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SAFFRON WALDEN HISTORICAL JOURNAL |
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Article
from Saffron Walden Historical Journal No 2 (2001) Pre-Enclosure
Maps of North-West Essex 1 by
Laurie Barker The
official Enclosure Maps2 and the corresponding Awards are
well known, original copies being deposited at the time in county courts
and parishes.
Faced with only the rather bland official Maps and the complicated text
found in the rolled Awards, it is not surprising to be put off from
examining these archives. There are a number for north-west Essex,
ranging over the period 1805-1871.3
The
questions which first spring to mind are: what was the 'before'
situation; and what effects did the Enclosures have? This research could
be carried out under a number of headings.
Unfortunately very little remains in Essex of any documentation of the
process leading to the final Award and Map, and is therefore obscured.
Even copies of the Acts are hard to come by.
In a recent book, Enclosure Records for Historians (2000), Dr
Steven Hollowell has examined what remains in a number of record
offices. From this he details the history and whole process of
Enclosures from inception to final completion and gives information on
the documentation emanating at each stage. Leaving aside the legal and
administrative documentation, surveyors and valuers very often the
same people compiled
the vital 'pre' information related to the existing land and ownerships.
This was then used as a basis for them to draw up the final allotments
after due process of consultation and agreement had been conducted by
the Commissioners.
Essex Record Office
In Essex the only remaining records of a 'before' situation are the
pre-Enclosure maps.3 Even the accompanying books and
schedules to these maps were never deposited at the ERO, so that the
effects can only be compared in graphic terms without a Perhaps
because they were rarely titled, signed or dated, a certain archival
muddle and obscurity have prevented the pre-Enclosure maps even being
associated with the official Enclosure documents and has contributed to
connections not being made for an area of serious research.
Size and fragility has added to the difficulty of access; and photostat
reductions of them were carried out at an earlier stage of technology.
Photostat copies of some originals do not exist. Muddle is also
compounded by the official documents not being entirely complete and
photostat copies of these also not available.
I have complied a tabulated list of references and availability in the
ERO, based on my own researches into the ERO catalogues, which is shown
at the end of this article.4
Enclosure Acts
The enabling Acts are a necessary part of the documentation. They set
out the reasons for the Enclosure, appoint Commissioners and give
instructions as to their powers, methods and scope in arriving at an
award and in carrying the Act into execution. Surveyors were to draw up
an accurate survey of the areas to be enclosed and the contents to be
verified on oath. 5
The
parish as existing Surveyors
would have had to record everything that existed that could be subject
to the forthcoming consultations and assessments. These would include
existing field boundaries and natural features, roads, trackways,
accesses, rights of way, watercourses, buildings etc. The names of open
fields, shotts and smaller fields would also be added. Although not
intended as such by the surveyors, they serve as a valuable map record
of that time. These would have been accompanied by field books recording
dimensions taken and site information notes.
Schedules of land acreage in terms of arp (acres, roods, perches) for
each field and strip, together with their respective owners would have
been compiled; and whether the holdings were by copyhold or free and
what rights were attached. These would have been keyed to the numbered
pieces of land shown on the map. Numbering also avoided the problem of
trying to enter personal names on small plots where the scale of the map
made this impossible. An
accompanying assessment carried out by either the surveyor with the
added skills or a separate valuer would assess the value, nature and
fertility of the land. These too could be drawn up in the form of
schedules.
Drawing up
the Award and official Map
At this next stage of consultation, the surveyor drew up a scheme of
allotments, which would be the outline proposals for the official Map
and Award. The pre-maps were already being used as working drawings for
the use in discussions in meetings and negotiations out in the field,
and were already suffering from continuous rolling/unrolling.
However, rather than producing a separate drawing for the outline
proposals, these Essex maps show the draft allotments added to the
parish-as existing map, and backed up by the future allottees' names in
red. All this did not add to the already complex record of strips,
owner's names, names of shotts etc.
Would it not have been necessary therefore to produce a separate draft
official map for consultation purposes?
Layers: the
example of the Chesterfords
The pre-Enclosure maps of north-west Essex, which set the standard of
surveyor information, began with those of the Chesterfords.6
The map shows several layers of this information.
Existing field patterns this layer depicts the legacy of medieval
open fields, shotts and strips and small crofts; together with the
aggregations evolved over the course of time resulting in smaller and
large fields breaking into this pattern. The shotts are demarked by
their names being written across the strips and given a roman numeral.
However the boundaries of the open fields and the delineation of the
shotts are not precisely defined and have to be interpreted. The shotts
are numerous and complicated, and there is evidence the surveyor
attempted to delineate them. Field names outside the open fields are
also named.
The existing ownerships are written on each piece of land including the
strips. And the strips for Great Chesterford are numbered, probably
keyed to a field book, which gave the arp. However these field books
have not survived. Many existing trackways are shown in colour also
serving to delineate the shotts. There is another layer, which may
represent triangulation and surveying lines. This can be seen in most
clearly in the area of Chesterford Common.
A third layer relates to the final official Map and Award. Red coloured
lines and personal names have been added which show the setting out in
draft form of the allotments on the final map. Not all of these
divisions appear on the official map. These are in many cases, straight
lines, which bear little resemblance to existing or natural features.
Another layer and the most perplexing
is a covering of the map in code letters. At first it may be
construed that these were the land values. The notebooks of Barnards/
Franklins/ Jennings valuers and auctioneers (ERO D/F 35) show these
firms' individual codes. However, on the maps the same code is used for
widely varying values. So what do they represent?
Comparisons with other parishes
The pre-Enclosure maps are drawn to a common scale so it is possible to
compare one parish with another.
Hadstock: much of the same features occur
on this pre-Enclosure map. In some instances the official documents are not in the ERO, making complete comparison impossible. All official documents should be used (Acts, Awards and Maps), as each contains different information. When the pre-Enclosure maps are compared with the official, the dramatic transformation can be seen: all the open fields, shotts and strips have disappeare Springboard
for serious research
Firstly these maps are a record of the field divisions before being
swept aside by the Enclosure. They contain field names, which would be
useful to the Essex Place Names Project.
They are a record of natural features of the parish of interest to local
historians. On some, farm and village buildings are shown in detail.
Small crofts and tenements are also shown which may have subsequently
disappeared. For those parishes not subject to the Tithe Commutation
Act, they are the only map record of the early 19th century before the 1st
edition of the Ordnance Survey.
They raise questions of farming practises and land use before and after
the Enclosure. They also contain ownership boundaries which can be
related to other historical documents. However in the absence of
accompanying documents, which would provide the missing details of the
personal names of the smaller pieces of land and the associated arp and
holding tenure, the record of land ownership is incomplete. Other
documents would have to be consulted to fill in these details.
In those parishes where Lord Braybrooke and the Earl of Bristol were
major landowners, their deposited estate records in the ERO do not
provide an easy route. And although the official maps clearly show these
Lords' final allotments, the pre-Enclosure maps show they possessed
fields and strips intermixed with and dispersed among other landowners:
a stage in the evolving pattern of acquisition and aggregation that was
rapidly accelerated by the enclosure.
Lastly these maps can be related to the progress of the 19th century
Enclosure legislation, to archive collections nationally and as a record
of the surveyor's 'art and mystery'. Notes
1.
I have used this term rather than draft Enclosure Maps used by W. E.
Tate in his book A Domesday of English Enclosure Acts and
Awards, Turner, M.E. (ed.) 1978 and similarly used by some
record offices. The maps referred to, show a pre-Enclosure situation and
in some cases the draft allotments for the final official maps have been
added or worked on them. A Draft Enclosure Map would be that which shows
a preliminary outline of the Official Enclosure only. ©
Laurie Barker & Saffron Walden Historical Society 2001
prov o =
provisional order under the General Act of 1845.
COPIES OF ACTS/ORDERS in
the ERO Lt Chesterford D/Dht E27; Littlebury D/P 9/28/1; Wendens Ambo & Arkesden D/DSs/E |
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SAFFRON WALDEN HISTORICAL JOURNAL |