FIELDS INCLOSURE AT BLISWORTH

 In 1808 the inclosure* award for the fields in the parish of Blisworth was passed.  To be precise: statute 48 George III cap. 29 authorised the inclosure of 1500 acres of land in the parish of Blisworth and thus removed all common land rights of any farmers whether small or large.  An award was made under this act (thereby assigning them to specific farmers selected by, in this case, the Duke of Grafton) in the Court of Common Pleas, Recovery Roll, 55 George III, 1815, Trinity, CP43/929, rot. 58.  There are two maps with this award in which the field numbers are included and the tally of fields to farmers is listed in the main text.  However, the documents in the NRO do not include this tally. In Towcester on July 15th 1808 there was the first meeting of the award commissioners at which farmers were granted their new rights.

The process of making the inclosure award was the cumulation of a 150 years period in which certain farmers had already been favoured with large quotas of land for which they paid rent in parallel with many villagers who rented strips in various fields in the 'ridge and furrow' pattern.  By encouraging sheep farming on the inclosed fields the Duke was exacting a much higher rent from the much more productive farmers, who effectively became the first agri-businesses.  In 1718, the curate remarked that "a small part of the parish was inclosed" but this was not true.  A major process of inclosure took place in 1650, occurring in the Cromwell Commonwealth period 1648 - 1660.  About 63% of the parish was inclosed, mostly in packages of over 30 acres.  Prior to the Commonwealth Period, for example 1547 - 1595, there would be fencing used on the common fields for mixed husbandry which included an unknown amount of sheep farming (flocks smaller than 50 sheep were not recorded).  It is thought there was no other inclosures in Blisworth.  However in Courteenhall there was a small 16th century private inclosure for a few hundred sheep.

In 1808, the list of awarded farmers follows: William Gibbs, Robert Campion, Inigo Hands, William Goodrich, John Goodrich, Thomas Wesley, Stephen Blunt, William Worster, John Kingston, William Wilson, John Pettifer, John Dix, Sam Wilson, George Stone, John Goode, Thomas Parrish, Richard Gudgeon and the 'Rector'.

The list of assignees to common-land (that was fenced off) in 1790 was Robert Campion, Thomas Cave, -- Gibbs, Cornelius Gudgeon, Joseph Hedge, Joseph Wills, Shadrach Wesley, William Pettifer - each holding 60 to 120 acres.  In some cases a large, originally common, field was subdivided and farmed by a subgroup of these tenants such as 'Long Stocking Field', the hither-part (nearest) of Nether (north) Field, Nether Palmers Bank and Willow Stump Furlong, etc.  Unfortunately the location of many of these ancient named fields is unknown.  It is thought that there were three main common fields, Nether - to the north from the watermill, East - towards Courteenhall and incorporating part of the common plain between the village and Roade and Stoke Bruerne, and South - being to the north east of Nunn Wood which is in Easton Neston parish.

Field Names:  As fields were subdivided by the farmers to conform to their land management requirements the names were gradually revised.  There is a Duke's Agent's compact map, date estimated at 1825, at the NRO which gives all fields and minor subdivisions a 3 or 4 digit number, along with a name sometimes obscurely scribbled in pencil.  A portion of this map is shown here.  It would be a major undertaking to recreate the map in a clear modern format.  The Grafton Survey of 1839 lists many field names with their tenants at the time but, for any field that is away from the village smallholdings and cottage assignments, there is no map to provide the location.  Mona Clinch collected all names in the parish in 1935 and published a map in her little book about Blisworth.  There is a review of Blisworth field names and their interpretations where possible.

*inclosure is the original name for the process.  It is sometimes given the 20th century spelling 'enclosure'.