The Enclosures

At the beginning of the 19th century Belton was described as a 'small scattered village, in a picturesque dell, opening to the vale of the Waveney.' Farming still involved strips and furlongs on the open fields as it had done so for hundreds of years. The population of the parish was about 350.

There were changes taking place however. New farming methods had been pioneered in East Anglia. There was also pressure to consolidate the old scattered strips into larger land holdings. This would make farming more efficient. These improvements involved fencing off the new land holdings, this was called enclosure. It would also be applied to common lands and waste grounds on which villagers grazed their few head of livestock.

An Act of Parliament was needed to allow enclosure in a particular place and commissioners were appointed to supervise the process. The results were good news for the big landowners, but bad news for the poor villagers who could loose their access to grazing land. In 1809 Parliament passed an 'Act for Inclosing lands in Bradwell, Belton, Fritton'. This was a private Act of Parliament, paid for by the local landowners who would benefit from it. Three commissioners were appointed, Henry Jermy of Sibton, Suffolk (Esquire), John Drugmore of Swaffham, Norfolk (Gentleman) and Cammant Money of Somerleyton, Suffolk (Gentleman). They took evidence from the interested parties and in 1814 presented their decisions in an Enclosure Award.

The open fields of Belton were divided up among the land owners, in proportion to the value of the land they owned. The common and waste lands were also divided up. The new fields were then fenced off or enclosed to mark their boundaries and stop livestock wandering on them.

786 acres were enclosed by the Act, in a parish of 2,000 acres. Nine acres of land was set aside for the poor of the parish. This is the Poorlands, situated on the east of the Beccles Road, south of the Browston crossways. It was rented out and the income used to buy coal for the poor in winter. This charity is still active and managed by the Parish Council. Land was also set aside to provide sand and gravel for repairing the roads within Belton. This was south of the Poorlands. Roads were diverted around the new land holdings where necessary and new roads created. The status of roads and footpaths within the parish was confirmed. The Award is still the main source of information when deciding rights of way issues.

Sluices were put on drains to improve land drainage. The upkeep of these was paid for by rates on the landowners who benefited. They were also required to appoint a drainage reeve to supervise maintenance.

The Award specified the type of fences to enclose the land and the depth and width of the ditches. Banks of earth were to be made from the earth taken from the ditches and planted with whitethorn hedges. While the hedges were growing hurdles were to be put on the banks. The cost of fencing was to be met by the respective landowners. The Award also settled boundary disputes between Belton and Burgh Castle and Fritton.

The cost of the enclosure to Belton was £2,896/8/6d (£2,896.43p), divided among those included in the Award. This was an enormous amount of money so only the better off landowners could be involved. The ordinary people of Belton had no say in what happened.

In 1814 the major landowners in Belton were Thomas Fowler, who had acquired John Ives' land through marrying the latter's widow; the Hon. George Irby, Magdalen College, Oxford; Thomas Morse and George Anguish, lord of Gapton Hall manor. The five year gap between the passing of the Act in 1809 and the Award in 1814 is due largely to a dispute over the New Road linking Belton to the main Great Yarmouth-Beccles Road.

At that time Belton was linked to the main road by Beccles Road which runs east from the Green. At the north end of Church Lane a road ran across country towards Bradwell Church. The Enclosure Award diverted Church Lane into its present shape and did away with the cross country route. Instead a new road was planned to link the north side of Belton with the main road. This New Road would cut across land in Bradwell owned by Thomas Morse, one of the wealthy local landowners. As a result he would loose part of his land and receive no compensation in return.

Morse objected to the New Road at two special meetings. presided over by county magistrates, to deal with such objections. However, he did not succeed in stopping it. The meetings were held in 1810 and the following year a surveyor arrived at the field in question to mark out the road. When Morse heard of this he got together some of his men and drove the surveyor off his land. Each time the surveyor and his men returned they were driven off again. This went on for a year.

Then in 1813 the two sides battled it out in court. Finally an independent adjudicator was appointed. There is no record of his findings but the road was built. The enclosure had a major effect in defining the shape of Belton. It would be another 150 years before anything so radical happened again.