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119-469: Using 1700 as a base year (=100), agricultural output per agricultural worker in Britain steadily increased from about 50 in 1500, to around 65 in 1550, to 90 in 1600, to over 100 by 1650, to over 150 by 1750, rapidly increasing to over 250 by 1850. The rise in productivity accelerated the decline of the agricultural share of the labour force, adding to the urban workforce on which industrialization depended:

238-425: A bull sold for slaughter at Smithfield was reported around 1700 as 370 pounds (170 kg), though this is considered a low estimate: by 1786, weights of 840 pounds (380 kg) were reported, though other contemporary indicators suggest an increase of around a quarter over the intervening century. In 1300, the average milk cow produced 100 gallons of milk annually. By 1800, this figure rose to 566 gallons. Besides

357-435: A marking fee is paid each year for each animal turned out . However, if excessive use was made of the common, for example, in overgrazing , a common would be stinted , that is, a limit would be put on the number of animals each commoner was allowed to graze. These regulations were responsive to demographic and economic pressure. Thus rather than let a common become degraded, access was restricted even further. The lord of

476-407: A parish council is normally given guardianship by vesting the property under section 8 the act. An online database of registered common land was compiled by DEFRA in 1992–93 as part of a survey of the condition and wildlife of commons. The official up to date registers of common land are held by the commons registration authorities. The following registration information is held: This includes

595-453: A business rather than solely a means of subsistence. In England, Robert Bakewell and Thomas Coke introduced selective breeding as a scientific practice, mating together two animals with particularly desirable characteristics and also using inbreeding or the mating of close relatives, such as father and daughter, or brother and sister, to stabilise certain qualities in order to reduce genetic diversity in desirable animal programmes from

714-521: A demand for pasture land to support more livestock. The growth of arable acreage slowed from the 1830s and went into reverse from the 1870s in the face of cheaper grain imports, and wheat acreage nearly halved from 1870 to 1900. The recovery of food imports after the Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) and the resumption of American trade following the War of 1812 (1812–1815) led to the enactment in 1815 of

833-415: A description of the land, who applied to register the land, and when the land became finally registered. There are also related plans which show the boundaries of the land. This includes a description of the rights of common (e.g. a right to graze a certain number of sheep), the area of common over which the right is exercisable, the name of the holder of the right and whether the right is attached to land in

952-778: A further stimulus to industrial investment and economic growth . Moreover, family structures tend to shift as extended families tend to no longer live together in one household, location or place. The first transformation from an agricultural to an industrial economy is known as the Industrial Revolution and took place from the mid-18th to early 19th century. It began in Great Britain, spreading to Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, and France and eventually to other areas in Europe and North America. Characteristics of this early industrialisation were technological progress,

1071-556: A greater threat to British agriculture: growing imports of foodstuffs from abroad. The development of the steam ship and the development of extensive railway networks in Britain and in the United States allowed U.S. farmers with much larger and more productive farms to export hard grain to Britain at a price that undercut the British farmers. At the same time, large amounts of cheap corned beef started to arrive from Argentina, and

1190-569: A high phosphate mixture (called " super phosphate ") that plants could absorb readily and increased crop yields. Mining coprolite and processing it for fertiliser soon developed into a major industry—the first commercial fertiliser. Higher yield per acre crops were planted as potatoes went from about 300,000 acres in 1800 to about 400,000 acres in 1850 with a further increase to about 500,000 in 1900. Labour productivity slowly increased at about 0.6% per year. With more capital invested, more organic and inorganic fertilisers, and better crop yields increased

1309-476: A house on common land, raise the roof over their head and light a fire in the hearth, then they would have the right of undisturbed possession. The belief—sometimes called "keyhole tenure", and which persisted as recently as the early 20th century—was actually a fallacy, but to stop landless peasants unlawfully squatting on commons, the Erection of Cottages Act 1588 ( 31 Eliz. 1 . c. 7) was introduced. Under

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1428-454: A major social activity" in the formation of the working class. First, "rural proletariat" appeared; later, this mass moved to cities causing unprecedented urbanization . When the percentage of manpower engaged in agriculture declined from 80 to 60, occurred great social revolutions or reformations (revolution from above). The result was not liberte, egalite, fraternite ; often the result was the opposite, with stronger autocracy. But in all cases,

1547-405: A manor. A commoner would be the person who, for the time being, was the occupier of a particular plot of land. Most land with appurtenant commons rights is adjacent to the common. Other rights of common were said to be in gross , that is, they were unconnected with tenure of land. This was more usual in regions where commons were more extensive, such as in the high ground of Northern England or in

1666-477: A navigable waterway. Water transport was, and in some cases still is, much more efficient than land transport. In the early 19th century it cost as much to transport a ton of freight 32 miles by wagon over an unimproved road as it did to ship it 3,000 miles across the Atlantic. A horse could pull at most one ton of freight on a macadam road, which was multi-layer stone covered and crowned, with side drainage. But

1785-517: A quarter in the 18th century and nearly half in the 19th, averaging 30 bushels per acre (2,080 kg/ha) by the 1890s. The Dutch acquired the iron-tipped , curved mouldboard , adjustable depth plough which was invented in Chinese Han dynasty from the Chinese in the early 17th century. It had the advantage of being able to be pulled by one or two oxen compared to the six or eight needed by

1904-495: A series of private acts of Parliament, mainly from about 1750 to 1850, which enclosed large areas of common, especially the arable and haymeadow land and the better pasture land. The maintenance of fences around a common is the responsibility of the occupiers of the adjacent enclosed land, not (as it would be with enclosed land) the responsibility of the owners of the grazed livestock. This can lead to difficulties where not all adjacent occupiers maintain their fences properly. However

2023-488: A shift from rural work to industrial labour, and financial investments in new industrial structures. Later commentators have called this the First Industrial Revolution. The " Second Industrial Revolution " labels the later changes that came about in the mid-19th century after the refinement of the steam engine , the invention of the internal combustion engine , the harnessing of electricity and

2142-563: A similar rate. Despite its name, the Agricultural Revolution in Britain did not result in overall productivity per hectare of agricultural area as high as in China, where intensive cultivation (including multiple annual cropping in many areas) had been practiced for many centuries. The Agricultural Revolution in Britain proved to be a major turning point in history, allowing the population to far exceed earlier peaks and sustain

2261-530: A single acre of potatoes could feed a family of five or six, plus a cow, for the better part of a year, an unprecedented level of production. By 1715 the potato was widespread in the Low Countries , the Rhineland , southwestern Germany, and eastern France, but took longer to spread elsewhere. The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge , established in 1660, almost immediately championed

2380-416: A single horse could pull a barge weighing over 30 tons. Commerce was aided by the expansion of roads and inland waterways. Road transport capacity grew from threefold to fourfold from 1500 to 1700. Railroads would eventually reduce the cost of land transport by over 95%. Another way to get more land was to convert some pasture land into arable land and recover fen land and some pastures. It is estimated that

2499-490: Is continuously cropped. Rotation can also improve soil structure and fertility by alternating deep-rooted and shallow-rooted plants. Turnip roots, for example, can recover nutrients from deep under the soil. As it is now known, the Norfolk four-course system rotates crops so that different crops are planted, resulting in various kinds and quantities of nutrients being taken from the soil as the plants grow. An essential feature of

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2618-399: Is fallow. Each field was rotated into a different crop nearly every year. Over the following two centuries, the regular planting of legumes in the fields that were previously fallow slowly restored the fertility of some croplands. The planting of legumes helped to increase plant growth in the empty field because of the ability of the bacteria on legume roots to fix nitrogen from the air into

2737-426: Is for themselves and one more family. Not much manpower was available for non-agricultural activity. In the course of the revolution, one family began to produce enough food for five families. Much manpower was liberated from agriculture and became available for industry. Thus the Agricultural Revolution made possible the Industrial Revolution : Industrialization and modern economic growth are basically conditioned by

2856-414: Is less able than the tertiary sector to accommodate both increased productivity and employment opportunities; more than 40% of the world's employees are " working poor ", whose incomes fail to keep themselves and their families above the $ 2-a-day poverty line . There is also a phenomenon of deindustrialisation , as in the former USSR countries' transition to market economies, and the agriculture sector

2975-422: Is often the key sector in absorbing the resultant unemployment. Common land Common land is collective land (sometimes only open to those whose nation governs the land) in which all persons have certain common rights , such as to allow their livestock to graze upon it, to collect wood , or to cut turf for fuel . A person who has a right in, or over, common land jointly with another or others

3094-410: Is substantial support among those with interests in the land, such as; the commoners (especially those who actively exercise their rights); owners and other legal interests. Commons councils enable decisions to be made by majority voting, so relieving the burden of trying to reach unanimous decisions. They will have the power to make rules about agricultural activities, the management of vegetation, and

3213-399: Is the prime consideration and where the owner and commoners do not require a direct voice in the management, or where the owner cannot be found. There are at least 200 schemes of management made under the 1899 act. The Law of Property Act 1925 ( 15 & 16 Geo. 5 . c. 20), which still forms the core of English property law, has two provisions for common land: The UK government regularised

3332-555: Is usually called a commoner . In Great Britain, common land or former common land is usually referred to as a common ; for instance, Clapham Common and Mungrisdale Common . Due to enclosure , the extent of common land is now much reduced from the hundreds of square kilometres that existed until the 17th century, but a considerable amount of common land still exists, particularly in upland areas. There are over 8,000 registered commons in England alone. Originally in medieval England

3451-474: The Commons Act 1876 ( 39 & 40 Vict. c. 56) some 36 commons in England and Wales were regulated. The act also enabled the confirmation of orders providing for the inclosure of common land or common fields. The Commons Act 1899 ( 62 & 63 Vict. c. 30) provides a mechanism of enabling district councils and National Park authorities to manage commons where their use for exercise and recreation

3570-591: The Corn Laws (protective tariffs) to protect cereal grain producers in Britain against foreign competition. These laws were removed in 1846 after the onset of the Great Irish Famine in which a potato blight ruined most of the Irish potato crop and brought famine to the Irish people from 1846 to 1850. Though the blight also struck Scotland, Wales, England, and much of continental Europe, its effect there

3689-509: The Fens , but also included many village greens across England and Wales. Historically manorial courts defined the details of many of the rights of common allowed to manorial tenants, and such rights formed part of the copyhold tenancy whose terms were defined in the manorial court roll. Example rights of common are: On most commons, rights of pasture and pannage for each commoner are tightly defined by number and type of animal, and by

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3808-617: The Habsburg monarchy (especially Hungary and Austria) by the late 17th century. Its spread started in southern France in 1565, and by the start of the 18th century it was the main food source of central and southern French peasants (it was more popular as animal fodder in the north). In Europe, agriculture was feudal from the Middle Ages. In the feudal open-field system , peasant farmers were assigned individual narrow strips of land in large fields which were used for growing crops. For

3927-494: The Parliament of England . The exact usufruct rights which apply to individual commons were in some cases documented, but more often were based on long-held traditions. A major reform began in 1965, with a national register of common land which recorded the land ownership and the rights of any commoners, and two other important statutes have followed. Owners of land in general have all the rights of exclusive ownership, to use

4046-579: The Second Industrial Revolution in the decade following the American Civil War . By 1900, half the meat eaten in Britain came from abroad, and tropical fruits such as bananas were also being imported on the refrigerator ships. Before the introduction of the seed drill , the common practice was to plant seeds by broadcasting (evenly throwing) them across the ground by hand on the prepared soil and then lightly harrowing

4165-517: The common arable fields and common haymeadows assigned annually by lot . When not in use for those purposes, such commons were grazed . Examples include the common arable fields around the village of Laxton in Nottinghamshire, and a common meadow at North Meadow, Cricklade . Lammas rights entitled commoners to pasture following the harvest, between Lammas day, 12 August ( N.S. ), to 6 April, even if they did not have other rights to

4284-1058: The economic communities do not consider contemporary industrialisation policies as being adequate to the global south (Third World countries) or beneficial in the longer term, with the perception that they may only create inefficient local industries unable to compete in the free-trade dominated political order which industrialisation has fostered. Environmentalism and Green politics may represent more visceral reactions to industrial growth. Nevertheless, repeated examples in history of apparently successful industrialisation (Britain, Soviet Union, South Korea, China, etc.) may make conventional industrialisation seem like an attractive or even natural path forward, especially as populations grow, consumerist expectations rise and agricultural opportunities diminish. The relationships among economic growth, employment, and poverty reduction are complex, and higher productivity can sometimes lead to static or even lower employment (see jobless recovery ). There are differences across sectors , whereby manufacturing

4403-416: The nuclear family , consisting of only parents and their growing children, predominates. Families and children reaching adulthood are more mobile and tend to relocate to where jobs exist. Extended family bonds become more tenuous. One of the most important criticisms of industrialisation is that it caused children to stay away from home for many hours and to use them as cheap workers in factories. Between

4522-560: The plant nutrients removed with the crops. Turnips first show up in the probate records in England as early as 1638 but were not widely used till about 1750. Fallow land was about 20% of the arable area in England in 1700 before turnips and clover were extensively grown in the 1830s. Guano and nitrates from South America were introduced in the mid-19th century, and fallow steadily declined to reach only about 4% in 1900. Ideally, wheat, barley, turnips and clover would be planted in that order in each field in successive years. The turnips helped keep

4641-492: The 15th and 16th centuries. The more productive enclosed farms meant that fewer farmers were needed to work the same land, leaving many villagers without land and grazing rights . Many of them moved to the cities in search of work in the emerging factories of the Industrial Revolution . Others settled in the English colonies. English Poor Laws were enacted to help these newly poor. Some practices of enclosure were denounced by

4760-507: The 16th century and the mid-19th century was private marketing. By the 19th century, marketing was nationwide, and the vast majority of agricultural production was for market rather than for the farmer and his family. The 16th-century market radius was about 10 miles, which could support a town of 10,000. The next stage of development was trading between markets, requiring merchants, credit and forward sales, knowledge of markets and pricing and of supply and demand in different markets. Eventually,

4879-502: The 16th century. By the 19th century, unenclosed commons had become largely restricted to large areas of rough pasture in mountainous areas and to relatively small residual parcels of land in the lowlands. Enclosure could be accomplished by buying the ground rights and all common rights to accomplish exclusive rights of use, which increased the value of the land. The other method was by passing laws causing or forcing enclosure, such as Parliamentary enclosure. The latter process of enclosure

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4998-851: The 2006 act, and to add land omitted under the 1965 act. Other than for those commons covered by the Law of Property Act 1925 , the Commons Act 1899 and certain other statutes, the public did not have the right to use or enjoy common land if they were not a commoner. However, the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 (c. 37) gave the public the freedom to roam freely on all registered common land in England and Wales. The new rights were introduced region by region through England and Wales, with completion in 2005. Maps showing accessible areas have been produced, and are available online as "open access maps" produced by Natural England. Commons are included in

5117-406: The Agricultural Revolution has therefore been cited as a cause of the Industrial Revolution . However, historians continue to dispute when exactly such a "revolution" took place and of what it consisted. Rather than a single event, G. E. Mingay states that there were a "profusion of agricultural revolutions, one for two centuries before 1650, another emphasising the century after 1650, a third for

5236-641: The Church, and legislation was drawn up against it; but the large, enclosed fields were needed for the gains in agricultural productivity from the 16th to 18th centuries. This controversy led to a series of government acts, culminating in the General Enclosure Act of 1801 which sanctioned large-scale land reform . The process of enclosure was largely complete by the end of the 18th century. Regional markets were widespread by 1500 with about 800 locations in Britain. The most important development between

5355-701: The Commons Preservation Society found a champion in Augustus Smith who had the inclination and the money to act, and himself held commons rights. Smith hired 120 navvies armed with hammers, chisels and crowbars, who on the night of 6 March 1866, under the aegis of the newly formed Commons Preservation Society (now the Open Spaces Society ), felled to the ground two miles of iron railings. Soon after, local people flocked in. Lord Brownlow took action against Augustus Smith and

5474-811: The Dutch were faster than Britain in reducing the agricultural sector of population. The Netherlands were called "school room," or "home" of the modern agricultural revolution. Notably, one of the innovations in the British Revolution was the “Dutch” light plow. English landowners and their agents who returned from exile in the Netherlands in the 17th century introduced Dutch methods and techniques. The term "revolution" refers to increase in yields per land and labour. Innovations in agricultural technology and methods took place gradually rather than an abrupt sweeping alteration. The British Agricultural Revolution

5593-528: The English crown and common source of food exports, since the early 17th century and quickly spread so that by the 18th century it had been firmly established as a staple food. It spread to England shortly after it took hold in Ireland, first being widely cultivated in Lancashire and around London, and by the mid-18th century it was esteemed and common. By the late 18th century, Sir Frederick Eden wrote that

5712-487: The Norfolk four-field system was that it used labour at times when demand was not at peak levels. Planting cover crops such as turnips and clover was not permitted under the common field system because they interfered with access to the fields. Besides, other people's livestock could graze the turnips. During the Middle Ages , the open-field system had initially used a two-field crop rotation system where one field

5831-484: The Second World War as a result of the advance of woodland into traditional heathland areas when, as one commentator stated: ...returning soldiers gave up trying to scratch a living out of the forest. Whereas once hundreds of commoners used the wood and heath—their livestock obliging by chewing down young tree shoots—today there is only one commercial grazer. The conservators were forced to intervene to stem

5950-675: The Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). Under section 38 of the Commons Act 2006, you need consent to carry out any restricted works on land registered as common land under the Commons Registration Act 1965. Restricted works are any that prevent or impede access to or over the land. They include fencing, buildings, structures, ditches, trenches, embankments and other works, where

6069-454: The Welsh and 16% of the English commons. Cattle are registered on 35% of Welsh and 20% of English commons, whilst horses and ponies are registered on 27% of Welsh and 13% of English commons. In some cases rights to graze goats, geese and ducks are registered, whilst in others the type of livestock is not specified. These figures relate to the number of common land units, and due to discrepancies in

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6188-648: The amount of arable land in Britain grew by 10–30% through these land conversions. The British Agricultural Revolution was aided by land maintenance advancements in Flanders and the Netherlands. With large and dense populations in Flanders and Holland, farmers there were forced to take maximum advantage of every bit of usable land; the country had become a pioneer in canal building, soil restoration and maintenance, soil drainage, and land reclamation technology. Dutch experts like Cornelius Vermuyden brought some of this technology to Britain. Water-meadows were utilised in

6307-551: The ashes of trees burned in opening new agricultural lands were imported. By-products of the British meat industry like bones from the knackers ' yards were ground up or crushed and sold as fertiliser. By about 1840 about 30,000 tons of bones were being processed (worth about £150,000). An unusual alternative to bones was found to be the millions of tons of fossils called coprolites found in South East England . When these were dissolved in sulphuric acid they yielded

6426-518: The atmosphere into a form of fertiliser. This permitted the intensive arable cultivation of light soils on enclosed farms and provided fodder to support increased livestock numbers whose manure added further to soil fertility. Called “British”, the term implies that the revolution began in Britain, not that it existed solely in Britain. Other countries in Europe (including France, Prussia (Germany), and Russia), East Asia and North America followed suit in

6545-669: The authorities at other heathland areas in the New Forest and Surrey". In 2008 the Foundation for Common Land was created in the UK to try to enhance the understanding and protection of commons. The legal position concerning common land has been confused, but recent legislation has sought to remedy this and remove the legal uncertainties so that commons can be better used and protected. Most commons are based on ancient rights under British common law , which pre-date statutes passed by

6664-471: The break-up of the feudal system in England. Many farms were bought by yeomen who enclosed their property and improved their use of the land. More secure control of the land allowed the owners to make innovations that improved their yields. Other husbandmen rented property they " share cropped " with the land owners. Many of these enclosures were accomplished by acts of Parliament in the 16th and 17th centuries. The process of enclosing property accelerated in

6783-460: The centre of a dispute between some local residents and the forest's governing body, the Board of Conservators, which is responsible for administering the forest's 24 km of common land. The conservators wished to restore the forest's landscape to one that predominantly consisted of heathland—its defining characteristic until the mid-twentieth century, but something that was in danger of being lost after

6902-554: The common was an integral part of the manor , and was thus part of the estate held by the lord of the manor under a grant from the Crown or a superior peer (who in turn held his land from the Crown; it is sometimes said that the Crown was held to ultimately own all land under its domain). This manorial system, founded on feudalism, granted rights of land use to different classes. These could be appurtenant rights whose ownership attached to tenancies of particular plots of land held within

7021-458: The commoners were able to find better-paid work in other sectors of the economy. As a result they largely stopped exercising their rights; relatively few commoners exist today. Much common land is still used for its original purpose. The right to graze domestic stock is by far the most extensive commoners right registered, and its ongoing use contributes significantly to agricultural and rural economies. Rights to graze sheep are registered on 53% of

7140-477: The construction of canals, railways, and electric-power lines. The invention of the assembly line gave this phase a boost. Coal mines, steelworks, and textile factories replaced homes as the place of work. By the end of the 20th century, East Asia had become one of the most recently industrialised regions of the world. There is considerable literature on the factors facilitating industrial modernisation and enterprise development. The Industrial Revolution

7259-477: The country's rise to industrial pre-eminence. Towards the end of the 19th century, the substantial gains in British agricultural productivity were rapidly offset by competition from cheaper imports, made possible by the exploitation of new lands and advances in transportation, refrigeration, and other technologies. The Agricultural Revolution in other countries was a turning point too. In the agrarian societies, four families produced enough food for five families, that

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7378-537: The court case lasted until 1870 when it ended with the complete vindication of Smith. Development of common land is strictly controlled. The government states that common land should be open and accessible to the public, and the law restricts the kind of works that can be carried out on commons. HM Planning Inspectorate is responsible for determining applications under the 2006 Act regarding common land in England, and several other pieces of legislation regarding commons and greens. All applications are determined on behalf of

7497-521: The deeds of another property. A number of commoners still exercise rights, for example, there are 500 practising commoners in the New Forest , and there is a federation of commoners in Cumbria . In many cases commons have no existing commoners, the rights having been neglected. It was a common a belief that if a squatter and their friends could—between sunrise and sunset in a single day—build

7616-489: The definitions of common land with the Commons Registration Act 1965 (c. 64), which established a register of common land. Not all commons have owners, but all common land by definition is registered under Commons Registration Act 1965, along with the rights of any commoners if they still exist. The registration authorities are the county councils, and when there is no ownership, a local council, such as

7735-510: The earlier legislation is provided by the Commons Act 2006 . Under Schedule 2(4) to the Act, applications that failed to achieve final registration under the 1965 Act may, in certain circumstances, be reconsidered – offering, in effect, a second chance for the land to be confirmed ('re-registered') as common. Land that is re-registered in this way will enjoy the special legal protection afforded to common land. It will also become subject in due course to

7854-548: The early 1960s and 1990s, the Four Asian Tigers underwent rapid industrialisation and maintained exceptionally high growth rates. As of 2018 the international development community ( World Bank , Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) , many United Nations departments, FAO WHO ILO and UNESCO , endorses development policies like water purification or primary education and co-operation amongst third world communities . Some members of

7973-884: The effect of those works is to prevent or impede access. They also include, in every case, new solid surfaces, such as for a new car park or access road. Some commons are managed by boards of conservators for the wider public benefit. However, for areas where these are not established, or an improved system is required, the Commons Act 2006 provides for the establishment of commons councils to manage common land. The Standard Constitution Regulations relating to commons councils were formally approved in April 2010, and commons councils are most likely to be useful where they can improve current management practices. This may be where commons are in agricultural use, but where it can be difficult to reach agreement on collective management. Commons councils are voluntary and can be established only where there

8092-417: The fencing of land within a registered common is not allowed, as this is a form of enclosure and denies use of the land to others. A celebrated landmark case of unauthorised fencing of a common was in 1866 by Lord Brownlow who illegally enclosed 434 acres of Berkhamsted Common to add to his Ashridge Estate . Brownlow had failed to buy out the commoners, so resorted to this action. A public outcry followed, and

8211-400: The food grown at about 0.5% per year—not enough to keep up with population growth. Great Britain contained about 10.8 million people in 1801, 20.7 million in 1851 and 37.1 million by 1901. This corresponds to an annual population growth rate of 1.3% in 1801-1851 and 1.2% in 1851–1901, twice the rate of agricultural output growth. In addition to land for cultivation there was also

8330-562: The hard work in breaking up pastures and difficulty in establishing them. The significance of convertible husbandry is that it introduced pasture into the rotation. The farmers in Flanders (in parts of France and current day Belgium ) discovered a still more effective four-field crop rotation system, using turnips and clover (a legume) as forage crops to replace the three-year crop rotation fallow year. The four-field rotation system allowed farmers to restore soil fertility and restore some of

8449-529: The heavy wheeled northern European plough. The Dutch plough was brought to Britain by Dutch contractors who were hired to drain East Anglian fens and Somerset moors. The plough was extremely successful on wet, boggy soil, but was soon used on ordinary land as well. British improvements included Joseph Foljambe's cast iron plough (patented 1730), which combined an earlier Dutch design with several innovations. Its fittings and coulter were made of iron, and

8568-475: The invasion of trees, scrub and bracken that threatened the ecologically precious heathlands, cutting down saplings, removing scrub and mowing the bracken. Some residents complained that the results looked like a First World War battle field. This is not a problem restricted to this common, but according to Jonathan Brown writing in the Independent on 21 April 2007 "similar debates are raging between locals and

8687-434: The land as they wish. However, for common land the owner's rights are restricted, and other people known as commoners have certain rights over the land. The landowner may retain other rights to the land, such as rights to minerals and large timber, and to any common rights left unexercised by the commoners. The commoners will continue to exercise their rights, or have a document which describes their rights, which may be part of

8806-424: The land become restricted to the owner, and it ceases to be land for the use of commoners. In England and Wales the term is also used for the process that ended the ancient system of arable farming in open fields . Under enclosure, such land is fenced ( enclosed ) and deeded or entitled to one or more owners. The process of enclosure began to be a widespread feature of the English agricultural landscape during

8925-452: The land. Such rights sometimes had the effect of preventing enclosure and building development on agricultural land. Most of the medieval common land of England was lost due to enclosure. In English social and economic history, enclosure or inclosure is the process which ends traditional rights such as mowing meadows for hay , or grazing livestock on common land formerly held in the open field system . Once enclosed, these uses of

9044-470: The last half of the 19th century. The Agricultural Revolution was part of a long process of improvement, but sound advice on farming began to appear in England in the mid-17th century, from writers such as Samuel Hartlib , Walter Blith and others, and the overall agricultural productivity of Britain started to grow significantly only in the 18th century. It is estimated that total agricultural output grew 2.7-fold between 1700 and 1870 and output per worker at

9163-658: The late 16th to the 20th centuries and allowed earlier pasturing of livestock after they were wintered on hay. This increased livestock yields, giving more hides, meat, milk, and manure as well as better hay crops. With the development of regional markets and eventually a national market, aided by improved transportation infrastructures, farmers were no longer dependent on their local market and were less subject to having to sell at low prices into an oversupplied local market and not being able to sell their surpluses to distant localities that were experiencing shortages. They also became less subject to price fixing regulations. Farming became

9282-433: The level of agricultural productivity inherited from pre-modern period... [A]n agricultural revolution and subsequent rise in agricultural productivity are often considered prerequisites for take-off of the initial spurt of industrialization. Unprecedented population growth followed and even more explosive was the growth of the non-agricultural sector. Barrington Moore stressed the "importance of getting rid of agriculture as

9401-484: The manor must only exercise his rights so far as to leave a "sufficiency" of resource for commoners. This was at issue in 1889 when the lord of the manor and owner of Banstead Downs and Heath, a Mr Hartopp, excavated gravel and threatened to reduce the available pasture. The meaning of sufficiency was challenged in court, expert witnesses stated that the grazing capacity was 1,200 animals, the commoners rights totalled 1,440 animals, and 600 animals were normally turned out. It

9520-434: The market evolved into a national one driven by London and other growing cities. By 1700, there was a national market for wheat. Legislation regulating middlemen required registration, addressed weights and measures, fixing of prices and collection of tolls by the government. Market regulations were eased in 1663 when people were allowed some self-regulation to hold inventory, but it was forbidden to withhold commodities from

9639-430: The market in an effort to increase prices. In the late 18th century, the idea of self-regulation was gaining acceptance. The lack of internal tariffs, customs barriers and feudal tolls made Britain "the largest coherent market in Europe". High wagon transportation costs made it uneconomical to ship commodities very far outside the market radius by road, generally limiting shipment to less than 20 or 30 miles to market or to

9758-552: The mid-18th century. Arguably, Bakewell's most important breeding programme was with sheep. Using native stock, he was able to quickly select for large, yet fine-boned sheep, with long, lustrous wool. The Lincoln Longwool was improved by Bakewell, and in turn the Lincoln was used to develop the subsequent breed, named the Dishley Leicester . It was hornless and had a square, meaty body with straight top lines. Bakewell

9877-555: The most important innovations of the British Agricultural Revolution was the development of the Norfolk four-course rotation, which greatly increased crop and livestock yields by improving soil fertility and reducing fallow. Crop rotation is the practice of growing a series of dissimilar types of crops in the same area in sequential seasons to help restore plant nutrients and mitigate the build-up of pathogens and pests that often occur when one plant species

9996-410: The mouldboard and share were covered with an iron plate, making it easier to pull and more controllable than previous ploughs. By the 1760s Foljambe was making large numbers of these ploughs in a factory outside of Rotherham , using standard patterns with interchangeable parts. The plough was easy for a blacksmith to make, but by the end of the 18th century it was being made in rural foundries. By 1770 it

10115-526: The need for fences while maintaining their effective individual interest in them, as each ewe remains on her particular area. Lambs usually learn their heft from their mothers. Also known as 'hoofing' in some areas like North Yorkshire. This ability to keep sheep from straying without fences is still an important factor in sheep farming on the extensive common land in upland areas. Surviving commons are almost all pasture, but in earlier times, arable farming and haymaking were significant, with strips of land in

10234-546: The next two centuries. The Second Agricultural Revolution was much like the Neolithic Revolution in that it occurred in many regions across the world in a short span of time. The British origins of the revolution is the view shared by the British historians. The Dutch historians disagree. In the Netherlands between 1500 and 1650, the agricultural output per laborer rose by 80% leading to over 60% decline in manpower engaged in agriculture by 1650. From 1500 to 1750,

10353-516: The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 and the development of refrigerator ships ( reefers ) in about 1880 opened the British market to cheap meat and wool from Australia, New Zealand, and Argentina. The Long Depression was a worldwide economic recession that began in 1873 and ended around 1896. It hit the agricultural sector hard and was the most severe in Europe and the United States, which had been experiencing strong economic growth fuelled by

10472-698: The organic fertilisers in manure, new fertilisers were slowly discovered. Massive sodium nitrate (NaNO 3 ) deposits found in the Atacama Desert , Chile , were brought under British financiers like John Thomas North and imports were started. Chile was happy to allow the exports of these sodium nitrates by allowing the British to use their capital to develop the mining and imposing a hefty export tax to enrich their treasury. Massive deposits of sea bird guano (11–16% nitrogen, 8–12% phosphate , and 2–3% potassium ), were found and started to be imported after about 1830. Significant imports of potash obtained from

10591-433: The ownership of the holder of the right (the commoner) or is a right held in gross i.e. unattached to land. This includes details of the owner(s) of the common land. Entries in this section however, are not held to be conclusive. Numerous inconsistencies and irregularities remained, mainly because a period of only three years was given for registration submissions. However, there is now an opportunity to clear these up under

10710-471: The past, most pasture commons would have been grazed by mixtures of cattle, sheep and ponies (often also geese). The modern survival of grazing on pasture commons over the past century is uneven. The use of hefting (or heafing ) – the characteristic of some breeds of sheep for example, keeping to a certain heft (a small local area) throughout their lives – allows different farmers in an extensive landscape such as moorland to graze different areas without

10829-586: The period 1750–1780, and a fourth for the middle decades of the nineteenth century". This has led more recent historians to argue that any general statements about "the Agricultural Revolution" are difficult to sustain. One important change in farming methods was the move in crop rotation to turnips and clover in place of fallow under the Norfolk four-course system . Turnips can be grown in winter and are deep-rooted, allowing them to gather minerals unavailable to shallow-rooted crops. Clover fixes nitrogen from

10948-435: The population of towns. The concentration of labour in factories has increased urbanisation and the size of settlements, to serve and house the factory workers. Family structure changes with industrialisation. Sociologist Talcott Parsons noted that in pre-industrial societies there is an extended family structure spanning many generations who probably remained in the same location for generations. In industrialised societies

11067-610: The potato had become "a constant standing dish, at every meal, breakfast excepted, at the tables of the Rich, as well as the Poor." While not as vital as the potato, maize also contributed to the boost of Western European agricultural productivity. Maize also had far higher per-acre productivity than wheat (about two and a half times), grew at widely differing altitudes and in a variety of soils (though warmer climates were preferred), and unlike wheat it could be harvested in successive years from

11186-409: The potato, stressing its value as a substitute for wheat (particularly since famine periods for wheat overlapped with bump periods for potatoes). The 1740 famines buttressed their case. The mid 18th century was marked by rapid adoption of the potato by various European countries, especially in central Europe, as various wheat famines demonstrated its value. The potato was grown in Ireland, a property of

11305-555: The power shifted from land owners to industrial entrepreneurs or central-planning states, marking "revolutionary break with the past." The ten-millennia Agrarian Age was succeeded by the Industrial Age . Industrialisation Industrialisation ( UK ) or industrialization ( US ) is the period of social and economic change that transforms a human group from an agrarian society into an industrial society . This involves an extensive reorganisation of an economy for

11424-455: The primary right is to pasture livestock . In the uplands, they are largely moorland , on the coast they may be salt marsh , sand dunes or cliffs , and on inland lowlands they may be downland , grassland , heathland or wood pasture , depending on the soil and history. These habitats are often of very high nature conservation value, because of their very long continuity of management extending in some cases over many hundreds of years. In

11543-499: The public access land now shown on the Ordnance Survey Explorer maps. The Commons Act 2006 (c. 26) is an important recent piece of legislation. The act: Several hundred square kilometres of 'waste land' that was provisionally registered under the Commons Registration Act 1965 was not, in fact, finally registered. As a consequence, it ceased to be recognised as common land. A partial remedy for this defect in

11662-493: The public right of access introduced by the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000; or depending on location, may qualify as a section 193 'urban' common (in which case, it would also be subject to a right of access for horse-riders). The act of transferring resources from the commons to purely private ownership is known as enclosure , or (especially in formal use, and in place names) Inclosure . The Inclosure Acts were

11781-590: The purpose of manufacturing . Industrialisation is associated with increase of polluting industries heavily dependent on fossil fuels . With the increasing focus on sustainable development and green industrial policy practices, industrialisation increasingly includes technological leapfrogging , with direct investment in more advanced, cleaner technologies. The reorganisation of the economy has many unintended consequences both economically and socially. As industrial workers' incomes rise, markets for consumer goods and services of all kinds tend to expand and provide

11900-696: The registers and large numbers of small commons with no rights in England, the apparent distinction between Wales and England may be exaggerated. Today, despite the diverse legal and historical origins of commons, they are managed through a community of users, comprising those who hold rights together with the owner(s) of the soil. Such communities generally require joint working to integrate all interests, with formal or informal controls and collaborative understandings, often coupled with strong social traditions and local identity. However, 26% of commons in Wales, and as many as 65% in England, have no common rights shown on

12019-531: The registers. Such areas are derived from wastes of manors , where rights probably existed formerly. When such open habitats are no longer grazed they revert to scrub and then dense woodland, losing the grassy or heathland vegetation which may have occupied the land continuously for many centuries. In 2007, Ashdown Forest , the Sussex heathland which was the setting for the Winnie-the-Pooh stories, became

12138-568: The right to work this land they would pay a percentage of the yield to the aristocracy or the Catholic Church , who owned the land. A separate section of land in the same area would be "held in common" as grazing pasture. Periodically the grazing land would be rotated with the crop land to allow the land to recover. As early as the 12th century, some fields in England tilled under the open-field system were enclosed into individually owned fields. The Black Death from 1348 onward accelerated

12257-515: The same plot of land. It was often grown alongside potatoes, as maize plants required wide spacing. Maize was cultivated in Spain since 1525 and Italy since 1530, contributing to their growing populations in the early modern era as it became a dietary staple in the 17th century (in Italy it was often made into polenta ). It spread from northern Italy into Germany and beyond, becoming an important staple in

12376-411: The same time productivity increased enough to create a surplus of labour. The increased labour supply is considered one of the factors facilitating the Industrial Revolution . Following the era of enclosure, there was relatively little common land remaining of value although some residual commoners remained until the end of the Second World War. By that time lowland commons had become neglected because

12495-401: The soil in a form that plants could use. Other crops that were occasionally grown were flax and members of the mustard family . Convertible husbandry was the alternation of a field between pasture and grain. Because nitrogen builds up slowly over time in pasture, ploughing up pasture and planting grains resulted in high yields for a few years. A big disadvantage of convertible husbandry was

12614-438: The soil to cover the seed. Seeds left on top of the ground were eaten by birds, insects, and mice. There was no control over spacing, and seeds were planted too close together and too far apart. Alternatively, seeds could be laboriously planted one by one using a hoe and/or a shovel. Cutting down on wasted seed was important because the yield of seeds harvested to seeds planted at that time was around four or five. The seed drill

12733-403: The time of year when certain rights could be exercised. For example, the occupier of a particular cottage might be allowed to graze fifteen cattle , four horses , ponies or donkeys , and fifty geese , whilst the numbers allowed for their neighbours would probably be different. On some commons (such as the New Forest and adjoining commons), the rights are not limited by numbers, and instead

12852-585: The transmission of diseases. The place of women in society has shifted from primary caregivers to breadwinners, thus reducing the number of children per household. Furthermore, industrialisation contributed to increased cases of child labour and thereafter education systems. As the Industrial Revolution was a shift from the agrarian society, people migrated from villages in search of jobs to places where factories were established. This shifting of rural people led to urbanisation and an increase in

12971-465: The weeds down and were an excellent forage crop—ruminant animals could eat the tops and roots through a large part of the summer and winters. There was no need to let the soil lie fallow as clover would add nitrates (nitrogen-containing salts) back to the soil. The clover made excellent pasture and hay fields as well as green manure when it was ploughed under after one or two years. The addition of clover and turnips allowed more animals to be kept through

13090-508: The winter, which in turn produced more milk, cheese, meat and manure, which maintained soil fertility. The mix of crops also changed: the area under wheat rose by 1870 to 3.5 million acres (1.4m ha), barley to 2.25m acres (0.9m ha) and oats less dramatically to 2.75m acres (1.1m ha), while rye dwindled to 60,000 acres (24,000 hectares), less than a tenth of its late medieval peak. Grain yields benefited from new and better seed alongside improved rotation and fertility: wheat yields increased by

13209-501: Was accompanied by significant changes in the social structure, the main change being a transition from farm work to factory-related activities. This has resulted in the concept of Social class , i.e., hierarchical social status defined by an individual's economic power. It has changed the family system as most people moved into cities, with extended family living apart becoming more common. The movement into more dense urban areas from less dense agricultural areas has consequently increased

13328-497: Was also the first to breed cattle to be used primarily for beef. Previously, cattle were first and foremost kept for pulling ploughs as oxen or for dairy uses, with beef from surplus males as an additional bonus, but he crossed long-horned heifers and a Westmoreland bull to eventually create the Dishley Longhorn . As more farmers followed his lead, farm animals increased dramatically in size and quality. The average weight of

13447-488: Was decided sufficiency was whether enough grazing would be available for all the animals that could be turned out. The judgment was that "The Lord is bound to leave pasture enough to satisfy the commoners rights whether such rights are to be exercised or not". Commoners also have the right to "peaceful enjoyment" of their rights, so that they cannot be hindered by the lord of the manor. This was first proposed in 1500 and became case law in 1827. Pasture commons are those where

13566-557: Was far less severe since potatoes constituted a much smaller percentage of the diet than in Ireland. Hundreds of thousands died in the famine, and millions more emigrated to England, Wales, Scotland, Canada, Australia, Europe, and the United States, reducing the population from about 8.5 million in 1845 to 4.3 million by 1921. Between 1873 and 1879 British agriculture suffered from wet summers that damaged grain crops. Cattle farmers were hit by foot-and-mouth disease , and sheep farmers by liver rot . The poor harvests, however, masked

13685-546: Was introduced from China to Italy in the mid-16th century where it was patented by the Venetian Senate. Jethro Tull invented an improved seed drill in 1701. It was a mechanical seeder which distributed seeds evenly across a plot of land and at the correct depth. Tull's seed drill was expensive and fragile and therefore did not have much of an impact. The technology to manufacture affordable and reliable machinery, including agricultural machinery , improved dramatically in

13804-411: Was left fallow or turned into pasture for a time to try to recover some of its plant nutrients. Later they employed a three-year, three field crop rotation routine, with a different crop in each of two fields, e.g. oats, rye, wheat, and barley with the second field growing a legume like peas or beans, and the third field fallow. Normally from 10% to 30% of the arable land in a three crop rotation system

13923-627: Was sometimes accompanied by force, resistance, and bloodshed, and remains among the most controversial areas of agricultural and economic history in England. Enclosure is considered one of the causes of the British Agricultural Revolution . Enclosed land was under control of the farmer who was free to adopt better farming practices. There was widespread agreement in contemporary accounts that profit making opportunities were better with enclosed land. Following enclosure, crop yields and livestock output increased while at

14042-710: Was the cheapest and best plough available. It spread to Scotland, America, and France. The Columbian exchange brought many new foodstuffs from the Americas to Eurasia, most of which took decades or centuries to catch on. Arguably the most important of these was the potato . Potatoes yielded about three times the calories per acre of wheat or barley, mainly because it took only taking 3–4 months to mature versus 10 months for wheat. On top of this, potatoes had higher nutritive value than wheat, could be grown in even fallow and nutrient-poor soil, did not require any special tools, and were considered fairly appetizing. According to Langer,

14161-433: Was the result of the complex interaction of social, economic and farming technological changes. Major developments and innovations include: Yields have had the seed used to plant the crop subtracted to give net yields. Average seed sown is estimated at: $ Average annual growth rate of agricultural output is per agricultural worker. Other authors offer different estimates. (1 bushel/acre = 0.06725 tonnes / hectare ) of

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