Cumberland and Westmoreland were later enclosed than Lancashire; and some few remnants of open arable field were dealt with by Acts. At Bolton, in Westmoreland, “certain open or common fields called Broad Ing Bartle and Star Ing” of 22 acres, at Soulby 90 acres of open field, and at Barton 130 acres, were enclosed by Acts mainly passed for the sake of enclosing waste; and at Kirkby, in Kendal, “a common open field” of 105 acres was enclosed. There were five Acts in Cumberland enclosing open fields; but only two say precisely how much. At Torpenton, 20 acres of field and 700 acres of waste was enclosed; at Greystoke, 240 acres of field and 3260 acres of waste.
But the enclosure of open-field arable was proceeding very steadily through the eighteenth century; and a clear account of the process is furnished us by two keen observers.
Eden gives an account of the condition of the arable land in seven Cumberland parishes, written either in December, 1794, or January, 1795.
“_Gilcrux._ About 400 acres of common field have been enclosed within the last fifty years” (“State of the Poor,” Vol. II., p. 76).
“_Hesket._ No more than 200 acres have been enclosed within the last fifty years. A large part appears to have had its hedges planted a little before that period” (_Ibid._, p. 81).
“_Ainstable._ Area 5,120 acres of which 3,480 are common.[106] About 400 acres have been enclosed in the common fields within the last fifty years.... The average rent of land is about 18_s._ per acre; but it is observable that here and in most parts of Cumberland, an extensive common right[107] is attached to most arable land” (p. 46).
[107] _I.e._, over the neighbouring common pasture.
“_Croglin._ The average rent of open fields is 9_s._ 6_d._ the acre, of inclosures, 15_s._ or 16_s._ About 100 acres of common-field land have been enclosed within the last fifty years; but a great part of the arable land still remains in narrow, crooked _dales_, or _ranes_, as they are called” (p. 67).
“_Castle Carrock._ The greatest part of this parish remains in _dales_, or _doles_ as they are called; which are strips of cultivated land belonging to different proprietors, separated from each other by ridges of grass land; about 100 acres may have been enclosed in the last fifty years” (p. 65).