - The impact of parliamentary enclosure on landownership, especially on small proprietors, has been considered mainly in the context of lowland open-field arable communities. However, it also affected extensive areas of upland common pasture in northern England. This article examines parliamentary enclosure in Westmorland where the context of enclosure and the structure of rural society were markedly different from southern England, particularly in the prevalence of customary tenures with rights effectively equivalent to freehold. A study of sales of allotments in enclosure awards, and changes in landownership between awards and subsequent Land Tax returns, shows that there was considerable continuity of occupation by smaller proprietors despite enclosure. Parliamentary enclosure in Westmorland does not appear to have caused the large scale disappearance of small owners or their transformation into landless wage labourers. Small owner-occupied farms remained a characteristic feature of this area into the later nineteenth century.
M3 - Journal article
VL - 54
SP - 240
EP - 256
JO - Agricultural History Review
JF - Agricultural History Review
SN - 0002-1490
IS - 2
ER -