Question

What makes the period after the 1780s different from any earlier period in English history ?Explain with examples

Answer 1

Earlier, the countryside of England was open, that means, it was not enclosed or partitionedIt was not privately owned by landlordsPeasants had the freedom of cultivating the lands around the village they lived inAt the beginning of each year, a public gathering was arranged and each villager was allocated a fixed number of land to cultivateThese strips of land were located in different places and quality of soil in these lands were differentThe main objective of this allocation was that each villager get mixed harvestIn these lands, they pastured cows, grazed sheep, collected firewood,  berries, etcAfter this period, the system of open land transformed into enclosure systemIn this system, common lands were enclosed by landlords and prevented the villagers from entering these enclosed landsBetween 1750 and 1850 over 6 million acres of land were enclosed