Enclosures

In the sixteenth century, men could become very rich by keeping sheep and selling the wool. Some landowners turned their open fields and commons into pasture for sheep. They put hedges round the new grass fields, so they were called enclosures.

Enclosures were good for the landowners. But they were not good for the tenants and labourers. They were forced to leave their villages, for they now had no jobs, no land, and no common for their cattle and sheep. Many of them ended up in the towns, as beggars.

Before 1600, men enclosed land to make pasture for sheep. After 1650 there was a change. The population was growing, and the people needed food. So farmers ploughed up the enclosed fields. Some grew wheat, barley, and rye for bread. Others grew clover and turnips, to feed the cattle during the winter. The result was more meat, milk, and butter.

Enclosures cost money. Landowners had to pay for ditches, hedges, and new stock. Very rich nobles, who owned big estates (more than one manor) could afford the expense. So they enclosed land, and became richer still. But not all gentry could afford to enclose. A lot of them sold their land to the nobles after 1660. And many yeomen sank to the level of labourers.

Walter Robson: Crown, Parliament and People; Oxford University Press, 1992/2002, page 8