The continued development of new farming techniques – in which the reorganisation and enclosure of cultivated land by farmers and landowners played an important part – transformed the landscape during this period. Piecemeal or gradual enclosure is marked by sinuous boundaries that follow the outlines of medieval strips, but this period also witnesses the planned or regular enclosure of land with straight boundaries.
Watermeadows (artificially irrigated grasslands), which are known to have existed in Worcestershire from the 16th century, reached their zenith in the 17th and 18th centuries.
During the first half of the 17th century the Royal Forests of Feckenham and Malvern Chase were ‘dissaforested’ and sold to wealthy landowners. Many parklands and deer parks, associated with country houses, also date from this period.
Forthcoming…
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