Arthur Young, in a pamphlet published in 1801,[72] not only insists upon the injury to the poor from Enclosure Acts as ordinarily drawn and put into execution, but pleads for enclosure on methods which would tend to the social elevation of the labourer. His proposals, which strike one as, for the time, wise and statesmanlike, though they ignore some considerations which would be of great importance to-day, were:
(1) That in the case of small commons in the midst of an enclosed country, labourers should be allowed to absorb the whole by gradual encroachments, thus building up small properties for themselves.
(2) In the case of extensive wastes, procedure must be by Act of Parliament, but all Acts should secure enough land for every cottager to keep a cow both summer and winter, such land to be _inalienable from the cottage, and the ownership to be vested in the parish_.
[72] “Enquiry into the propriety of applying wastes to the better support and nourishment of the poor.”
I have found one Act which realises Arthur Young’s ideal of an Enclosure Act. It was passed in 1824 for Pottern in Wiltshire, and though it was an Act for the enclosure of a common only, no commonable meadow or common field being included, I give its provisions here on account of its intrinsic interest.
The ownership of the whole common was vested in the Bishop of Salisbury, who was lord of the manor, the vicar and churchwardens, in trust for the parish. The trustees were required to lease it in small holdings, with or without rent, to poor, honest, and industrious persons, who had not, except in cases of accident or illness, availed themselves of Poor Law relief.
The following Acts, all (except that for Earsham) for “extinguishing village communities,” _i.e._, for enclosing all the commonable lands of the parishes or townships, which in each case include commonable arable fields, have special provisions to safeguard the interests of the poor:--
1757, c. 53. Wimeswould, Leicestershire. Cottagers who have no land are to have a share together within one fence, which they may afterwards separately enclose if they like. This is specially interesting as anticipating the modern practice of providing allotments for such cottagers.