Website produced and maintained for the Hungerford Historical Association
by Hugh Pihlens

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Enclosure by Parliamentary Act was a feature of the later Georgian period. This was necessary where there were a lot of landowners involved, so that any changes were legally binding. The General Enclosure Act of 1801 was the first Act, but many of the potential benefits were neutralised by abuses and undesirable consequences. The Enclosure Act 1845, which is still in effect, with amendments, subjected Enclosure to close government supervision. In essence, the 1801 Act involved:

1) The reorganisation of the open fields, where the land was divided into strips and cultivated according to custom, into individually-owned blocks of land where farmers were free to cultivate whatever they liked.

2) The replacement of the communal form of agriculture, where there were rights of common on fallow land, with the completely private system that we know today, and

3) The extinguishement of all rights of common on downland and meadow, and its division into individually owned fields - although in Hungerford the Common was left alone, and may even have increased!

Parliamentary Enclosure took place in Hungerford in 1819 - later than much of the area, but around the same time as Great Shefford, Welford and Ham. Aldbourne was not enclosed until 1869. Throughout Berkshire the enclosure was based on tithing rather than parish boundaries.
 

The development of Allotments: The various Inclosure (Enclosure) Acts had allowed landlords to take over the "wastes" and common land - often where the rural poor kept there geese, gathered fuel, picked berries and mushrooms for sustenance - often taking in the old common fields. It was evident, even to many in the upper and middling classes, that something must be done to compensate them and ease their suffering.

Following the Inclosure Acts and the Commons Act 1876 the land available for personal cultivation by the poor was greatly  diminished. To fulfil the need for land allotment legislation was  included.  In 1819 Parliament gave parish wardens the power to set aside 20 acres of parish land to let, a limit extended to 50 acres after the "Captain Swing" riots of 1830. The law was first fully codified in the Small Holdings and Allotments Act 1908, it was modified by the Allotments Act 1922 and subsequent Allotments Acts up until 1950.

Under the acts a local authority is required to maintain an "adequate provision" of land, usually a large allotment field which can then be  subdivided into allotment gardens for individual residents at a low  rent. Allotment sizes are often quoted in square rods, although the use  of the rod has been illegal for trade purposes since 1965 and unit  prices must by law be quoted in pounds per square metre. The rent is set at what a person "may reasonably be expected to pay" (1950), in 1997  the average rent for a 10 square rods (approx. 250 sq m) plot was £22 a year. Each plot cannot exceed 40 square rods (1000 sq m) and must be used for the production of fruit or vegetables for  consumption by the plot-holder and their family (1922), or of flowers  for use by the plot-holder and their family. The exact size and quality  of the plots is not defined. The council has a duty to provide  sufficient allotments to meet demand.

See also:
- Enclosure Act 25th May 1811
- Enclosure Award - transcription of lands awarded
       (Acres / rods / poles. 1 acre = 4 rods; 1 rod = 40 perches)
- Common Fields

Updated: 6.10.2011

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