Agricultural History Review, Volume 70 Part 1 (2022), p. 140

Anyone who has wrestled with a tightly rolled collection of parchment sheets forming an enclosure award, along with its unruly map counterpart, will appreciate what David Frith has done in preparing this book, for here is an enclosure award and its associated map tamed! The parish of Hornsey is some six miles to the north of the centre of the city of London and includes what were in 1813 the villages of Highgate, Muswell Hill and Crouch End, as well as Hornsey itself. The parish extended to just over 3000 acres and was rural in character, producing hay for the city’s horses: at this time, some eight per cent of the area remained to be enclosed. Having introduced the parish, the purpose of the Enclosure Act is presented, section by section in Chapter 2, followed by an examination of the map. Whilst only a small part of the parish remained to be enclosed, it appears as though a full survey was undertaken, considered by David Frith to be in anticipation of the tithe commutation to come.

Chapter 4 presents the detail of the award and examines the roads and footpaths prescribed therein, before considering the division of the common and waste land: starting with the ecclesiastical recipients specifically named in the act, Frith then looks at the allocation of the remainder, noting that land tax values were used to determine proportional allocations not just of land, but of the weight attached to objections and the division of any surplus or deficit in expenditure. A table of the plots sold to defray expenses is given, whilst an appendix contains the allocation of land sorted by recipient surname and then by plot number.

In the next chapter, the landowners are presented: although one-half of the associated property index is missing, a fair attempt has been made at filling the gaps. The commons of Hornsey, Highgate and Muswell Hill are reviewed in separate chapters, before the costs of implementation are examined. In conclusion, David Frith notes that the high costs of administering the Act were due to the full survey undertaken: however, the objectives of the Act had been met in that ‘improvement’ by enclosure of the remaining parish land was achieved. This reviewer has found only two typographical errors in the whole book, thereby confirming the high quality of production. In this book, Frith has provided a model for the presentation of other enclosure acts across the country.