Description

Admin History:

The East Riding of Yorkshire in 1725 was, on the whole, a vast open country. Some of the Riding had already been enclosed under private agreements but a great deal of farming still took place within the open field system.

There were several types of land within the open field system; the open arable fields, the meadowland or ings and the common land or carr which was the least productive. Villages had several arable fields varying from two to six in number. They were vast fields subdivided into furlongs. Each farmer would be allocated several furlongs in different parts so that everyone received a share of the differing types of soil.

Farming had to be done as a community and each village or township had a committee known as the bye law men who met and allocated the furlongs. They also decided on the timing of the crop, i.e. when sowing could commence and when animals were allowed into the fields to graze. There were also community rules for the meadowlands and the common. Again the crop would be chosen for the meadowland and the timing announced. Many cottagers who did not own property were allowed to graze animals on the common by the right of paying rent for their home. The carrs supplied many villagers with fuel in the form of peat or wood and in the wetter areas fish and wildfowl were also to be found. The first step was often an informal meeting to assess support. Every common-right owner had to be consulted as the act must have the support of four fifths of the landowners. A meeting would be held and an attorney appointed to deal with the paperwork.

Once the act had completed its passage the commissioners began work and until the award was signed their rulings were binding. The attorney and his clerk attended all their meetings and recorded all the decisions. The clerk also looked after the financial side of the proceedings. Before they began work the commissioners would swear an oath to act fairly and impartially. Many of the commissioners were Quakers and they would make an affirmation instead.

Before enclosing land the commissioners needed to receive the claims of the land proprietors. Most enclosure acts used the opportunity to commute the tithes. These were originally the giving one tenth of produce as a method of supporting the church. After the reformation the tithes had been sold and many tithe holders were now laity, although the local rector was still a tithe holder in many places. The tithe holder would be entitled to his one tenth as an amount of money which would then be converted into land.

Once all the calculations had been done the land would be allotted at a meeting which usually took several days. The procedure was to allocate land to the tithe holder first, followed by the lord of the manor then all other claims. After this meeting several copies of the allotments would be made and the surveyors would go and supervise the staking out of the new allotments. The commissioners would then announce when the holders could commence farming their new plots. Tithes would cease at this time. The commissioners then instructed the attorney to draw up the award. Three copies were usually made on parchment. These would be signed and enrolled at the registry of deeds in Beverley as a legal document. The proprietors were then expected to pay the money they owed for the award.