Arnold Inclosure Award.

Preamble.

We John Beighton of Haylewood in the County of Derby, Jonas Bettison of Holme Pierrepont in the County of Nottingham and John Renshaw of Owthorpe in the said County of Nottingham Gentlemen send greeting.

The Preamble, after the greeting from the three Commissioners, states that by an Act of Parliament passed in the Twenty ninth year of the Reign of his present Majesty King George the Third intitled " An Act for Dividing and Inclosing the Open fields Meadows forest Commons and Waste Lands within the parish of ARNOLD in the County of NOTTINGHAM " It was Recited that there were within the Parish of Arnold in the County of Nottingham certain open fields meadows forest commons and waste lands containing the whole two thousand five hundred acres or thereabouts And that the King's Most Excellent Majesty in Right of His Crown was entitled to Herbage Covert and Layer for his Deer and Beasts of forest or chase in his forest of Sherwood in the said County of Nottingham in so much and such part of the lands within the said Parish of Arnold as were not so within the Bounds and Limits of a certain Chase or District of the said forest of Sherwood called Thorney Woods otherwise Thorney Wood Chase And the Right Honourable Philip Earl of Chesterfield was Hereditary Ranger or Keeper of the said Chase or District called Thorney woods otherwise Thorney Wood Chase within his Majesty's said forest of Sherwood the Liberties of which said Chase or District extended over a certain part of the said Parish of Arnold And that the said Earl was entitled to Herbage Covert and Layer for his Deer and Beasts of forest or chase in so much of the said Parish of Arnold as lay within the said Chase or District And also that William Coape Sherbrooke John Need and Robert Padley Esquires Edward Jones John Sanders and others Gentlemen were Lords of the Manor of Arnold and as such were entitled to sole and exclusive Right of certain Lands called the Coppices for certain Terms of years to be inclosed which Coppices for other certain Terms of years lay open and enjoyed as Common as had been anciently accustomed and were also entitled to the Right of Kill in and over the said forest common or waste grounds or some part thereof and also that Henry Cavendish Esquire was Impropriator and was or claimed to be Owner of the Tithes of Corn Hay and Wool arising and renewing in and upon all the Tytheable Lands within the said Parish and also to certain Glebe Lands and Common Right And also that the Most Noble William Duke of Devonshire was Patron of the Vicarage of Arnold and the Reverend Wrenman Langton was Vicar and in Right of such Vicarage was entitled to certain Glebe Lands and Common Right within the said Parish and that the said William Coape Sherbrooke Thomas Wright Esquire the said John Need and Robert Padley William Davis Samuel Abbott Edward Jones John Deverill and others were Proprietors and owners of Messuages and Cottages having Right of Common during certain periods of the year in and upon the said open Lands and were also owners of certain and divers Lands within the said open fields and meadows And also that the Lands and Grounds belonging to the several Proprietors in the said Open fields and Meadows lay intermixed and dispersed and it would be advantageous to the several Proprietors of and persons interested in the said open fields meadows forest commons and waste lands to have the same divided and inclosed and allotted to them according to the several Rights and Interests It is by the said Act Enacted that the said John Beighton Jonas Bettison and John Renshaw and their successors to be elected in manner mentioned in the said Act should be and were thereby appointed Commissioners for setting and dividing and allotting the said open fields meadows forest commons and waste lands and for putting the said Act into Execution It is further recited that James Dowland the Surveyor was appointed by them to take a true and distinct Survey of the said fields meadows etc., which survey the said James Dowland hath likewise completed and reduced the same into Writing and the number of Acres Roods and Perches, in Statute Measurement contained in the said fields meadows etc., and it appears thereby that the Lands intended by the said Act to be inclosed contain Two thousand eight hundred and sixteen acres one rood and fourteen perches And that after the necessary Deductions for the Public and private Roads and the allotments for getting Materials for the Repairs to the same there remaineth to be divided and allotted unto and amongst the Proprietors interested therein the Quantity of Two thousand seven hundred and nine acres two roods and sixteen perches And that the Roads and the parts parcels and shares of Land allotted and the several Exchanges made of the Old Inclosure and other property in the said Parish may be the better and more clearly ascertained They had caused them to be Numbered and Delineated in a Map hereunto annexed.

The award continues: And first we do set out and appoint the following Public Roads and Highways in and upon and through the Lands intended to be divided and inclosed which we think requisite within the said Parish of Arnold viz:—

Mansfield Turnpike Road

60 feet wide

Rufford Road

50   "     "

Swinehouse Road

60  "     "

*Plains Road

60  "     "

Gedling Road

40  "     "

Calverton Road

40  "     "

Butts Road

40  "     "

Arnold Lodge Road

40  "     "

Oxton Road

50  "     "

Calverton Lime Road

40  "     "

Blidworth Road

40  "     "

*Note—Half only in Arnold.

 


Footways.

We do set out and appoint the following public footways in over and upon Lands and Grounds and directed by the said Act to be divided and inclosed which we think requisite viz :—

Over Abbotts Allotment at Burrows Stocking
To Oxton
" Woodborough
" Arnold Lodge Rd.
" Lambley Over a Wong in the Swinehouse Field
" Sleights Allotment on the Plains
To Nottingham
Over the top of Beck Meadow
To Bulwell over Maiden Dale
" Blidworth

General order respecting footways

And we do order and direct that in all places where any of the public footways aforesaid pass over and across a fence or ditch the owners or occupiers of the Allotments to which such fences or ditches respectively belong shall place proper and convenient foot Bridges and Stiles (the stiles not to exceed 3 feet in height) and at all times hereafter keep the same in sufficient repair.

Footways stopped and changed.

Great Closes footway stopped
Cherry Close                "
At the top Furlong St.
From Washpen Lane stopped
Hall Close footway stopped
In the Vicarage Homestead stopped
In Church Moor Close stopped and another changed

Private Roads and Ways.

Sandfield Road

30 feet wide.

North east end of South Swinehouse Field

24    „

From Gedling Road over old Inclosures ...

18    „      „

In North Swinehouse Field to old Inclosures

27    „      

Coppice Road

33    „      „

From Coppice Road to New Allotments ...

25        

Killisick Road

30    „      ,,

From Killisick Road to Old Allotment    ...

18    „      „

Maiden Dale Road

20    „      „

From Butts Road to an Ancient Lane

27    „     „

To Bestwood Park

20    „      „

From Mansfield Road to Old Inclosure    ...

24    „      „

Lambley Private Road...

36    „„

From Papplewick Forest to Bestwood Park

27         

From Lambley Private  Road to New Allotments

20    „      „

From Rufford Road to New Allotments ...

 

From Dorket Lane to Old Inclosures

 

From Rufford Road to New Allotment   ...

 

All which Private Roads and Ways aforementioned (the uses of which are not herein expressed and declared) we have set out and appointed for the use of the Owners or Occupiers of Land within the Parish of Arnold to whom such Roads are necessary and useful and who shall make use of the same And we do hereby order and direct that all such of the Private Roads and Ways (the Repairs of which are not hereinbefore specially directed) shall for ever hereafter be amended and kept in repair in the same manner as the Public Roads within the said Parish are by Law to be amended and kept in repair.

Ancient Drains and Water Courses.

In New Close adjoining and under Coppice Road 4 feet wide at top and 12 feet deep at the expense of the Owners and Occupiers of Land thereunto adjoining.

Allotments made to Surveyors of the HIGHWAYS for Materials for Roads.

 

 

 

a.

r.

p.

In Slate Cod Leys...

 

3

33

On Mansfield Turnpike Road

 

2

0

Do.               near Lambley Private Road

1

0

0

On Rufford Road ...

1

0

0

On Mansfield Road

1

0

0

do.

 

2

0

On Calverton Lime Road   ...

 

2

0

On Oxton Road    ...

 

2

0

 

5

3

33

Order as to Herbage. And we do order and direct that the herbage and produce thereof or of such part thereof as shall not at any future time be necessary to be broken for the uses aforesaid and the herbage and produce of the said Roads shall be let or sold by the Surveyors of the Highways as aforesaid to the best bidder for one year only at a Meeting to be held in the Vestry of the Parish Church of Arnold aforesaid to the bidder in Easter week between the hours of one and two in the afternoon Annually for ever subject to such conditions as the then Surveyors shall think most proper excepting that the Roads shall not at any future time be Grazed with cattle of any sort And the money arising therefrom shall be applied and accounted for by such Surveyors in the same manner as other money coming into their hands by virtue of the said office.

General Order respecting Fences.

We do order and direct that all persons to whom Allotments are made by this Award from and upon the Lands intended by the said Act to be inclosed shall on parts and sides thereof as are hereinbefore directed fence the same in a good and sufficient manner and where quicksets shall be set at least four feet from and within the outside of the respective Allotments and be sufficiently guarded by posts and rails or other proper and sufficient fence.

Deer fences 6 feet high with Dykes 5 feet wide and 4 feet deep.

Allotments of Lands were made to

 

 

 

 

a.

r.

p.

Vicar of Arnold

50

0

10

Henry Cavendish for Glebe lands and Common rights   

69

1

3

do.  Tythes

775

0

2

do. Small Tythes

31

0

10

His Majesty in Right of His Crown

23

3

37

Earl of Chesterfield (Keeper of the Forest)

32

3

7

Abbott Samuel

34

0

22

Alliston, Rev. J. T.

8

2

12

Arnold Poor

1

1

19

Arnold, Constable of

1

3

35

Buck, Thomas

 

3

3

Bullivant, Isaac

6

1

0

Cliff, Acton

1

2

28

Cliff, James

 

 

6

Cumberland, Edward

19

0

9

Child, Wm.

1

2

32

Coape, Sherbrooke Wm.

490

3

13

Daws, Wm.

21

0

12

Derneley, Thos.

13

2

21

Deverill, John

182

0

35

Deverill, Samuel

27

3

17

Edge, Thos. Webb

7

2

35

Frost, John

8

0

18

Green, Edwd.

54

3

21

Harrison, James

30

3

39

Hearson, John

1

0

28

Hipwell, John

0

0

18

Hutchinson, Eliz

5

2

21

Jallands, Thos.

5

0

8

Jones, Edward

90

1

1

Key, Catharine

0

2

19

Lealand, Samuel

16

3

26

Lealand, Ann

8

0

14

Lomas, Samuel

54

1

26

Machon, Thos.

6

0

16

Marlow, Thos.

0

3

16

Matthews, Robt.

5

3

26

Mexborough, Earl of

42

1

13

Moore, Henry

5

3

28

Morley, Benjamin

0

3

36

Morris, Wm.

8

2

34

Need, John

201

1

1

Newham, Wm.

14

3

7

Padley, Robt. (of Stoke)

15

3

37

Padley, Robert

141

1

13

Parsons, John

84

0

24

Smith, Eliz.

4

0

0

Redgate, Sarah

9

0

6

Richards, Samuel

2

0

1 2

Saunders, John

16

2

15

Simpson, Samuel

10

3

17

Sleight, Sarah

1

1

13

Smith, Thos.

12

2

11

Stirtevant, John

8

2

12

Stirtevant, Jonathan

4

1

4

Story, J. L., and Frisby, Thos.

17

1

13

Summers, Robt.

4

2

32

Taft, John

5

1

15

Taylor, Wm.

1

0

29

Thompson, Mary

9

1

36

Tomlinson, John

13

3

23

Wass, Chrisr.

3

0

26

Wightman, Bartholomew

10

2

13

Wilcocks, John

0

2

4

Williamson, Luke

0

2

13

Wright, Thos.

94

1

11

Wylde, Isaac

6

0

20

Benefits of the Inclosure Award.

The benefits to Arnold of the Inclosure of its common lands it may be desirable here to explain. The land forming one half of the Parish was growing little food for man or beast, although some portion was occupied with woods. What are called natural grasses produced only a small crop. Much was occupied with gorse, ling, brushwood, with bare patches; that land was never manured, the result being a very limited crop. The sheep and cattle grazing in it did not feed nearly as well as if they had been fed in our ordinary fields. Of course none of the land was ploughed or cultivated. If we turn to the old arable land cultivated in strips, it could not be made the best of. Cross-cutting in ploughing is considered of great advantage to the land, but this could not be done when each man cultivated his own strip in his own way, and with a crop different to his neighbours. Some strips would be well cleaned, and others would be neglected, so spreading weeds, and it is probably safe to say that the corn crops obtained were not much more than half the produce now obtained on a fairly well managed farm, for among other matters the rotation of crops would be neglected, and the seasonal pasturing of sheep and cattle in the arable would be attended with great difficulty, for there were no hedges—or to be correct very few, and very poor ones. We therefore arrive at the fact that through the Inclosure there was produced more grass, and therefore more wool, mutton, and milk, and on the arable land more corn, turnips, potatoes, and other food.

Nearly 59 years passed away after the Arnold Inclosure Act was passed before Parliament awoke to a sense of its responsibilities in regard to making provision in Inclosure Acts for the good of the people who were not owners. It was not until 1837 that the House of Commons passed a resolution "that in all Inclosure Bills provision be made for leaving an open space sufficient for purposes of exercise and recreation of the neighbouring population." Our forefathers did not foresee the great growth of population, the compulsory education, the development of such sports as cricket and football, the need for gardens and recreation; they saw only their present requirements, and our present requirements are all that we now see, and it is not at all unlikely that our descendants will censure us for not foreseeing some developments that the future may have in store for them.

There must have been an Inclosure fever about the time when the Arnold Act was passed in 1791. Calverton led the way in 1779, Basford followed in 1792, Gedling and Lambley in 1796, Woodborough in 1798. The Plains Road and the road from Arnold to Gedling were then laid out, for the plains were then wood and waste from Nottingham to Woodborough, and the way to Mapperley and the plains from Nottingham was by Red Lane, now Redcliffe Road, the road being inaccessible in winter.

It is worthy of note that whereas the whole of Sherwood Forest belonged in the olden time to the King, the Royal rights had been so neglected and the encroachments by adjoining owners had grown so much that when the Arnold Inclosure Act was passed the Royal rights in the wastes of Arnold consisted in the right to keep deer without stint, with the usual privileges of range and harrut,1 herbage, covert, and layer for the deer, and a right of chase, but no deer had been kept for many years, and the Crown rights were estimated at one fortieth part of the value of the land inclosed, and for this right 23a. 3r. and 7p. were allotted to the King. This land was, on 20th June, 1801, sold to Robert Padley for £458 8s. 6d., or about £19 per acre. This information has been supplied by the Woods and Forests office.

It will also be noted that 32a. 3r. and 7p. was allotted to the Earl of Chesterfield as keeper of the Forest. The Ministers of the Crown were not in the olden time, as now, paid by salary, but were remunerated by Royal grants. In the 42nd year of her reign Queen Elizabeth appointed Sir John Stanhope, and his heirs for ever, Ranger or Keeper of Thorneywood Chase, which was a part of the Forest of Sherwood, and this chase was formerly well wooded and stocked with fallow deer. In Arnold (besides about 1,500 acres inclosed in 1790, not being within the said chase) there were 750 acres within the chase, being on the Plains, and the Earl of Chesterfield, as Ranger and heir of Sir John Stanhope, received a twentieth part in value, as compensation for his Forest rights.

The very large quantity of land allotted to Henry Cavendish, for his right to the tenth part of the values of corn, hay, wool, grown in the parish, and for common rights, and small tithes, etc., is commented on elsewhere, but it may here be named that he did not long retain the land allotted, but sold it to Thomas Holdsworth, of Manchester, who was for some years M.P. for North Notts.

1. The word 'harrut' is not found either in the New Oxford Dictionary or in Funk and Wagnall's Standard Dictionary. The Oxford Dictionary has 'harro,' described as an obsolete word, and illustrated by two quotations from old writers, from which it would appear that the word is used of rousing or chasing deer.