Question

Mention any three ways in which the peasants lost their rights after enclosure movement

Answer 1

•Earlier,Peasants cultivated open fields which were strips of land near their villages.
•As Land came to be partitioned into enclosures or owned by private landlords, the rich landowners controlled the land.
•The poor no longer had access to the commons. They were displaced from their lands and found their customary rights disappearing.
•They had to migrate to different places in search of work and the jobs they found were not secure.
•The wages received by agricultural labourers came down as landowners tried to increase profits.

Answer 2

The introduction of the Enclosure system led to common land to become the property of the rich landlords. The three main ways through which the farmers lost their rights after the enclosure movement are the following:

1. Before the introduction of enclosure movement, the countryside of Britain was open for the peasants, they could easily use the fields. But following the enclosure movement, peasants could not work independently on these farms as these lands went under the authority of the rich landlords.

2. After the arrival of new fences, the peasants could not collect forest products such as woods, berries etc. Nor could they practice hunting, and graze their cattle on the common fields.

3. At places where enclosure took place on a large scale, farmers were displaced from their homes.