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From: "Anne" <>
Subject: Re: [WSX] Chalton Inclosure??
Date: Tue, 20 Jul 2004 09:13:49 +0100
References: <002801c46de5$73ffd160$d7b44018@lb.shawcable.net>


Dear Jill

Inclosure, or more commonly enclosure, was where open or common land was
literally 'enclosed', by hedges or fencing, and then the use of that land
was limited to the person had enclosed it, and it was not available as
common land for general use any more.

The policy started slowly at the end of the medieval period and trickled
along, until the beginning of the C18 when it really exploded, and caused
considerable hardship in the countryside where humbler people lost the land
they needed to graze their very small number of animals. The enclosed land
was often farmed far more productively than previously, and lots of new
agricultural practices were evolved - it was all called the Agricultural
Revolution - and it certainly changed a lot of people's daily life in the
countryside, but also provided the greater crop levels required to feed an
exploding population.

Certainly the later enclosures had to be agreed by an act of parliament - so
you might find some info in parliamentary records.

Happy hunting.

best wishes

Anne




----- Original Message -----
From: "Jill Ebsworth" <>
To: <>
Sent: Tuesday, July 20, 2004 12:09 AM
Subject: [WSX] Chalton Inclosure??


> I am trying to transcribe the will of an ancestor (1816) who lived in
Horndean, Hants. The will is not easy to read (especially for one not expert
in 19th century legal hand), but appears to make reference to the Chalton
"Inclosure" (my interpretation).
>
> Could anyone enlighten me as to what this might be?
>
> Thanks,
> Jill Ebsworth, Lethbridge, AB, Canada
>
>
> ==== WESSEX-PLUS Mailing List ====
> The Oxfordshire FHS: www.ofhs.org.uk
> Somerset genealogy:
http://www.genuki.org.uk/indexes/SOMcontents.html,
> http://www.somerset.gov.uk/archives/somhome.htm
>

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