... implemented in various manners, some less disruptive than others. Non-parliamentary enclosure occurred either by a gradual piecemeal enclosure or by private agreement. Less emphasis is placed upon enclosure prior to 1760 even though the agreed view is that by 1700 only 'one-quarter of the enclosure of England and Wales remained to be undertaken'.1 Parliamentary enclosure is regarded as the 'tail-end of a long process'2 and the last stage in the process of reorganising the structure of rural life. Parliamentary enclosure activity peaked in two periods, 1760 to 1770 and 1790 to 1815. The stimulus for the first peak of activity was the consolidation of strips of open-field land to form single, individual farm ownership. This enabled the conversion of land from arable to pasture and endowed landowners with rights of ownership. The second wave expanded the land area by cultivating the marginal lands of the wastes and commons to put ...

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