16
enclosed from the open fields was rapidly
increasing for sheep farming to supply the wool
trade. The feudal open field system was
designed in large measure to supply fighting
men for the country's army. No regular rent
was paid by the customary tenants to the owners
of the land who were happy to enclose it
themselves or rent it for cash. The
government of the day was alarmed at the
possible drop in the amount of wheat produced
and rural unemployment, so brought in several
severe pieces of legislation to try to curb the
practice.
The higher part of this block of land is
Bagshot Sand which is a free draining, easily
worked, fertile soil. The rest is London
Clay. Fields H and J were formed to separate
the Bagshot Sand from the rest, taking great
care not to lose any, so giving two odd shaped
fields. Ditches would have been needed
because where the free draining Bagshot Sand
meets the impervious London Clay water comes to
the surface. The run off from the ditches
would have given the ditches forming the
eastern boundary to fields C D E and possibly
field B which was in a low area next to the
baulk.
The two fields on the Bagshot Sand would hope-
fully have satisfied the government officials
who were trying to implement the legislation to
keep people producing corn as opposed to sheep
farming for wool, which needed very little
1abour.
Field S puzzled me for a while until I spoke to
a friend of mine who keeps sheep. He told me