Parliamentary enclosure

21% of England was enclosed by Act of Parliament. There were over 5000 Acts dealing with almost 7 million acres of land. About 2/3 of the land enclosed had been arable and 1/3 common or waste.

Enclosures by private Act of Parliament

Enclosure of arable land, waste and common by private Act of Parliament became common from 1750. There were soon so many Acts that the first Public General Act was passed in 1801 to try to simplify the procedure and save parliamentary time.

To start the process a bill was submitted to parliament. Many bills were opposed, either by people wishing to revise clauses, perhaps to their own advantage, or by people opposed to the enclosure in any form. The most serious opposition took the form of a counter-petition. Sometimes a new bill had to be presented and enclosure could be delayed for many years.

Between 1730-1839, for places in Surrey, 101 bills were submitted to Parliament but only 50 Acts were passed. This was a high percentage failure rate compared to other English counties. There was plenty of opposition in Surrey, as evidenced by the 25 counter-petitions recorded.

One Surrey example of enclosure by private Act of Parliament is the Act to enclose land at Egham 1814 (ref: 2225/10/1), and the resulting Award and Map 1817 (ref: QS6/4/25). Material related to this enclosure includes a book of reference to old inclosures and allotments (ref: 185/16/2) and related papers 1817 (ref: 373/-).

Enclosures under the public General Enclosure Acts of 1836, 1840 and 1845

The General Enclosure Acts of 1836 and 1840 made it possible for landowners to enclose land without reference to parliament as long as a majority of them (in value and number) agreed to do so. The General Enclosure Act of 1845 and later amendments attempted to provide better protection for the interests of small proprietors and the public.

Some places were enclosed over a period of time, for example, in Surrey, Chobham Common Field was enclosed in 1842 under the 1836 Act (ref: QS6/4/40), whilst other land in the Manor of Chobham was enclosed in 1855 under later Acts (ref: QS6/4/52).

Enclosure Commissioners

Initially each Act named the Commissioners who would administer the process. The General Enclosure Act 1845 appointed permanent salaried Enclosure Commissioners, with the power to issue Enclosure Awards without submitting them to parliament for approval. They had Assistant Enclosure Commissioners and Surveyors to help them with their work.

The Commissioners allocated plots which they considered to be a fair equivalent "in full and perfect satisfaction" of pre-existing open lands and common rights. Their final decisions were recorded in the Enclosure Award. A surveyor prepared the Enclosure Map which was appended to the award.

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