10
THE ESSEX NATURALIST.
area, and to ascertain whether or not the enclosures took place
for arable for pastoral purposes.
In the absence of reasonably detailed, recorded information
on this matter, certain conclusions may be drawn from the
size of the holdings within the region. In 1274 we have a
subsidy levied on Essex in which the taxpayers, making return,
are given for each hundred. Naturally this did not include
every landowner within the County, but some idea of the
relative sizes of the holdings within the hundreds may be ob-
tained by a process of simple division. At the same time it
must be borne in mind that some of the western and northern
holdings would be enlarged by presence of forested areas.
Since the Essex wool was not held in high estimation, whilst
the fertile land to the west and north increased the value of
the holdings within this tract, the smaller size and the higher
value of the holdings found on the Boulder Clay appear to
indicate cultivated land to have been the main consideration
in that district. A certain number of sheep would be a natural
adjunct to arable farming, but the entire conversion of land
to pastoral farming would result in a decline in the density
of the population that would be reflected in the increased
average size of the holdings of the district.
The small holdings stretch throughout the north of the
County to the coast. The slightly larger size of the holdings
found within the Tendring district probably resulted from the
woodland of that area. In the south-east appear large holdings
on land which was known to be largely cleared and low in value
(cf. subsidies of 1238 and 1412). It was in this district that many
of the known larger enclosures had occurred by 1400.
It is therefore apparent that, whilst definite localisation
had not yet obtained in the thirteenth century, it is probable,
though not certain, that the poorer land to the south-east
had been adapted to pastoral farming and that enclosures for
that purpose were made within the areas where the field systems
were suitable. Some such tendency is apparent in the case of
the manor of Peete (1202) in which the sheep, and to a lesser
extent the cattle, were increasing, whilst the plough beasts
showed a decrease since 1086.
At this time it is possible to discern, from the small number
of tax-payers, the shift of the population from the earlier in-