Gilbert Slater’s study examines one of the most consequential transformations in English rural history: the enclosure of the common fields and its effect on the peasantry. Slater traces how the open-field system gave way to enclosed private holdings, and analyzes the social and economic upheaval this caused for ordinary country people.
Combining economic analysis with historical narrative, the book documents the loss of common rights, the displacement of small farmers, and the wider consequences for English agriculture and society. Slater writes as a serious economic historian, marshaling evidence to illuminate a complex and contested process. For readers interested in agrarian history, land reform, and the social roots of modern Britain, the work remains a substantial and informative study.