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Home , Ashendon Hundred, Brackley, Drayton Parslow, Tingewick

Enclosure Commissioners and Parliamentary Enclosure

'/ By MICHAEL TURNER : 7

_~ q i I Reseat& has been published on such archi- r:rwF.~.N I738 and I865 there were over tects of the landscape as the surveyor and the I3o enclosure Acts in Buckinghamshire landscape gardeners; why not also on the archi- B affecting the whole or parts of more than tects of the Georgian enclosures?5 After all: I3O parishes out of~e approximately 22o in the "Behind file features of the landscape.., there county at the time. Over I66,ooo acres, or 35 are men, and it is men that history seeks to per cent of the county, was enclosed in a little grasp." They include enclosure commissioners, over I2o years. In comparative terms such a surveyors, clerks and solicitors, bankers, an density places the comity ninth overall in rank- assortment of labourers, and, of course, the ing order of counties, the preceding eight being landowners and their tenants, but as determi- in the south and east , with file excep- nants of landscape change file concentration tion of the East Riding of Yorkshire? More im- must be on the commissioners and their sur- portant, however, is that parliamentary enclo- veyors. As architects of the cultural landscape sure in Buckinghamshire was concentrated in they have left their indelible mark for all to the five northern hundreds, part of the Midland wimess. ~ Plain, affecting 58 per cent of Cottesloe hun- dred, 48 per cent of hundred, 44 per II cent of hundred, 4I per cent For the earlier period of enclosure, essentially of hundred, and 27 per cent of before the mid-I77o's, an enclosure commis- hundred, compared with only 7 per sion might consist of five or more commission- cent and 9 per cent respectively for the Chiltern ers. Thereafter it was usual for only three to be hundreds of Burnham and . a The appointed, and a more formal procedure was combined density of enclosure for the five north- adopted at the same time. The enclosure Act ern hundreds was 44 per cent, placing them usually stated that each commissioner was the among file top six comities, a group which is specific representative of a particular landown- centred upon and - ing interest: one for the lord of the manor, one shire, and includes Rutland, , Ox- for tile tithe owner, and one for the majority fordshire, and North Buckinghamshire.4 (by value) of the remaining landowners. This My thanks are due to Mr E. J. Davis and his staff at last was reckoned not as the numerical majority the County Record Office, Aylesbury, for assistance in the but rather in terms of the extent of land pos- completion of this research, and to Dr B. A. Holderness and Professor F. C. Spooner for helpful criticism of an sessed. Thus, if one landowner possessed 5I per earlier version of this article. cent of the parish lie would automatically be the 2 From G. Slater, The English Peasantry and the En- "majority of landowners." Recourse was usu- closure of Common Fields, I9o7, pp. I4o-z. See the revised ,:] figures in M. E. Turner, 'Parliamentary Enclosure and 5 The full quotation can be found in M. Bloch, The Population Change in x75o-i83 o', Explorations Historian's Craft, English translation, Manchester, I954, in Econ. Hist., xtn, I976. p. z6. The last hundred in the county, Stoke, is situated in For example, E. G. R. Taylor, 'The Surveyor', Econ. ;! the Thames valley where 30 per cent of the land was en- Hist. Rev. xst set., xvIr, I947, PP. IZI-33, and some closed by Act. This was mainly common and waste, en- of her other works, for which see Trans. Inst. Br. Geog., closures symptomatic of the reclamation of marginal lands XLV, I968, pp. I8t-6; H. C. Prince, Parks in England, during the French Wars of r 793-I 815. Isle of Wight, x967; B. E. Coates, 'The work of Richard , i 4 The highest density of enclosure was in Northamp- Woods, landscape gardener, in the West Riding of tonshire, where over 50 per cent of the county was en- Yorkshire', Trans. Hunter Arch. Soc., vnI, x963, pp.

)i closed between I7z7 and I815. z97-3o6.

IZO BUCKINGHAMSHIRE ENCLOSURE COMMISSIONERS I2I ally made to the annual land tax assessments in ments compared with their scattered property order to establish this fact. The whole proce- in the former open fields. They may not have dure no doubt prompted the contemporary ob- received a proportionate quantity of land, but servation that the nomination of commissioners as compensation they almost certainly received was: (~ a little" system of patronage.., the lor d a greater quality of land. This point was invari- of the soil, die rector, and a few of the principal ably omitted by the critics of enclosure, though proprietors monopolise and distribute the ap- die commissioners' oath did require diem to pointments.' '7 have due regard to quantity and quality. Some As many as I43 different people were ap- of these commissioners were themselves in re- pointed as enclosure commissioners in Buck- ceipt of quite large properties. For example, inghamshire, including fllose who acted as Thomas Green of Whitchurch who acted on valuers for the Inclosure Commission set up by nine commissions, was in possession of 366 acres the General Act of Inclosure of i 845. Of these at the enclosure of his home parish in I77I-Z; 9 commissioners 83 served only once, 28 on two the widow of-William Cripps (who acted twice) occasions, and the remainder as follows: was allotted lO6 acres at the enclosure of New- port Pagnell in I794-5 ;x0 Thomas Hooton (who I served 29 times I served 9 times acted once) was allotted Io6 acres at the same I served 15 times 2 served 7 times enclosure ;n Joseph Burn_ham, who acted three I served 14 times z served 6 times times as a commissioner, and several times as I served 13 times ~, served 5 times solicitor and/or clerk, was allotted zo5 acres at I served 12 tunes 8 served 4 times the enclosure of Aylesbury in I77I-2, i2 and I served II runes 8 served 3 times James, another active member of the Burnham 3 served IO ~mes family, was allotted 261 acres at Grandborough They came from ma W walks of life. Of the ten in 1796-7 .18 Many other commissioners were members of the clergy to act, eight were active styled yeoman or gentleman, and by residence before I78O. The rest of the body of commis- or title dearly had very dose.associatious with sioners were often a mixed assortment. Edward the soil, and were obviously very well endowed Elliot, who acted once at Shipton in 1744-5, with the necessary credentials to adjudicate on was a schoolmaster, and was joined on this en- and allocate land. closure by three "yeomen" and one "gentle- The practice of separating the quality survey man." Thomas Taylor from , a from the quantity survey continued until the commissioner ten times in the county, lived and early x79o's, by which time a new breed of died as a carpenter, s It was also usual for a com- commissioner had developed, the land valuer- mission to consist of local dignitaries and those cure-surveyor, with skills both in quality and with a direct association with the soil, such as quantity. Earlier, specially appointed quality graziers, husbandmen, and yeoman farmers. men were assisted by one or more of the com- They conducted the allotting of the parish, and missioners. In time the latter undertook more the latter group were also employed as sur- and more of this quality assessment tmtil special veyors, not as quantity surveyors (that is land quality men were no longer required. Two of surveyors), but as quality surveyors, assessing the more notable quality assessors were John the rental value of the land, a job for which they Watts of in Northamptonshire, and had vast practical knowledge. One objection to Thomas Harrison of in Buck- ! ! eighteenth-century enclosures is that many pro- 1 9 B.R.O. Inrolments vol. I, Whitchurch Enclosure prietors came to have greatly diminished allot- Award. i0 B.R.O. IR 67(0, Newport Pagnell Enclosure Award. J. Billingsley, General View of the Agriculture of n Ibid. Somerset, 1797, p. 59. I~B.R.O. Inroln,ents vol. x, Aylesbury Enclosure i/i s His will consisted of his carpentry tools and his stock Award. of timber: Bucks. R.O. (hereafter B.R.O.), Wills D/A~ 13 B.R.O. Imolments vol. Iv, Grandborough Enclosure

), WE/II5/I8. Award. ] ~lll!l !'1 ~j

I2Z THE AGRICULTURAL HISTORY REVIEW inghamshire. They were also very active com- man, attending at in 1769-7o, missioners, the former six times in Bucking- Har dwick in 1778--9, and Aston Abbots in 1795, hamshire, seven times in Berkshire, and many all parishes contiguous to his home parish of times in , the latter IO times in Whitchurch. His other appointments were all Buckinghamshire in the very short space of in parishes within eight miles of Whitchurch. eight years from 1767 to 177574 A number of During his lifetime there were only six enclo- other commissioners in the early period were sures within1that eight miles which escaped his also very busy men. Francis Burton of attention. No doubt he was well acquainted in Northamptonshire, styled as "Gentleman," with many of the local large landowners, so acted 15 times in Buckin~lamshire from 1762 possibly his popularity was born out of patron- 1777, 28 times in Oxfordshire, once in Wilt- age by his friends. Jolm Lord was another com- shire, five times in Berkshire, once in Hertford- missioner who served locally, attending 1o en- shire, and 14 times in Northamptonshire?s In closures within IO miles of his home parish of another capacity lie was the land steward for the ; and Thomas Harrison from Cartwright family of Aynho,~6 and no doubt Stony Stratford, in serving lO times in the had considerable claims to adjudicate on mat- cotmty, only once worked more than 1o miles ters concerning the land and commodious from home. In fact, of the 143 commissioners methods of land subdivision. to work in the county, 3o acted in parishes Compared with the commissioners in the adjacent to their home parish, and I4 acted in later enclosures, the earlier ones were remark- close proximity to home, within a distance of ably expeditious in completing their task. Poss- five miles. These people therefore possessed a ibly file division of labour between quantity close association with the land that was to be and quality was instrumental in this. The tran- subdivided and a familiarity with the allottees, sition in the last quarter of the eighteenth cen- which was no doubt some influence on their tury to a more professional type of commis- original appointment. sioner was relatively slow, but that such men The early origins of professionalism call be as Francis Burton and Jolm Watts served so seen in the activities of Francis Burton. He many times ill the earlier period indicates the served on at least 64 enclosures before he died establishment of certain commissioners having ir~ 1777, when still actively engaged on several professional reputations. Some of them were in commissions. No other commissioner has o~ce for many years, notably Thomas Green emerged from the printed sources for this ear- ofWhitchurch, who served on the eighth Buck- lier period who was as active as Burton, though inghamshire enclosure at Winslow in 1766-7, perhaps this is not surprising in view of the find- and died in attendance in 1795 while serving on ings of the Select Committee of 18oo, which the forty-seventh, having served nine times al- saw the adoption as commissioners ofmell "of together. Locally he was a much-sought-after peculiar qualifications as well as a reputation for experience mid integrity," and so "confined x4 Berkshire information from Berkshire R.O., Inclosure the choice of them within no very large Catalogue. For Oxfordshire see A Handlist of Inclosure Acts and Awards relating to the county of , Oxford limits."17 C.C., Records Publications No. 2, I963, passim; Harrison By the mid-I79O'S commissions were in- was later a witness to the House of Commons Select Com- creasingly dominated by land agents and sur- mittee of i8oo on Enclosure: Reports, Ix, I795-I8oo, pp. 23 i-2. veyors, though this trend clearly had roots ill ~5 Refs. as in n. I4; see also R. E. Sandell, Abstracts of the previous three decades. Some of the notable Wiltshire Inclosure Awards and Agreements, Wilts. ReG. Sot., xxv, Devizes, I97I, p. 96; for information on commissioners of the I79O'S and I8OO'S had Hertfordshire and Northamptonshire I am obliged to served a kind of apprenticeship earlier as quality Mr P. Walne, County Archivist, and Mr J. W. Anseomb men or surveyors. R.obert Weston of Brackley of respectively. 16 1 am obliged to Mr P. King, County Archivist, for in Northamptonshireserved five times in Buck- this information. 17 Reports, op. cir., p. z3o.

, : i ,¸¸¸ lily ~ ii iii:; ,' !,:,. ,, BUCKINGHAMSHIRE ENCLOSURE COMMISSIONERS 123 inghamshire as a comanissioner from 1776 to Earlier enclosures were therefore character- I78Z, but he had earlier gained experience as a ized by the appointment of relatively local men surveyor on at least Ii other enclosures.18 John (one-half were from Buckinghamshire itself Fellows of near Buckingham, who was before I790), but as a more profossional body the busiest commissioner in the county, was of men emerged so promoters were prepared, engaged 29 times between 1788 and 1825, but perhaps forced, to search farther afield--only he had served a lengthy apprenticeship as a sur- one-fifth came from 13uckinghamshirebetween veyor on ii other enclosures between 1773 and 179o and 1819. Recommendation may have 1781. Bamther active commissioner, William been important, or certain commissioners may Collisson of 13rackley in Northamptonshire, have worked for the same landowners in a also served for a long time as a surveyor.Joseph number of different parishes. For example, the 13urnham, an Aylesbury solicitor, acted three only time that John Hudson from Louth in times as a commissioner in tb.e I79O'S but had Lincolnshire worked in Buckinghamshire was earlier gained experience as both solicitor and on the Hanslope enclosure of 1778-80. He re- clerk to several commissions. Thomas Harrison presented the Corporation of Lincoln as lay im- stated that he had worked on more than 2o propriators of the tithe. There is therefore a commissions, "sometimes as Solicitor; as Com- possible connection in his appointment, and no missioner freqnently, and often as Agent for the doubt he represented the Corporation on other parties concerned. ''19 enclosures in Lincolnshire. ~° Such professionalism is demonstrated in the In the period between 1790 mid 1819, the number of commissions a particular person most active decades in 13uckinghamshire enclo- undertook, and in the place of origin of the sure history, a relatively small number of com- commissioners. Of those who were engaged on missioners was employed; certain men appear Buckinghamshire enclosures before I79O, 33 repeatedly in the awards, and five,John Fellows, came from Buckinghamshire, io from North- William Collisson, John Davis, tkichard Davis, amptonshire, 7 from Oxfordshire, 7 fromWar- and Thomas Hopcraft, appear on 79 comanis- wickshire, 3 fi'om Berkshire, z from 13edford- sions, though a number of these occasions over- shire, and I each from Hertfordshire, Lin- lap. For exalnple, Hopcraft and John Davis colnshire, , Middlesex, and Stafford- worked together four times, and Collisson and shire. With the exceptions of those from Lin- Fellows six times. Specific men were singled colnshire and Staffordshire, all of them came out, and the professional enclosure commis- from within 30 miles of the 13uckinghamshire sioner can be recognized. border, and with the exceptions of Lincoln- One accusation that can be levelled against shire, Staffordshire, and Warwickshire they all these men is that they undertook too many ap- came from cotulties contiguous to Bucking- pointments at any one time. Consequently they hamshire. Of those who were appointed be- were unable to devote sufficient time to each tween 179o and 1819 the pattern is different and enclosure, and the business of allotting became more diffuse: 13uckinghanlshire II, 13edford- very piecemeal and protracted. Table I shows shire 8, Middlesex 7, Oxfordshire 6, North- the extent of absenteeism recorded by some of amptonshire 4, 3 each from Lincolnshire, Lon- the commissioners. Tlle long gaps between don, and Hertfordshire, ~, from Gloucester- commissioners' meetings were one very mater- shire, and 1 each from Derbyshire, Warwick- ial reason for the abnormal length of time taken shire, Wiltshire, , Hampshire, to complete an enclosure after 179o, and for the and Huntingdonshire. -~0 B.R.O., IR/I3~, Hanslope Enclosure Award. Hud- son was a surveyor for at least 25 Lincolnshire enclosures xs The surveyor is not identifiable in every enclosure and a commissioner for at least 19: R. C. Russell, The award, and for three Buckinghamshire enclosures the Enclos~o'es of Market Rasen, I779-8I, and of Wrazoby-cum- awards have not survived. Brigg, 18oo-o5, Workers Ed. Ass., Market Rasen Branch, lo Reports, op. tit., p. 23o. 1969, p. 34. tj i'l

124 THE AGRICULTURAL HISTORY REVIEW i ' il TABLE I ATTENDANCES OF COMMISSIONERS AT ENCLOSURE MEETINGS

, '! Number of Number of Parish and date of enclosure meetings days Attendancesof commissioners (in days) Hanslope (1778-9) 12 62 King 59, Mitchell 4o, Hudson 55 ii ~ (I 779-8o) 17 45 Green 31, Taylor 45, Pywell 25 Little Woolstone (1791-2) 9 25 No absenteeism recorded Drayton Parslow (1797-8) I I 56 Chamberlain 5z, Hopcraft 55, Fellows 37 (1797-8) 16 73 Jos. Smith 73, Platt 7z, Fellows 67 (1798-18oo) 16 59 Bainbridge 36, Kd. Davis 56, Fellows 59 Olney (I 803) 4 4 No absenteeism recorded Moulsoe (18o2) 8 3z Jn. Davis 16, Collisson 29, Fellows 3z Kimble (I 803-5) 26 152 tkutt 143, Collisson 138, Fellows 147 Langley Marish (I 809-13) 18 54 No absenteeism recorded Bledlow (18o9-19`) z8 1~.7 Trumper 90, Collisson lZ6, tt.d. Davis 11z (1811-I4) 49 216 Jn. Davis 9,6, Bevan 133, Horwood zo5, Fellows 9`06 Amersham (I 8 I5-I6) 18 30 Wm. Davies 47, Collisson 47 Princes Pdsborough (182o-3) 35 141 Ch. Smith 13 i, Collisson 138, Horwood 139 (189`2-4)* 28 77 No absenteeism recorded Monks 1Lisborough (183o-9) 79 z36 Horwood ~.~,8,Ch. Smith lO7 (out of IZ~.), Dixon I52 (out of 176), Glenister 96 (out of 114), Allen 41 (out of 60) Whaddon (183o-1) 17 64 Watford 63, Jolm Davis 64 (I 841-9.) 2I 33 Hart 33, Jolm Davis z9 Buckland (I 842-4) 29 41 Hart 39, Jolm Davis 39

Sources: B.R.O., Minute Books. * At the time of enclosure Towersey was in Buckinghamshirebut it has since been transferred to Oxfordshire.

contemporary objections about commissioners. hours for the rest of the year. Any lesser time In an attempt to ensure the speedy comple- fbr which the commissioners were engaged on tion of enclosures special clauses were slowly an enclosure would be automatically charged introduced into acts. Such regulations appeared as half a day. It also becanle usual practice to as early as the I77O'S. At Norfll Marston, en- penalize the enclosure administrators for delay- closed in 1778-9, the surveyors took their oath ing the completion of enclosures. At Whaddon, of office on 16 April 1778. Tlle quality men enclosed in 183o-1, the commissioners were were ordered to value the fields before 1 Jtme paid four guineas a day, but iftlle enclosure had following, and the surveyor was ordered to lasted for more dlan three years after the Act complete his survey by I September. 21 At Han- was passed file rate would have been halved.23 slope, enclosed in 1778-9, the quality men took Only four Buckinghamshire enclosures were their oath on 4 May 1778, and were ordered to contracted for a specific lump-sum fee rather complete the valuation of the open fields by dlan the usual daily rate, mid by comparison 3 July, and of the old enclosures by 6 july.22 widx other contemporary enclosures the com- Later it became usual practice to define the missioners were remarkably expeditious in working day accurately. It consisted of eight completing the awards. li' hours from z5 March to z9 September, and six ~z B.R.O., IR]M] 13, Draft Bill of Whaddon Enclosure, 21 B.R.O., IR/I29, Enclosure Award. and Whaddon Enclosure Act, xI Geo. IV, I83o, eh. xo, 22 B.R.O., IR]I35, Hanslope Enclosure Award. pp. io--I I.

r ~ !: iy?'~ i,!, :!i

BUCKINGHAMSHIRE ENCLOSURE COMMISSIONERS 125 If objections were made to claims or the ducted by them; they became in a sense the siting of allotments and roads, then the com- court baron and select vestry, with responsibili- missioners would listen to such objections and ties for administering the field rules of the vil- adjudicate. Often they would alter earlier deci- lage, ordering the ploughing of the old fallow, sions in order to accommodate the proprietors. and regulating the intercommonage of the The minute books of commissioners' meetings stubble. Their backgrounds as practical farm- are testimony of much discussion between the ers, land agents, solicitors, and surveyors gave two parties, and if they are a fair testimony then them due qualifications to act in these varied most of the commissioners emerge with un- capacities. At the first two meetings of the Bier- stained characters. Records of enclosure meet- ton enclosure ofi779-8o the commissioners sus- ings carry with them an overwhehning sense pended common rights, ordered all fallow fields of fair play, and the proprietors took full advan- to be sown with dover, and ended quit rents tage of the commissioners' powers to authorize upon thirty-five years' purchase. After har- exchanges of land, whether in open fields or old vest, rack rents were suspended, and common enclosures. rights opened again on all the open fields except The professionalism of tlm commissioners is those sown with clover. The following March, demonstrated in their varied abilities, for they as the enclosure neared completion, they extin- had to perform many tasks. They figure promi- guished common rights, and allowed the pro- nently in the stage of soliciting the Bill. Those prietors to enter their newly staked-out allot- eventually named in the Act were often ap- ments to fence and cultivate them as they wish- proached long before its passing, mad were em- ed. ~7 As soon as possible after harvest the Bled- ployed by the leading promoters to sound out low commissioners began to direct the course opinion in the parish, and, since many ofdaem of husbandry, and before the following season were land surveyors and valuers, they might be they had ordered the ploughing of the fallow. ~s asked to tmdertake preliminary surveys. Wil- The Towersey commissioners, on assuming liam Collisson prepared a plan of Stoke Mande- control in the parish, ordered that the previous ville in I793, four years before the enclosure year's fallow, beans, vet&es, peas, or seeds Act was passed. 24 John Fellows prepared a sur- should be sown with wheat and no other white vey of the rector's estate in R.adclive in the year crop. Where there had been wheat, oats, or of the -cum-R.adclive Act, 1773, barley it was to become bemas, peas, or vetches, and James Collingridge produced one for the and the remainder of the open fields were to lordship of Tingewick. They were both subse- stay as was the usual custom. 29 quently appointed as surveyors to the enclo- W. E. Tate has suggested that occasionally sure. 2~ In accotmts the commissioners and sur- commissioners syndicated, offering their ser- veyors often received substantial incomes for vices en bloc to enclosure promoters. M. W. employment rendered before the Acts were Beresford has made the same suggestion, and passed. 26 Apart from admiuistrative duties, they similar findings have been made in Bedford- had to display a wide variety of skills and ex- shire and Yorkshire. 3° This was possibly so, al- perience in assessing claims and in terms of though when one considers the number of en- quality and quantity, and in setting out the roads and allotments. Perhaps more important =~ B.R.O., AR/3z]6o, Bierton Minute Book. =s B.R.O., IR/M/z/3, Bledlow Minute Book. is that the economy of the village had to be con- =0 B.R.O., IR/M[Ig/I, Towersey Minute Book. 30 W. E. 'Fate, 'Oxfordshire Enclosure Commissioners, ,.4 B.R.O., IR/M/zz, A copy of the totals collectedfrom x737-I856', flour. Mod. Hist., xxm, zgsI, pp. I42-3; a book of reference to a plan of Stoke k¢andeville in the M. W. Beresford, 'The commissioners of enclosure', Econ. county of Buckinghamshire taken in z793 by Willir.'m Collis- Hist. Rev., Ist set., xvI, I946, p. z3z; P. L. Hull, 'Some son of Brackley. surveyor~ of the eighteenth century', ~our. =5 New College, Oxford, L.M. No. I. Soc. Archivists, z, I955, p. 33; W. S. Rodgers, 'West =6 See my 'The cost of parliamentary enclosure in Buck- Riding commissioners of enclosure, I7z9-*85o', Yorks. inghamshire', Ag. Hist. Rev., xx:t, z973, PP. 35-46. Arch.Jour., XL, I96Z, p. 415. I26 THB AGRICULTURAL HISTORY REVI~.W i J;l[ ~ il 'i closures a top commissioner undertook it is Finally, there was John Mit&ell of BracHey quite likely that some of them were engaged who acted onceas a surveyor. From 176o to together on several enclosures quite by chance. 182o, out of 88 commissions of enclosure in i i ~ _Also, it should be remembered that they were Buckinghamshire, a Brackley commissioner, nominated in the first place by particular land- surveyor, or both was engaged on at least 52 owning groups. In file earlier period the busier occasions. 3~ In addition, Brackley personalities commissioners gained considerable reputations, had considerable employment in other coun- ' i though mainly very local ones, and therefore it ties? 8 Efforts to trace those eighteenth-century would have been quite usual for the same ones land agents aud surveyors in twentieth-century to be engaged together several times. In the Bracldey have not been successful. later period there were fewer local commis- sioners of experience from which to choose, III and in a sense "demand was simply greater than To place these figures in more meaningful supply. ''sl It is understandable, therefore, that perspective it is possible to calculate the degree the names ofWilliam Collisson,John and I~ich- of landscape change attributable to each person- ardDavis, Jolm Fellows, and Thomas Hopcraft ality. The most active commissioner in Buck- (of whom only Fellows was a native of Buck- inghamshire was John Fellows of Foscott near inghamshire) should occur in enclosure after Buckingham. He served as a commissioner 29 enclosure. Of the many examples of close asso- times between I788 and I825, as a surveyor ciation between commissioners and surveyors, eight times, and as an umpire three times. In one the most outstanding example is the incidence way or another he was partly responsible for of personalities who came from the small fashioning die field and road pattern, and sub- b of Brackley in Northamptonshire. On the first sequent farm pattern, of about 63,I 80 acres in occasion on which william Collisson of Brack- the county. This amounts to about 13 per cent ley acted as a commissioner in Buckingham- of the county area, or about 29 average-size shire, he was assisted by William l'Zussell and parishes. More important, it amomxted to 38 John Weston as his surveyors, both of Mlom per cent ofali tl~eland ellclosed by Act of Parlia- also came from Brackley. For his next seven ment in Buckinghamshire. In traditional open- commissions his surveyor was Michael I'Zussell, field Buckinghamshire north and west of the also of Brackley (son or brother of William Chilterns he was partly responsible for about Kussell?). On subsequent colmnissions Collis- 61,6oo acres, or about 18 per cent of the land son was accompanied by his own son. Is it co- area. This was 44 per cent of all north Bucking- incidence that the Collissons and tile Kussells hamshire enclosed by Act of Parliament. They i: both came fi'om Brackley? Collisson was cer- were rightly his fields, his hedgerows, his roads tainly the head of a family firm of land sur- and his bridleways, and in tile majority of cases veyors and agents, and the Kussells may have they still survive.34 been in his employ. Collisson himself may have Fellows and his raffler, also John Fellows inherited or in some other way obtained his were both petty laudowners and tenants in at li business from a certain Kobert Weston, also of least four Buckinghamshire parishes, fllough it Brackley, who acted five times as a commis- is clear that tlley accmnulated land to no great sioner and 11 times as a surveyor in Bucking- hamshire between I762 and 1782. Brackley cer- 82 The number may be greater because the surveyor is tainly produced a remarkable line of commis- not identifiable in every enclosure award, and for three i; Buckinghamshire enclosures the awards have not sur- sioners-cure-surveyors: there were the Wes- vived. tons, the Kussells, the Collissons, and another 33 For example, see Oxford C.C., op. cit., passim, surveyor nanLedJames Collingridge Mlo acted William Collisson, Robert Weston. 34 These and subsequent acreages are taken from M. E. five times in the county in the x76o's and I77O'S. Turner (ed.), W. E. Tate, A Domesday of English Enclosure i! !~ a: Rodgers, loc. clt., p. 4o7. Acts and Azoards, Reading Univ..Press, Autumn I977. !i! i~, ii i~,i ~ il" /~ ii i:12

ii ~i: BUCKINGHAMSHIRE ENCLOSURE COMMISSIONERS 127 size. The main source of evidence is the land- since his "yeoman origins" would have indi- tax schedules of I782-I832. The family origin- cated a more direct association with the soil. ally hailed from the hamlet of Westcott, for- From 18o 7 onwards tile documents describe merly in the parish of . When the him as a gentleman from Buckingham, and hamlet was enclosed in 1765-6, father and son since this almost coincides with his disappear- received 21 mad z 59 acres respectively. The land ance from the land tax it may be that he set tax for 1782 SHOWS that the estate was almost himself up as a professional land agent-cum- equally divided between the two, and that they surveyor in that town. That both father and son were the third and fourth largest contributors emerged from tile yeomanry and began to respectively. The father was an owner-occu- ascend tile agricultural and social ladder is un- pier, but the son was an absentee-owner. This deniable. 86 Ill addition to becoming a very ac- state of affairs continued until the father died in tive enclosure administrator, Fellows followed 179o. Thus the land tax for Westcott in 1791 his father in acting as a land-tax assessor, first shows Fellows in possession of all the land, a for the hundred of Ashendon, and later for the situation which continued until x 8o9, at whi& hundred of Buckingham. time a Joseph Marriot was contributing to the Even more impressive is the activity of John land tax for what was formerly Fellows's land. Davis of near in Oxford- In addition, from 1782 to I79o the father was a shire. He worked in many counties in southern tenant of Earl Temple in nearby Ashendon, and England from file I79o's to the I82o's. s7 In an absentee-owner in North Marston. Buckinghamshire he was partly responsible for Jolm Fellows himself left the family village enclosing 19,58o acres during 13 commissions, to become a tenant of the Marquis of Bucking- in Berkshire for 51,9oo acres (32 times a com- ham at Foscott, near the extensive Stowe estates. missioner and three times an umpire), in Ox- In most of the enclosure documents he is styled fordshire for 51,6oo acres (34 times a commis- as a gentleman from Foscott. It seems very like- sioner), in Gloucestershire for 2%37o acres (six ly that he employed an trader-tenant, because times a commissioner), in Wiltshire i 3,o9o acres his enclosure activities from the 177o's onwards (four times a commissioner and three times an would surely have prevented his occupation of umpire), in Northamptonshire for z z,48o acres the farm. He was a surveyor four times in Bed- (seven times a commissioner), in Bedfordshire fordshire between 1775 and 18oo, and a com- for 8,92o acres (four times a commissioner), in missioner in the same county on 15 enclosures Leicestershire for an estimated 7,345 acres (five between 1793 and 1817; in Oxfordshire he times a commissioner), and in Hampshire for served once as a surveyor and once as a com- 2,38o acres (twice a commissioner). "s This missioner; in Northamptonshire he worked on makes a grand total of about 18o,75o acres and seven commissions between 1797 and 1821, and ~ See B.R.O., Wills D/A/WE/I xS/**, D/A/WE/,o,/$8, on one each in Hertfordshire and Somerset? s D/A/WE/68/*46 ; if it is at all significant, Fellows's great- The reason for his appearance so far from home grandfather and his grandfather were both styled "yeo- man," while his father and Fellows himself both bore the in the last example appears to be through the title "gentleman." landed interests of the Buckingham family. 87 There were four commissioners bearing this name, It would be useful to discover how Jo~hn they were all related, and all came from Bloxham. The one itemized here is, however, the most important. See Fellows became proficient as a land surveyor my 'John Davis of Bloxham, Enclosure Commissioner', as I am indebted for information to Mrs McGregor of Cake and Cockhorse, ffournal of the Banbury Historical the Bedfordshire R.O., and. to Mr J. W. Anseomb of Society, Iv, Spring I97I, PP. *75"-7. Daventry, and Mr P. Walne of the Hertfordshire R.O. for as Sources of informationas already noted and, in addi- information relating to Northamptonshire and Hertford- tion, Hampshire R.O., Appleshaw Award, No. *9, and shire respectively. For Oxfordshire see Oxford C.C., op. South Stoneham Award, Q.E.2 ; H. G. Hunt, The Parlia- tit. ; for Somerset see Tare MSS., University of Reading, mentary Enclosure Movement in Leicestershire I73o-185o , MS. Io93/6/2/I6, correspondence relating to Bucks., unpubl. Ph.D. thesis, Univ. of London, *9S6; I am in- letter of xr May *964, Henry Huntington Library, debted to Mr Adrian Randall of the University of Bir- California, to W. E. Tate. mingham for information on Gloucestershire. IZ8 THE AGRICULTURAL HISTORY REVIEW

i!i ~ zz3 commissions of enclosure--an average to restrain the sheep. Needless to say, Davis did greater thall all the land enclosed by Act of Par- not use posts and rails on his farm.41 % liament in Buckinghamshire alone, and over a It should not be surprising that a commis- very much shorter period of time. He was most sioner like Davis would mldertake so many en- certainly a very important agent of landscape closures, even twenty-six at one time. With a change, and appears to have been the busiest fee of up to four guineas a day, plus certain ex- commissioner yet investigated, quite eclipsing peases, it could prove a very rewarding profes- file infamous John Burcham of Coningsby in sion. On the other hand, it nlust have been im- Lincolnshire, who served on at least 7o enclo- possible to mldertake effectively as many com- sures.39 From other sources it can be established missions as Davis did. hxdeed, the surviving flaat Davis never served on enclosures in Mid- minute books are testimony of considerable dlesex, East and West Yorkshire, Sussex, Cum- absenteeism by commissioners, and the minute berland, Nottinghamshire, Staffordshire, and books for Stewkley and Moulsoe in Bucking- CambridgeshireA ° His known area of work hamshire reveal that Davis was one of the worst was from Leicestershire in the north to South- offenders of all. At Moulsoe in z 8oz lie attended ampton in the south, from Bedford mid Maid- only half the recorded meetings, and for the enhead in the east to Tewkesbury and within seven years of the Stewkley enclosure of z8z I- five miles of Bath in the west. z7 lie attended only those meetings which dealt Arthur Young in visiting Bloxham was par- widl the draft award: of 49 meetings, lasting ticularly impressed by two farmers, Messrs 2z6 days, lie attended only 5, that is 26 days, Warrener and Davis. The latter lie described as thus prompting the observation by Young: an excellent practical farmer who had a great "Mr. Davis's bill on all his enclosures has not deal of experience as an enclosure commis- amouated to above zoo pounds per enclosure sioner, "having been employed upon twenty though not attending as much as some. ''42 six at file same time." Indeed, in compiling his It may have been flaat he attended only those General Vieu, of the comity Yotmg paid close meetings which concerned his sponsors. In the attention to the opinions given by Davis on the case of Stewldey he contented himself with at- question of enclosure. Davis believed that en- tending those which settled the tithe commuta- closure had greatly increased arable produc- tion for the Bishop of Oxford; on most other tion, and that rents would improve. He offered occasions lie was the representative of the "ma- one very material way of lessening the expense jority oflandow:lers," and perhaps paid greater of enclosure, that was, by not using post and attention to the meetings. Nevertheless, his rail fencing to support the yotmg quickset activities in southern England in times of rela- hedges; all that was required was a shepherd tively crude communications were extremely arduous mid remarkably widespread (see Table 3~ R. C. Russell, The Enclosures of Searby, z763-5, I above, ref. Moulsoe and Stewkley). i Nettleton, z79z-5, Caistor, z796--8 and Caistor Moor, Enclosure produced a number of outstanding zSzz-z4, Nettleton Workers Ed. Ass., x968, p. 9. 40 From the index of enclosure records in Middlesex individuals and a number of professions whicll R.O.; Vanessa Neave, Handlist of East Riding Enclosure are taken for granted today. It was particularly Awards, Beverley, x971 ; W. S. Rodgers, 'The Distribution instrumental in furthering the surveying and of Enclosure in the West Riding', unpubl. M.Comm. thesis, Univ. of Leeds, x953 ; Catalogue of enclosure maps land agents' professions. One might answer in and awards, supplied by East Sussex and West Sussex the negative tlxe statement by the poet William R.O.s; Cumberland Enclosure Awards, Joint Archives Cowper who said in z783 that "God made the Committee for the counties of Cumberland and Westmor- land and the City of Carlisle, z968; W. E. Tate, Parlia- 41 A. Young, General View of the Agriculture of Oxford- h mentary land enclosures in the county of Nottingham, shire, r8x3, pp. 93-5. Thoroton Society Record Series, v, Nottingham, I935; 4albid., P. 93; B.R.O., Moulsoe enclosure commis- • i University of Reading, Tate MSS., Catalogues of en- sioners minute book, Carrington MSS., Box 8a Moulsoe i . , closure awards in the Staffordshire and Cambridgeshire settled estates bundle zx, Stewkley enclosure commis- R.O.s MS. io9311o]2/io , MS. Io93/IO/I/5O. sioners minute book, IR]M]*o]2.

!i i+~ ~ BUCKINGHAMSHIRE ENCLOSURE COMMISSIONERS 129 country, man made the town. ''4a It may be tin- hamslfire village of Olney, where fifteen years wise to tear lines rudely from their text, but as earlier he had witnessed the transformation of an observation this is very disappointing. In the landscape by commissioners. He must have I783 Cowper was living in the north Buckhag- seen the former open fields transformed into numerous hedgerows, and he must have travel- 43 From Poems by William Cowper Esquire, I814, u, p. 4o, 'The Task'. My interest in those lines and the poet led frequently along the newly formed roads. were first aroused by Professor H. C. Darby; see his 'On The self-same change occurred in many other the relation of geographyand history', Trans. Inst. Br. parishes in the locality: if it was not already, Geog., xxx, I953, p. 6, "The landscape of Olney, like the English countrysidein general,is as artificialas any urban then it was rapidly becoming a man-made land- scene," scape.

Notes and Comments

ANNUAL CONFERENCE AND AGM, ~977 Mr John Higgs, for his sterling work for the Society The 25th Jubilee conference of the Society was held over many years. at St Anne's College Oxford on 4-6 April I977. The The Treasurer reported that the Society's finan- conference papers were by Professor Axel Steens- ces were healthy at present with a reserve of £5,688 berg, 'Contemporary agriculture in New Guinea m hand, but that printing costs were continuing to compared with the European neolithic'; Mr Frank rise. They had reached £4,zi 3 in I977, and con- Emery, 'The history of the Oxfordshire landscape'; stantly threatened to exceed the Society's income. Mr Hugh Prince, 'An agricultural geography of the The Editor reported that he had received eighteen mid-nineteenth century from the tithe surveys'; articles of which he had accepted seven and was still Professor Glanville Jones, 'The heritage of early considering another three. There had been an en- territorial organization in England and Wales'; and couraging rise in quality. The meeting thanked the Professor F. M. L. Thompson, 'What did English retiring Chairman of the Executive Committee for farmers have to grumble about in the first half of the her devoted work and passed a vote of thanks to nineteenth century?' The President, Mr John Mr Peter Large for organizing the conference so Higgs, proposed a toast to the Society at the open- capably. ing dinner, and also showed a film, Man in the Mez- zogiorno, of which he had spoken the commentary. SILVER JUBILEE PRIZE ESSAY Mr Emery led an excursion to Oxfordshire villages, Sixteen entries were received for the Prize Essay and the President kindly invited the party to tea at Competition. A special committee read the entries Litchfield Farm, Enstone. There was a record atten- and awarded the prize to the essay by Mr David dance of seventy-five at the Jubilee conference. Cannadine, entitled 'The Landowner as Million- The Society's 25th AGM was held on 5 April aire: the Finances of the Dukes of Devonshire, I977. Miss Edith Whetham was elected President, c. 18oo-x 926', which is published in this issue. and Mr C. A. Jewell and Mr M. A. Havinden were re-elected Treasurer and Secretary respectively. WINTER CONFERENCE x977 The three vacancies on the Executive Committee The Winter Conference will be held on Saturday, were filled by the re-election of Dr D. A. Baker, 3 December x977, jointly with the Historical Geo- Dr J. A. Chartres, and MrA. D. M. Phillips. graphy section of the Institute of British Geogra- In her Chairman's report Dr Thirsk announced phers. It will be held at the Polytechnic of Central that membership had risen from 792 to 8r8 despite London, 38 Marylebone Rd, London, NWI, and the regrettable necessity to raise the subscription the theme will be 'The agricultural consequences of from £3.5 ° to £5.00 on I February I977. It was population change'. All enquiries should be ad- hoped that a German foundation would assist with dressed to Dr Dennis Baker, The Polytechnic of the publication of the English edition of Professor Central London, 309 Regent Street, London, Abel's book on agrarian crises and fluctuations in WIR 8AL. Europe, and that a successful outcome to this long- WORK IN PROGRESS "t standing project would be found. The I978 Spring Conference is to be held at Swansea on 3-.~; April Dr David Hey has kindly agreed to compile a newlist I978. Finally, she thanked the retiring President, (continued on page z 4o)