enclosure

In Britain, seizure of common land and change to private property, or the changing of open-field systems (farming in strips apportioned over two or three large fields) to enclosed fields owned by individual farmers. The enclosed fields were often used for sheep. This process began in the 14th century and became widespread in the 15th and 16th centuries. It caused poverty, homelessness, and rural depopulation, and resulted in revolts in 1549 and 1607. A further wave of enclosures occurred between about 1760 and 1820 during the agrarian revolution.