8
THE ESSEX NATURALIST.
south. It seems probable that further research would indicate
other "sub-Roman" areas in eastern England. Within these
"sub-Roman" areas it would appear that, although under
Saxon rule in later times, the typical farmstead, associated with
Celtic, run-rig and Roman centuriation, would remain.
In Essex it therefore seems that, by the close of Saxon
times, the south of the County was occupied by the unit farm-
stead holdings. The extreme north-west and south-west had
seen the inauguration of the Saxon two or three open field
system (Gray), whilst it is probable that the East Saxons had
introduced the same type of holdings in the north-east and east.
It is in these latter areas that unenclosed arable land is found at
the close of the eighteenth century. Gray also noticed a field
system akin to the two and three open field type within the
north-western forested area, which, he suggested, was the result
of assarting within the Forest. Since this was, in all prob-
ability, performed by the Saxons it is not surprising to find their
field types there, but, being small individual holdings gained
from the Forest, they had much in common with those of the
Celtic area. The centre of Essex we may regard as having
several systems but there was doubtless a tendency here, and
in the assarted area, for unit farmsteads to obtain. This four-
fold division of the County in respect of its field system throws
some light on the progress of enclosures.
It is apparent that the southern and central areas would
have been easy to enclose, since the arable areas were in unit
holdings and not in scattered "acres." The areas to the east
and west had the "Champion," or two and three open field
system, intrinsically less amenable to enclosure. It is in these
flanking areas that we find the "Champion" system prevailing
until comparatively late times. Therefore, if writers such as
Tusser and Fitzherbert are to be believed, their words must,
in the main, apply to the remaining parts of the County—the
centre and south.
The enclosures within the County probably began in the
thirteenth century, and it may be recalled that in 1235 the
Statute of Merton allowed lords to enclose their commons.
A distinction, however, must be made between the enclosure
of cultivated land for either arable or pastoral farming, and the
enclosure of wastes and commons usually for rough pasture