Enclosures

• Enclosures - meant that agricultural land which was once common (available to any farmer) was now exclusively owned
• Enclosures meant that many poor farmers lost their land and livelihood and were forced to move elsewhere
• The state was anxious to prevent enclosures - Cromwell passed an act on 1534 designed to limit how many sheep an individual could own but it was very difficult to stop enclosure
• Rebels believed that enclosure was a denial of common rights.
• Advantages of enclosure - increase in production ( new techniques) and greater profitability.