Introduction

'Enclosure' was the conversion of open fields or wastes and commons to individual private plots of land. Landowners and some non-landowning commoners (those who lost their communal right to use the land for pasture, fuel, building materials etc.) were provided with plots of land referred to as 'allotments'. Allotments in this sense could be made up of several hundred acres or just a small scrap of land, depending upon other lands they owned or held. Enclosure was managed at a local level and records produced during an enclosure can provide a snapshot of an individual parish or manor. From the middle of the 18th century enclosure often took place under individual acts of parliament. From the 1780s enclosure maps became a regular feature of enclosure awards, and together can provide much local detail such as:

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For the record:

From the medieval period onwards the enclosure of common lands has resulted in the creation of huge amounts of archive material. In the medieval and Tudor and Stuart periods, most enclosure took place under 'agreements'. Although agreements to enclose continued throughout the 18th century it became more usual from around c. 1750 to apply for an individual act of parliament.

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Enclosures before 1845

For parliamentary enclosure awards prior to 1845 the appropriate County Record Office is a good place to start. Better still is to consult W.E. Tate's excellent A Domesday of English Enclosure Acts (Reading, 1978) and J. Chapman's Guide to Parliamentary Enclosure in Wales, (Cardiff, 1992). The online indexes of the National Register of Archives can also be searched for records relating to enclosure. We do have some copies of pre-1845 awards, usually a result of links with Crown manors or some other connection with government departments. Some copies were enrolled in the national courts of Kings Bench, Chancery and Common Pleas. As a result of the many ways in which enclosure records may have found their way into our archives they are widely scattered across several series. Although we do not hold a full listing of the pre-1845 enclosure awards there is a folder, kept in the Map & Large Document Room, which lists those which have come to the attention of staff. You can also search through our online catalogue by keyword. Remember to search by 'inclosure' as well as 'enclosure'.

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Enclosures after 1845

The Enclosure Commission was established in 1845. From this time on, a central government department received a copy of all awards for parliamentary enclosure. The procedure for enclosure also changed at this time. Although local landowners still began the promotion of enclosure they no longer needed an individual act of parliament once the Enclosure Commission was set up. On an annual basis, all enclosure applications made to the Commission were assessed, and if successful, they were actioned together. Copies of all enclosure awards (actioned under the 1845 act) are in series MAF 1. Commons Correspondence and Papers, in MAF 25, covers a wide variety of subjects related to enclosure:

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Useful links

Parish acreage returns: 1801