A brief and in-progress overview of ‘the commons’ of Routes and Places.
Common Ground
Routes and P(l)aces considers the paths and property lines that outline the commons as informative to our relationship to what is and is not accessible as ‘a life’.
The term ‘common(s)’ originated in early English societies to refer to uncultivated ‘waste’ land accessible to the general public for food cultivation and fuel. Over time, the term has been adopted across disciplines and industries to reference various forms of shared resources, from air and water to knowledge and skills. The term ‘common(s)’ raises questions about how the institutionalisation of ‘common’ rights and access informs how we actualise and organise ourselves individually and communally. How has ‘the commons’ inform our imaginations and understandings of what is right, natural, and acceptable when it comes to our private and public lives?
History
A quick, notes-in-progress genealogy of English commons and enclosure
Part I: 1066-1450
1066-1086: William I arrives and offers his service men a parcel of his newly secured territory. The Domesday Book is survey that identifies who is where, what they manage, and any other tidbits that might be taxable now or in the future => 1215 Magna Carta identifies how the monarch (and their delegates) will manage the land
The Statute of Merton of 1235 established a legal basis for enclosure => In 1348, the plague caused a labour shortage => 1349 led to Edward III’s ordinance of Labourers => In 1381, peasants revolted => economic pressure => livestock instead of fruit and veg => grazing meant keeping pastures enclosed => land workers become land owners.
Part II: ~1450-1640 the expansion
~1450+ communal arrangements for land management replaced by hedgerows and fences; sheep replace fieldwork farmers; removal of outliers from subdivided parcels, understanding of common rights shifts.
~1550+ now there is a right to exclude to increase productivity and profit: owners + monasteries (dissolved by Henry VIII) + newcomers (lawyers, merchants, or courtiers w/o connection to the countryside (new asset … rural capitalists).
Part III: 1750-1930s Colonialism and Industry
1750-1850 – Land stewardship and custodianship mix with rationalism and new relationships to king, god, and country. Property lines define links between countryside and urban centres, the modern map of England and its public transportation links emerge (this is why the rural roads are straight). English pastoral dominates public consciousness, a green and pleasant country emerges. Access and outdoor recreation mix with custodianship and common rights. The relationship between land for profit and land that is for beauty and recreation are experienced differently.
Part IV: Right to Roam, ‘National Trust’, ‘Who Owns England’
More to come …
Resources
De Moor, Tine. “From common pastures to global commons: a historical perspective on interdisciplinary approaches to commons.” Natures Sciences Societes 19, no. 4 (2011): 422–31.
Harris, Charlie. “Enclosing the English Commons: Property, Productivity and the Making of Modern Capitalism.” Edited by Christopher McKenna. University of Oxford, November 2022.
Jeffrey, Alex, Colin McFarlane, and Alex Vasudevan. “Rethinking Enclosure: Space, Subjectivity and the Commons.” Antipode 44, no. 4 (September 2012): 1247–67.
Rosenman, Ellen. “On Enclosure Acts and the Commons.” BRANCH: Britain, Representation, and Nineteenth-Century History, 2023.
Shoard, Marion. A Right to Roam. London: Oxford University Press, 1999.
Williamson, Tom. “Understanding Enclosure.” Landscapes 1, no. 1 (April 1, 2000): 56–79.
Winchester, Angus J. L. Common Land in Britain: A History from the Middle Ages to the Present Day. Boydell & Brewer, 2022.
