Rosemary Sweet, Murray Pittock & Mark Overton on the enclosures of the 18th Century - Dividing Britain's countryside [audio 43min]
In the early 19th century, the Northamptonshire poet John Clare took a good look at the British countryside and didn't like what he saw. He wrote:
Fence meeting fence in owners little bounds
Of field and meadow, large as garden-grounds,
In little parcels little minds to please,
With men and flocks imprisoned, ill at ease.
He was referring to the effects of the Enclosures--literally the fencing in of land to stop others from using it. This apparently simple act has been hugely controversial. For some, Enclosure underpinned the economic and agricultural development of Modern Britain. For others, it was an act of theft--the turning of common land into private property that impoverished the many for the sake of the few. But what really happened during the era of 18th and 19th century enclosures? Who gained, who lost and what role did Enclosures play in the agricultural and industrial transformation of this country? Presenter Melvyn Bragg investigates the history of ideas and debates their application in modern life with his guests Rosemary Sweet, Director of the Centre for Urban History at the University of Leicester; Murray Pittock, Bradley Professor of English Literature at the University of Glasgow; and Mark Overton, Professor of Economic and Social History at the University of Exeter. Baron Bragg--historian, journalist, novelist--is Domus Fellow, St Catherine's College, Oxford; Chancellor of Leeds University; President of Britain's National Campaign for the Arts; a Governor of the London School of Economics; and Chair of Britain's Arts Council Literature Panel.
Read entire article at BBC Radio 4 "In Our Time"
Fence meeting fence in owners little bounds
Of field and meadow, large as garden-grounds,
In little parcels little minds to please,
With men and flocks imprisoned, ill at ease.
He was referring to the effects of the Enclosures--literally the fencing in of land to stop others from using it. This apparently simple act has been hugely controversial. For some, Enclosure underpinned the economic and agricultural development of Modern Britain. For others, it was an act of theft--the turning of common land into private property that impoverished the many for the sake of the few. But what really happened during the era of 18th and 19th century enclosures? Who gained, who lost and what role did Enclosures play in the agricultural and industrial transformation of this country? Presenter Melvyn Bragg investigates the history of ideas and debates their application in modern life with his guests Rosemary Sweet, Director of the Centre for Urban History at the University of Leicester; Murray Pittock, Bradley Professor of English Literature at the University of Glasgow; and Mark Overton, Professor of Economic and Social History at the University of Exeter. Baron Bragg--historian, journalist, novelist--is Domus Fellow, St Catherine's College, Oxford; Chancellor of Leeds University; President of Britain's National Campaign for the Arts; a Governor of the London School of Economics; and Chair of Britain's Arts Council Literature Panel.