Note 137 — Chapter V · THE VILLAGE AFTER ENCLOSURE
Reading edition
At St. Neots a gentleman complained to Arthur Young in 1791 that in the enclosure which took place sixteen years before, ‘the poor were ill-treated by having about half a rood given them in lieu of a cow keep, the inclosure of which land costing more than they could afford, they sold the lots at £5, the money was drank out at the ale-house, and the men, spoiled by the habit, came, with their families to the parish.’—Annals of Agriculture, vol. xvi. p. 482.