1823. The Enclosures of Princes Risborough

PRE 1823 LOOSLEY ROW and LACEY GREEN before the Parish of Princes Risborough was enclosed

At the beginning of the 18^th century the population of England was estimated at just under 5,500,000 of which over 4,000,000 were rural.    It was virtually impossible to travel except on foot as the roads were mostly rough tracks, the farmer might get  to the nearby market town and the squire ride out on his horse but the majority of the  people lived in world within walking distance. There were lesser gentry living in the country and there was the aristocracy also, with larger landed estates.    These farmed their own lands and the village cottagers worked for them in the busy seasons. Those who did have an acre or two might also have a strip of arable land in the Manor open fields.

Rural England was prospering especially where the land had been enclosed. Large quantities of corn were being exported to the Continent from the farms where there was a surplus to their own requirements.   It`s price was pushed up by a protectionist policy and land became a good investment.

In Loosley Row and Lacey Green, where land was not yet enclosed, the cottager had his right to the Common Woodland to collect his wood.    He, together with other land owners had his strip or strips in the Open Field.  This was the better land considered suitable to plough.  The ploughland strips were organised by the parish and farmed according to rules set by twelve jurymen chosen annually by the vestry or at the meeting of the court leet.   These jurymen dictated what should be grown, when the ploughing, sowing and harvesting should be done.  The crops chosen to be grown were wheat for export and bread for the upper-classes. Barley for bread for the poorer people and brewing, and some oats for horses. These Arable strips were shared out between farms and the small holdings, according to the size of the main holding.

The Strips In order to divide this huge open field it was divided by leaving boundaries of course grass.     At the time given the village ploughman ploughed all the strips designated for arable that season.    Each strip had to lie fallow every three years.   The strips were too narrow to turn a plough, which until the middle of the 18^th century were still made of heavy wood needing four horses to pull it.   On heavy clay land up to twelve oxen might be yoked to do the job.   Fortunately here the land is comparatively light.

Progress - but not here. In the mid seventeen hundreds the metal ploughshare became accepted.   Once ploughed the seed was sown broadcast.  The drill had been invented but was not in general use.  It was virtually impossible to keep the land clean.     If a man did try to hoe his crop the poppies, thistles and dandelions from his neighbours`, the fallow land and the poor grass boundaries blew onto it making his labour a waste of time.

Grazing Elsewhere, the grass areas which were not suitable for arable were marked out with posts or pegs and allocated out, the biggest plot for the man with the most arable and so on down.   At the jurymens` word every one went haymaking.  The farmer took has labourers and sometimes extra hired help, the cottager his wife and children all turned out to scythe, rake and carry.   The grass would be of poor quality as it would have been sown broadcast from seed shaken out of old hay which would have contained all sorts of weed seeds so there was no telling what had been sown.

Grazing here The Princes Risborough Common, where cattle from the town were brought to graze, encompassed a large part of Lacey Green and the higher part of Loosley Row. It appears to have been used exclusively by farms from the town, the cattle being walked up a driftway to Widmere pond on the Common. The grass here was poor. Widmer Farm was later built beside this pond. Lush grass grew down near the town where the ground was wet and this grass was made into hay.

Nationally. Livestock. What little livestock there was, with the exception of horses, was watched over by the village herdsman, swineherd and shepherd.   The village pinder put stray animals in the pound.   The field Foreman, a farmer appointed to see no-one put more animals on the grazing than he should. If they bounded a hedge it was kept repaired.  Pigs had to be ringed in their noses so they didn`t root up the grass.    Sheep and cattle could be folded on the fallow land at night, or they could be taken back to the town or village, and then grazed on the common by day.

All hands for harvest. When harvest time came everybody turned out, leaving whatever else they might do, to get the crops in.   Barley and oats were cut with a scythe but the wheat was cut with a sickle, a handful at a time, a much slower process.   After the last sheaves were carried in the women and children could turn to gleaning helping to swell their winter rations.   The cottager took his bit of corn to the mill to be ground.

Still not enough. There was, for some, still not enough to live on and they would turn their hand to carpentry, blacksmithing, labouring and other jobs required from time to time, to augment it.

The larger farmer would export his surplus.  Harvest home was celebrated with much feasting.    It was truly “Merry England”

The animals could be turned onto the stubbles for a while before most had to slaughtered and salted down, there being only enough hay for a few breeding animals over winter.

BY 1800 IT WAS NO LONGER "MERRY ENGLAND" --- IT WAS A VERY DIFFERENT PICTURE INDEED

At the end of the eighteenth century, the eighteen hundreds dawned to a very different picture.   The corn laws had been repealed.   England was at war. No corn was being exported, in fact it was being imported   The population had increased from five and a half million to over nine million.   And the Agricultural labourer was now unable to manage and was living in abject poverty and facing starvation.

Improved Farming Husbandry. During the seventeen hundreds some men of big estates had made great strides in inventing new ways of husbandry.   The seed drill replaced broadcast sowing.   Hoeing had been introduced, crop rotation had been improved so proper fallows could be done to rest the land.   Improved stock breeding was taking place.    Medium landowners and farmers heard of the advantages of the bigger fields and realised how much better it would be without the “Open Field System”  Applications were made to Parliament for Enclosure Orders to be approved.   Once done, the strips went, the fields were fenced or hedged round and owned by men who could work them properly, choose which crops to grow.  Turnips and mangold-wurzels to produce winter feed for cattle could enable stock to be kept all year round.  Without any doubt production increased and crops and livestock improved out of recognition.  But, the Common had also been enclosed.   The cottagers were hard pressed before, now they were poverty stricken.   The enclosures had been happening for over a hundred years by 1800 ad, and by then most of England had been enclosed. Napoleonic Wars had dragged on and times were hard all round, none more so than for the country villager.

1800 THE PARISH OF PRINCES RISBOROUGH

Strangely enough the enclosures had not been done in the parish of Princes Risborough so although times were bad the old system was still in place and the people still had their strips of land, the common and the parish woodland. It was not until 1823 when these were lost with the implementation of the enclosures, that the cottagers discovered what poverty really meant.

PRINCES RISBOROUGH WAS ALL BEHIND in 1800 It had not been enclosed.  There had been no great farms to press for enclosure.  The fields in the Chilterns were small, many smallholdings only an acre or two.

THE UPPER HAMLETS

In the upper hamlets of Princes Risborough life was hard.    The Common of Princes Risborough took up a large part of Lacey Green and some high ground of Loosley Row, it was not for the use of the locals.   There were vast parish woods, which were very useful for collecting fallen wood.    The old system was still in place.

LORD GEORGE HENRY CAVENDISH As the nineteenth century dawned, Lord George Henry Cavendish, learned of this unenclosed parish.   He was from one of the wealthiest families in the land.   He had access to money.

LORD OF THE MANOR FINANCIALLY DISTRESSED The taxes imposed to fund the Napoleonic wars (1803 to 1815) had brought many people to their knees, Including Thomas Grace, the Lord of the Manor of Princes Risborough.   He was on the verge of bankruptcy.

A BUYER’S MARKET Thomas Grace, sold most of the farms in the Upper Hamlets to Lord Cavendish, who immediately commenced a campaign to apply to Parliament for Enclosure.   Lord Cavendish never lived here and everything continued to be let to existing tenants. (Put 'absentee' in Search to find similar landlords)

ENCLOSURE of PRINCES RISBOROUGH 1823

The result of the enclosures was that Lord Cavendish owned huge areas of land.   All the old parish arable strips were his, becoming fields for Culverton Farm, Row Farm, later called Wardrobes and Brimmers Farm, which he had purchased from the Manor..    He already owned Stocken Farm.

THE COMMON SOLD The extensive Princes Risborough Common was divided into tree areas and sold.   About a fifth, on the east side was allotted to the Princes Risborough Charities. The remainder was purchased from the Enclosure Commissioners. Half was bought by Lord Cavendish and half by John Grubb, the then Lord of the Manor.

THE PARISH WOODS The Parish Woods went into private ownership, that of John Grubb, but remained Parish Woods where fallen wood could be gathered

OLD ALLOTTMENTS All the cottages, gardens, and orchards already occupied stayed in the same occupancy, either freehold or copyhold as the case might be.   Those copyhold in effect were franchised to the Manor.

NEW ALLOTTMENTS All the people who had rights to strips in the open arable fields were allotted alternative pieces of land near to their homes.   Most of these were copyhold. Every allotment had to be fenced by the occupier.

NEW ROADS, PRIVATE ROADS to ISOLATED PROPERIES, BRIDLEWAYS, FOOTWAYS and PUBLIC PONDS WERE ALL LISTED.