allow the land which was
under grass to remain practically waste, because they could not afford
to enclose it and stock it with sheep; not only did they neglect
manuring and marling the land because these improvements were beyond
their means, so that the land was constantly growing poorer in their
hands, and so that they could pay very little rent; but they were also
tenacious of their rights of common over the rest of the land, and
resisted all attempts at enclosure of the holdings of the more
prosperous tenants, because they had to depend for their living
largely upon the "little brede of neate, shepe, swine, gese and hens"
which were maintained partly by the gleanings from other men's land
when it lay common.

They undoubtedly suffered when the lord himself or one of the large
leaseholders insisted on enclosing some of the land. If the commonable
area was reduced, or if the land enclosed was converted from arable to
pasture (as it usually was), the means by which they made their living
was diminished. The occasional day's wages for labor spent on the land
converted was now withdrawn, and the pasturage for the little flock
was cut down. The practical effect of even the most innocent-looking
enclosures, then, must have been to deprive the poorer families of the
means of livelihood, even though they were not evicted from their
worthless holdings. Enclosures and depopulation were inseparably
linked in the minds of contemporaries, even when the greatest care was
taken by the enclosing authorities to safeguard the rights of the
tenants.

These rights, however, seriously interfered with the most advantageous
use of land, and often were disregarded. Not only did the small
holders have rights of common over the rest of the land, but their own
strips were intermingled with those of the lord and the large holders.
The typical problem confronting the enclosing landlord is shown below:

HOLDINGS IN OPEN FIELD, WEST LEXHAM, NORFOLK, 1575[126]

_Strips in Furlong A_ _Strips in Furlong B_
1. Will Yelverton, freeholder. 1. Robert Clemente, freeholder.
2. Demesne. 2. Demesne.
3. Demesne. 3. Demesne.
4. Will Yelverton. 4. Demesne.
5. Demesne. 5. Demesne.
6. Demesne. 6. Demesne.
7. Demesne. 7. Demesne.
8. Demesne. 8. Demesne.