Note 44 — Chapter X · ENCLOSURE AND DEPOPULATION.

This is in harmony with all other eighteenth century information with regard to the Midland Counties. As one example we may cite the Vale of Belvoir, the north-eastern corner of Leicestershire. Here, in consequence of enclosure, “all the richest land in the vale, formerly under tillage, was laid down in grass, but the skirtings of the Vale, formerly sheep-walk, were brought into tillage.” The landlord, the Duke of Rutland, forbade any land worth more than a guinea per acre to be tilled. The enclosure of the twelve parishes in the Vale took place between 1766 and 1792. (William Pitt, “Agriculture of Leicestershire,” 1809.)