The English Peasantry and the Enclosure of Common Fields

A historical and economic study of the enclosure of common fields in England, tracing the process through maps, parish case studies, and statistical appendices. It outlines different village systems, surveys remaining open-field parishes, and examines instances such as the Isle of Axholme and recent enclosures. It distinguishes Parliamentary and extra-Parliamentary enclosure, treats related practices like run-rig, and compares English patterns with New England. The work assesses agricultural consequences including depopulation, the rise of landless labour, and poverty, and draws implications for rural policy, arguing for measures to restore communal access to land and cooperative agricultural practice.