Local
historians, Charles Tebbutt and Rosa Young, have published extensive research
into St Neots’ history. What follows has largely been gleaned from their work.
In the mid-1700s
new ideas about farming were sweeping the country. There was a feeling that the
medieval farming practice of strip farming on open fields and leaving
one field fallow every year was uneconomic, inefficient and time consuming.
Some landowners
had begun exchanging strips in order to create blocks of land that could be
farmed more easily. In order to rearrange the strips into larger
fields, the existing Land Laws needed abolishing (cancelling). This
could only be achieved by an Act of Parliament, with each parish having
its own Act. 80% of the
landowners had to support it.
‘The Inclosure Act for St Neots’ was presented to parliament in 1770
by Sir Stephen Anderson, the Earl of
A survey of
all the fields was done in 1771 identifying who farmed each strip of
land and re-allocating the strips to the landowners and house-owners. People
who rented their houses were not entitled to a strip.
As it was one of
the early enclosures only the arable (crop) land that was enclosed. The survey
identified 300 acres of commons (e.g. Islands Common, Lammas Meadow) which
remained under the old open field system.
Everyone who owned
a house in St Neots had the right to graze their animals (horses and cows
mostly) on the Common and farm a strip for hay (cut grass). According to the Inclosure Award there were 154 Common
Rights held by 86 people. In 1848 they were selling at £38. As part
of the 1771 Enclosure map is torn it is thought that there were between 150 and
160 houses in St Neots at that time.
Sir Stephen
Anderson had bought the
Priory lands before 1757 from Francis Williams. As the Lord of the
Manor, he was awarded the most strips and had the first choice. He chose
the fields above Longsands. strips
of land adjacent to each other with the best, well drained soil. He also got 27 common rights which, in 1787
he gave to the Rowley family of Priory Hill in exchange for them
giving £30 a year to the vicar to deliver an afternoon lecture each Sunday.
Other people like
the Vicar of St Mary’s Parish church and other important landowners like
the Rix, Foster and Stevens and Ingersole families got the
next best choices of strips.
The ordinary
house-owner got the last choices, often the poorest, badly drained soil (liable
to flood) and furthest away from their property. Often they sold their plot to
a wealthier neighbour and gave up farming to find work in the town.
Once the fields
were given out, the new owner had to enclose their lands. put up a fence, wall or plant a hedge.
Those who did not
own a house –the majority of the people in St Neots - got nothing. They tended
to be agricultural and other labourers employed by local farmers, craftsmen and
traders. .
After the
enclosure the St Neots common rights (permission to graze animals) were selling
in 1874 at £45 per year.
Sir Stephen
Anderson sold his land in
St Neots in 1793 to Owsley Rowley who changed the fields to parklands, (Priory Park) landscaped it with trees and
built a large farmhouse. He had an ice-house built below ground at the top of
Priory Hill where layers of straw and blocks of winter ice collected from ponds
were stored, on top of which meat and fish were placed to keep them from going
off in the summer.
Eynesbury was
enclosed in 1795 and Eaton Socon in 1797.
These later enclosures included the commons and meadows. As a result the
commoners lost their rights to graze their horses and cattle on the
commons and cut hay.
Those homeless
people who squatted on the Common lands would have been evicted (forced
off). They would have to have tried to rent cheap accommodation in town.
(Sources: Young, R.
(1996), 'St Neots Past', Phillimore. P.77;
Tebbutt, C.F. (1978), St Neots – History of a
The Enclosure Act in the St Neots area
1. If there were six people to a house, what would the population have been in St Neots in 1770.
2.
When was land in the parishes of St Neots,
Eynesbury, Eaton Socon and Eaton Ford enclosed?
3.
Who were the main landowners in St Neots,
Eynesbury, Eaton Socon and Eaton Ford?
4.
Why did they want to enclose the open fields and
commons?
5.
What did landowners have to do once they got their
new fields?
6.
Why did some landowners buy other people’s fields?
7.
Who did not benefit from the enclosures?
8.
Why did some people think enclosure was a bad idea?