This essay is divided into five parts which together give an overview of the socio-economic organisation of farming from Anglo-Saxon times to the nineteenth century, focusing particularly on the enclosure of land.
1. Medieval agriculture before the enclosures, circa 900-1200
2. Agricultural enclosures, circa 1200-1660
3. Agricultural enclosures, 1660-1760
4. Agricultural enclosures; the major phase, 1760 onwards
5. Later Enclosures, 1816 onwards
The “enclosures” is a general term for the change in agricultural practice from the collective farming of large open fields, which was used in Anglo-Saxon and Medieval times, to the modern system of farming groups of hedged or fenced fields which are owned by single individuals. This change occurred in piecemeal fashion before the sixteenth century, and then at an increasing pace towards the most intense phase, 1760-1820, during which agricultural production in...
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Citation: Clark, Robert. "Agricultural Enclosures: the major phase, 1760 onwards". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 01 September 2004 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=1472, accessed 09 June 2026.]
