Towards the end of the 19th century there was a resurgence of interest in the loss of the common fields. Books appeared on English Field Systems, The English Peasantry, The Commons, Common Land and Inclosure and so on, but almost all were concerned with the history and organisation of the […]
“In the open field village the entirely landless labourer was scarcely to be found. The division of holdings into numerous scattered pieces, many of which were of minute size, made it easy for a labourer to obtain what were in effect allotments in the common fields”. [1] So said Gilbert Slater […]
If the impression is that commoners were still to be found in large numbers by the beginning of the 19th century there was also an impression that there were a large number of people who used the wastes and commonable lands but who were not, in legal terms, commoners. It […]
“ Cecil Graham: What is a cynic? Lord Darlington: A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing. Cecil Graham: And a sentimentalist, my dear Darlington, is a man who sees an absurd value in everything and doesn’t know the market price of a single thing.” […]
The subject of agricultural improvement in the 18th and 19th centuries is a vast area and is dealt with in a separate post and John Martin’s own experiments in improvement are discussed here. In the brave new inclosed world the farmer in severalty could grow new crops, plough, sow and […]
Land is the source of all material wealth. From it we get everything that we use or value, whether it be food, clothing, fuel, shelter, metal, or precious stones. We live on the land and from the land, and to the land our bodies or our ashes are committed when […]
Reading the Landscape Several books have been written about the appearance of the English Countryside, the most famous of which is W G Hoskins ‘Making of the English Countryside’. Other favourites are the History of the English Countryside by Oliver Rackham and Richard Muir’s 1981 ‘Shell Guide to Reading the […]
The young Arthur Martin The making of a Victorian Gentleman Arthur Martin Esq., JP, Sheriff, Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Dorset. Arthur Martin, Lord of the Manor at Rampisham. The way of all flesh In 1818 John Martin became the Steward at Rampisham and for at least the next 48 years […]
The Tithe Commutation Act had been drafted with two incommensurable clauses in it concerning the provision of a map. Clause 35 allowed the apportioners, to base their apportionment on “any admeasurement, plan, or valuation previously made of the lands…..the accuracy of which they shall be satisfied”.[1] Such plans were not […]
“When the parish became a prison it was the poor-law settlement system which made it so; when the parish became a vast almshouse it was an ill-advised relaxation of the poor-law principles which pauperised the labourer and bankrupted the small farmer.”[1] Contents In the 1640’s John Lilburne , a member […]
John Martin of Evershot 