Enclosure
The Enclosure Act of 1762
View a PDF of the PowerPoint presentation on Swanbourne Enclosure (by Ken Harris) taken from the presentation evening in Swanbourne Village Hall in November, 2012:- Enclosure Presentation by Ken Harris
Enclosures (or Inclosures) were encouraged by 18th Century governments in an attempt to improve agricultural efficiency. The Swanbourne Enclosure Act of 1762 fenced off all of the fields and common lands. Some land was exchanged to reduce small landowners within other lands and many small land owners were tempted to sell to larger land owners if they could not afford to pay for the fencing. Hence larger scale landowners benefitted, but many small landowners sold up and could either rent some land or become labourers for the larger land owners. The Act was not fully implimented until 1762.