Agricultural History Review, Volume 36 Part 1 (1988), pp. 39–54

It is commonly accepted that there was a slackening of the enclosure movement, if not outright reconversion to arable, in England in the latter half of the sixteenth century. This is usually ascribed to lower wool prices making sheep-grazing less attractive. There are difficulties with this perspective linking prices and enclosure activity directly. The example of Northamptonshire,  a county in the forefront of enclosure, suggests that there was no trend away from sheep-farming. Two surveys of sheep numbers on enclosed pasture, conducted in 1547 and 1564, indicate that sheep-grazing spread throughout the county, and that grazing was concentrated on deserted village sites. While there was some reduction in the size of large flocks, this was more than balanced by the proliferation of smaller flocks - overall sheep numbers increased in this pcriod. By the end of the century, sheep flocks were grazing on enclosed pasture in half of the parishes in Northamptonshire. 

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