Acocks Green History Society
Enclosure Award Maps of Yardley 1847
These maps do not show fields in private ownership, but commons, lanes, houses, settlements, and roads. The fields to be enclosed are named, but these names have not been listed opposite the maps on this page. The names are listed in the Tithe Apportionment: the names below are to assist in identifying which map may be of interest.
The Enclosure process in Yardley was described by John Morris Jones in his booklet Swanshurst Quarter:
"At a meeting in 1832 at the Bulls Head the principal landowners of the parish decided to seek enclosure of the remaining open fields (200 acres in Church End and Greet Quarters) and commons (650 acres, mostly in (Swanshurst) Quarter...). Piecemeal enclosure at the edges had reduced all these. A Bill was passed in 1833, and the land was eventually shared among the promoters and those few others who had documentary proof of their rights to common: the land was sold to the promoters of the bill, who then paid the money back to themselves, thus recouping the cost of the parliamentary process".
The map were scanned with permission, from photographic copies of the original belonging to Birmingham Libraries. The images below may be used for private study, but they may not be distributed, put on other websites, or used for any kind of commercial gain without the written permission of the owners.
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