Enclosure and the reorganisation of farmland

c. 1780

The enclosure movements of the late eighteenth century reorganised the agricultural landscape around Locks Heath, consolidating the open fields and common land into enclosed farms with hedgerow boundaries. The heathland that gave Locks Heath its name was reduced by this process, though significant areas survived into the twentieth century. The enclosed farms that resulted from enclosure created the pattern of fields, lanes and smallholdings that would persist until the suburban development of the mid-twentieth century. The enclosures favoured larger, more efficient farming units, and the smaller tenants who had relied on common grazing were disadvantaged by the changes. The landscape that enclosure created was more ordered and productive than its medieval predecessor, but less diverse.