Enclosure & Agricultural Improvement in North-West Lincolnshire from Circa 1600 to 1850
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ENCLOSURE & AGRICULTURAL IMPROVEMENT IN NORTH-WEST LINCOLNSHIRE FROM CIRCA 1600 TO 1850. Thomas M. Smith, MA Thesis submitted to the University of Nottingham for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy July 2012 i Abstract This study sets out to establish the link between enclosure and agricultural improvement in a group of parishes in north-west Lindsey, Lincolnshire between the sixteenth century and the mid-nineteenth century. In particular it emphasises the continuity of enclosure history through time, rather than concentrating only on the period of parliamentary enclosure as has often been the case in the past, and on links to agricultural improvement which include land reclamation, draining and warping. It shows that a simple explanation of enclosure in terms of driving up rents and allowing individual farmers to take their own farming decisions, fails to take into account the particular local circumstances of this area. Using a combination of enclosure documents and related material such as glebe terriers, land tax assessments, census materials, the 1801 agricultural returns and estate papers it sets out to show how agricultural improvement transformed both the landscape and the farming techniques in this area. In this process it covers a range of related topics including landownership, population, and the socio-economic structure of the villages of north-west Lindsey. It shows clearly that in this area enclosure is as much as anything associated with land drainage, and with improvements brought about by warping. These processes were interwoven, and separating enclosure out as a single movement underestimates the complexity of the farming arrangements required to ensure the most productive farming in this area. ii Content s List of Figures iv List of Tables v List of Plates vii Acknowledgements ix Abbreviations x Introduction 1 1 Historiography of enclosure 7 2 Methodology 38 3 Time and place 77 4 Reasons for enclosure 92 5 The long chronicle of improvem ent 14 4 6 Drainage , warping and enclosure 190 7 Case studies 250 8 The new landscape of north-west Lindsey 29 4 Conclusion 33 3 Bibliography 34 9 iii Figures Fig 1: Manley wapentake and, inset, shown within Lincolnshire 2 Fig 2: To show study area landscapes 3 Fig 3: The proportion of each parish or township not enclosed by act. 78 Fig 4: Number of acres enclosed in each half-decade in the study area 80 Fig 5: The Study Area between the three rivers 190 Fig 6: Number of Owners and Owner-occupiers 1783-1830 310 iv Tables Table 1: Parliamentary Enclosures in East Midland Counties, by time period 17 Table 2: Fines on enclosing landowners 1635-8 23 Table 3: Messingham Glebe Lands 1686 42 Table 4: Distribution of ‘Enclosure Agreements’ by counties 47 Table 5: Types of parliamentary enclosure in Lincolnshire 79 Table 6: List of study area places, enclosed by act, in chronological order 84 Table 7: Acreages of closes and prices bid per acre in 1798 and 1799 127 Table 8: Home Office Acreage Returns 297 Table 9: Absolute numbers of owners by parish, 1783 to 1830 307 Table 10: Absolute numbers of owner-occupiers by parish, 1783 to 1830 309 Table 11: Percentage proportion of owner-occupiers by parish 310 Table 12: Numbers of surviving owner and owner-occupier surnames 312 Table 13: Surnames disappearing between enclosure and LTA date 314 Table 14: Study area population 1801-1851 318 Table 15: Size of the agricultural labour force 319 Table 16: Social and Occupational breakdown from 1851 Census 324 v Plates Plate 1: part of the West Field , Messingham terrier 1686 42 Plate 2: The Frodingham terrier of 1671 44 Plate 3; Part of the Chancery Decree for Waddingham 46 Plate 4: The Whitton LTA of 1790 56 Plate 5: Alkborough petition 1765 61 Plate 6: Waddingham petition 1768 62 Plate 7: Winterton Inclosure Act 1769 63 Plate 8: Old enclosures in Ashby west field 99 Plate 9: Alkborough parish, from the Ordnance Survey 1824 101 Plate 10: Detail of: 'A Plan of the Manor of Normanby...' 117 Plate 11: Stamford Mercury, 4 October 1805 122 Plate 12: Eastern half of the Messingham Enclosure Award map of 1804 128 Plate 13: Bryant's map of 1828 shows Holme Common 132 Plate 14: Places mentioned in the Twigmore grange charter 145 Plate 15: Position of the Walcot and Haythby DMVs 149 Plate 16: 1662 Redbourne glebe terrier reporting the loss of the glebe 157 Plate 17: Enclosure for Woodland, Twigmoor, 1696 159 Plate 18: Broughton Inclosure petition 169 Plate 19: Rutland and Stamford Mercury, 25 August 1815 171 Plate 20: Part of the preamble of the Inclosure act of East Santon 172 Plate 21: Detail of East Santon Inclosure map 1833 173 Plate 22: Broughton west of Ermine Street, from Bryant's map of 1828 175 Plate 23: Stamford Mercury 12 Feb 1847 177 Plate 24: Detail of Wilkinson and Fotherby's map of the Ancholme levels 195 Plate 25: Outfall of the New Ancholme into the Humber at Ferriby Sluice 199 vi Plate 26: Remains of ridge and furrow in the grounds of Scawby Hall 201 Plate 27: ‘...the probable improvement which may arise...' 203 Plate 28: Hibaldstow from the First Edition of the Ordnance Survey 206 Plate 29: Advert to tender for draining the carrs of Hibaldstow 208 Plate 30: Commissioners’ Minute Book, 20 May 1800 210 Plate 31: Stamford Mercury, 20 Oct 1797 218 Plate 32: Messingham parish with its township of East Butterwick 222 Plate 33: Stamford Mercury, 13 October 1854 223 Plate 34: To show position of un-warped area called Butterwick Hales 224 Plate 35: Ashby Enclosure Act 1801, part of section XIX, p.12 225 Plate 36: Detail of Ashby Enclosure map 227 Plate 37: Part of the plan accompanying the Award of 15 Apr 1843 232 Plate 38: Part of paragraph 66 of the Frodingham Enclosure Act 234 Plate 39: On a modern aerial photograph, the area warped by 1847-51 235 Plate 40: Plan of an area of 235 acres awarded to seven owners 236 Plate 41: Detail of: 'A Plan of the Parish of Flixborough 237 Plate 42: Part of Robert Barker's 1835 calculations 239 Plate 43: Detail of map of the Ancholme levels 253 Plate 44: Part of the Chancery Decree for Waddingham 256 Plate 45: Advertisement in the London Gazette 18 August 1752 261 Plate46: Waddingham from the First Edition of the Ordnance Survey 262 Plate 47: Waddingham Cow Fold Award Map 1847 264 Plate 48: Winteringham from the First Edition of the Ordnance Survey 266 Plate 49: Detail of map of the Ancholme levels 269 Plate 50: Modern aerial photo to show the phases of enclosure 271 Plate 51: Winteringham 1719 closes in Cliff and West Fields 273 Plate 52: Winteringham 1719 closes in West and Middle Fields 274 Plate 53: Winteringham 1719 Church, rectory and site of Hall 275 Plate 54: Winteringham 1719 'Composition to cottagers' 276 vii Plate 55: Winteringham Enclosure Act of 1761 278 Plate 56: The drain from the clough to the Haven in 2009 284 Plate 57: The petition which led to the Turnpike Road Trust' 336 viii Acknowledgements Thanks are due to my supervisor, Professor John Beckett of the University of Nottingham. Without his encouragement and wise counsel, this thesis would certainly not have been completed. I must also thank, both for advice and hospitality, my farming relatives in northernmost Lincolnshire, that landscape of ‘spires and blue remembered hills’ of my youth … That is the land of lost content, I see it shining plain, The happy highways where I went And cannot come again. ix Abbreviations BL British Library ERYA East Riding of Yorkshire Archives IHRL Institute of Historical Research Library, WC1E 7HU LAO Lincolnshire Archives Office NELA North East Lincolnshire Archives TNA The National Archives x Introduction This thesis considers an area of twenty-eight parishes and townships in north- west Lindsey, from the sixteenth century to the mid-nineteenth century and determines the connection between enclosure and agricultural improvement. Instead of focussing exclusively on the era of the parliamentary act, it stresses the unbroken flow of enclosure history through time, and its relationship to agricultural improvements such as land reclamation, draining and warping. It shows that a straightforward explanation of enclosure in terms of forcing up rents and allowing individual farmers to take their own farming decisions ignores the local circumstances of enclosure. The thesis sets out to show how agricultural improvement changed both the landscape and farming techniques in the area. To do this, it employs a combination of enclosure documents and other records, such as glebe terriers, land tax assessments, census materials, the 1801 agricultural returns and estate papers. A range of related topics including landownership, population, and the socio-economic structure of the villages of north-west Lindsey is also considered. The thesis demonstrates clearly that in north-west Lindsey enclosure is, as much as anything, associated with land drainage and with the improvements brought about by warping. These processes were interwoven, and to separate enclosure out as a single movement is to misjudge the intricacy of the agrarian arrangements which were needed to ensure the most productive farming in this area. The study area The part of north-west Lindsey which is being studied has an area of about 74,350 acres or 116 square miles.1 It comprises that part of the county which was formerly known as Manley wapentake, one of the thirty-five ancient divisions of Lincolnshire. The practical advantages of using a wapentake as an 1 area for study, long after its administrative functions have been superseded, are several. Firstly original documents in archive offices (for example land tax duplicates), are often ordered by wapentake, secondly official surveys, like the decennial census, are arranged and totalled by in the same way, while early directories follow a similar layout.