Enclosure and Farming Systems

Gonner believed that it was by means of enclosure that agricultural output was shaped to meet the changing requirements of markets, and that ‘the differentiation of land to the use which soil aspect and climate rendered it suitable took place’ [ 329 ]. In previous chapters I have argued that this view is exaggerated. Common-field farming in early modern England was more adapted to markets, and to soils and other features, and its output varied more markedly from one location to another than Gonner and other early authors realised. To that extent the adjustment of output following enclosure becomes of less significance, but none the less it still remains important. It will be evident from the last chapter that common-field farming was a distinctive form of agriculture, and the variety of production that it achieved obtained only within certain limits.

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