British Agricultural Revolution

The British Agricultural Revolution was the unprece- land fallow.[7]

dented increase in agricultural production in Britain due
to increases in labour and land productivity between the • The Dutch improved the Chinese plough so that it
mid-17th and late 19th centuries. Agricultural output could be pulled with fewer oxen or horses.
grew faster than the population over the century to 1770, • Enclosure: the removal of common rights to estab-
and thereafter productivity remained among the high- lish exclusive ownership of land
est in the world. This increase in the food supply con-
tributed to the rapid growth of population in England • Development of a national market free of tariffs,
and Wales, from 5.5 million in 1700 to over 9 million by tolls and customs barriers
1801 though domestic production gave way increasingly
• Transportation infrastructures, such as improved
to food imports in the nineteenth century as population
more than tripled to over 32 million.[1] The rise in produc- roads, canals, and later, railways
tivity accelerated the decline of the agricultural share of • Land conversion, land drains and reclamation
the labour force, adding to the urban workforce on which
industrialization depended: the Agricultural Revolution • Increase in farm size
has therefore been cited as a cause of the Industrial Rev-
• Selective breeding
olution.[2]
However, historians continue to dispute when exactly
such a “revolution” took place and of what it consisted. 1.1 Crop rotation
Rather than a single event, G.E. Mingay states that there
were a “profusion of agricultural revolutions, one for two One of the most important innovations of the British
centuries before 1750, another emphasising the century Agricultural Revolution was the development of the Nor-
after 1650, a third for the period 1750-1880, and a fourth folk four-course rotation, which greatly increased crop
for the middle decades of the nineteenth century”.[3] This and livestock yields by improving soil fertility and reduc-
has led more recent historians to argue that any general ing fallow.[6]
statements about “the Agricultural Revolution” are diffi- Crop rotation is the practice of growing a series of dis-
cult to sustain.[4][5] similar types of crops in the same area in sequential sea-
One important change in farming methods was the move sons to help restore plant nutrients and mitigate the build-
in crop rotation to turnips and clover in place of fallow. up of pathogens and pests that often occurs when one
Turnips can be grown in winter and are deep rooted, al- plant species is continuously cropped. Rotation can also
lowing them to gather minerals unavailable to shallow improve soil structure and fertility by alternating deep-
rooted crops. Clover fixes nitrogen from the atmosphere rooted and shallow-rooted plants. Turnip roots, for ex-
into a form of fertiliser. This permitted the intensive ample, can recover nutrients from deep under the soil.
arable cultivation of light soils on enclosed farms and The Norfolk System, as it is now known, rotates crops so
provided fodder to support increased livestock numbers that different crops are planted with the result that differ-
whose manure added further to soil fertility. ent kinds and quantities of nutrients are taken from the
soil as the plants grow. An important feature of the Nor-
folk four-field system was that it used labor at times when
demand was not at peak levels.[9]
1 Major developments and innova-
Planting cover crops such as turnips and clover was not
tions permitted under the common field system because they
interfered with access to the fields. Besides, other peo-
The British Agricultural Revolution was the result of ple’s livestock could graze the turnips.[10]
the complex interaction of social, economic and farm- During the Middle Ages, the open field system had ini-
ing technology changes. Major developments and inno- tially used a two-field crop rotation system where one field
vations include:[6] was left fallow or turned into pasture for a time to try to
recover some of its plant nutrients. Later they employed
• Norfolk four-course crop rotation: Fodder crops, a three-year, three field crop rotation routine, with a dif-
particularly turnips and clover, replaced leaving the ferent crop in each of two fields, e.g. oats, rye, wheat, and

1
2 1 MAJOR DEVELOPMENTS AND INNOVATIONS

barley with the second field growing a legume like peas averaging 30 bushels per acre (2,080 kg/ha) by the 1890s.
or beans, and the third field fallow. Normally from 10–
30% of the arable land in a three crop rotation system is
fallow. Each field was rotated into a different crop nearly 1.2 The Dutch and Rotherham swing
every year. Over the following two centuries, the regular (wheel-less) plough
planting of legumes such as peas and beans in the fields
that were previously fallow slowly restored the fertility of The Dutch acquired the iron tipped, curved mouldboard,
some croplands. The planting of legumes helped to in- adjustable depth plough from the Chinese in the early
crease plant growth in the empty field due to the bacteria 17th century. It had the advantage of being able to be
on legume roots’ ability to fix nitrogen (N2 ) from the air pulled by one or two oxen compared to the six or eight
into the soil in a form that plants could use. Other crops needed by the heavy wheeled northern European plough.
that were occasionally grown were flax and members of The Dutch plough was brought to Britain by Dutch con-
the mustard family. tractors who were hired to drain East Anglian fens and
Convertible husbandry was the alternation of a field be- Somerset moors. The plough was extremely success-
tween pasture and grain. Because nitrogen builds up ful on wet, boggy soil, but soon was used on ordinary
[14][15]
slowly over time in pasture, ploughing up pasture and land.
planting grains resulted in high yields for a few years. A British improvements included Joseph Foljambe’s cast
big disadvantage of convertible husbandry was the hard iron plough (patented 1730), which combined an earlier
work in breaking up pastures and difficulty in establish- Dutch design with a number of innovations. Its fittings
ing them. The significance of convertible husbandry is and coulter were made of iron and the mouldboard and
that it introduced pasture into the rotation.[11] share were covered with an iron plate, making it eas-
The farmers in Flanders (in parts of France and current ier to pull and more controllable than previous ploughs.
day Belgium) discovered a still more effective four-field By the 1760s Foljambe was making large numbers of
crop rotation system, using turnips and clover (a legume) these ploughs in a factory outside of Rotherham, Eng-
as forage crops to replace the three-year crop rotation fal- land, using standard patterns with interchangeable parts.
low year. The plough was easy for a blacksmith to make, but by
the end of the 18th century it was being made in rural
The four-field rotation system allowed farmers to restore foundries.[15][16][17] By 1770 it was the cheapest and best
soil fertility and restore some of the plant nutrients re- plough available. It spread to Scotland, America, and
moved with the crops. Turnips first show up in the pro- France.[15]
bate records in England as early as 1638 but were not
widely used till about 1750. Fallow land was about 20%
of the arable area in England in 1700 before turnips and
1.3 Enclosure
clover were extensively grown. Guano and nitrates from
South America were introduced in the mid-19th century
See also: Enclosure, Common land, and Tragedy of the
and fallow steadily declined to reach only about 4% in
[12] commons
1900. Ideally, wheat, barley, turnips and clover would
In Europe, agriculture was feudal since the Middle Ages.
be planted in that order in each field in successive years.
In the traditional open field system, many subsistence
The turnips helped keep the weeds down and were an
farmers cropped strips of land in large fields held in com-
excellent forage crop—ruminant animals could eat their
mon and divided the produce. They typically worked un-
tops and roots through a large part of the summer and
der the auspices of the aristocracy or the Catholic Church,
winters. There was no need to let the soil lie fallow as
who owned much of the land.
clover would re-add nitrates (nitrogen-containing salts)
back to the soil. The clover made excellent pasture and As early as the 12th century, some fields in England tilled
hay fields as well as green manure when it was ploughed under the open field system were enclosed into individ-
under after one or two years. The addition of clover and ually owned fields. The Black Death from 1348 on-
turnips allowed more animals to be kept through the win- ward accelerated the break-up of the feudal system in
[18]
ter, which in turn produced more milk, cheese, meat and England. Many farms were bought by yeomen who
manure, which maintained soil fertility. enclosed their property and improved their use of the
land. More secure control of the land allowed the own-
The mix of crops also changed: the area under wheat rose
ers to make innovations that improved their yields. Other
by 1870 to 3.5 million acres (1.4m ha), barley to 2.25m
husbandmen rented property they "share cropped" with
acres (0.9m ha) and oats less dramatically to 2.75m acres
the land owners. Many of these enclosures were accom-
(1.1m ha), while rye dwindled to 60,000 acres (25,000
plished by acts of Parliament in the 16th and 17th cen-
ha), less than a tenth of its late medieval peak. Grain
turies.
yields benefited from new and better seed alongside im-
proved rotation and fertility: wheat yields increased by a The process of enclosing property accelerated in the 15th
quarter in the 18th century[13] and nearly half in the 19th, and 16th centuries. The more productive enclosed farms
meant that fewer farmers were needed to work the same
1.5 Transportation infrastructures 3

which could support a town of 10,000.[19]

The next stage of development was trading between
markets, requiring merchants, credit and forward sales,
knowledge of markets and pricing and of supply and de-
mand in different markets. Eventually the market evolved
into a national one driven by London and other growing
cities. By 1700, there was a national market for wheat.
Legislation regulating middlemen required registration,
addressed weights and measures, fixing of prices and col-
lection of tolls by the government. Market regulations
were eased in 1663, when people were allowed some self-
regulation to hold inventory, but it was forbidden to with-
hold commodities from the market in an effort to increase
prices. In the late 18th century, the idea of “self regula-
tion” was gaining acceptance.[20]
The lack of internal tariffs, customs barriers and feu-
dal tolls made Britain “the largest coherent market in
Europe”.[21]

1.5 Transportation infrastructures

High wagon transportation costs made it uneconomical

to ship commodities very far outside the market radius
by road, generally limiting shipment to less than 20 or 30
miles to market or to a navigable waterway. Water trans-
Conjectural map of a mediaeval English manor. The part al- port was, and in some cases still is, much more efficient
located to “common pasture” is shown in the north-east section,
than land transport. In the early 19th century it cost as
shaded green.
much to transport a ton of freight 32 miles by wagon over
an unimproved road as it did to ship it 3000 miles across
land, leaving many villagers without land and grazing the Atlantic.[22] A horse could pull at most one ton of
rights. Many of them moved to the cities in search of freight on a Macadam road, which was multi-layer stone
work in the emerging factories of the Industrial Revolu- covered and crowned, with side drainage. But a single
tion. Others settled in the English colonies. English Poor horse could pull a barge weighing over 30 tons.
Laws were enacted to help these newly poor. Commerce was aided by the expansion of roads and
Some practices of enclosure were denounced by the inland waterways. Road transport capacity grew from
[23][24]
Church, and legislation was drawn up against it; but the threefold to fourfold from 1500 to 1700.
large, enclosed fields were needed for the gains in agricul- Railroads would eventually reduce the cost of land trans-
tural productivity from the 16th to 18th centuries. This port by over 95%; however they did not become impor-
controversy led to a series of government acts, culminat- tant until after 1850.
ing in the General Enclosure Act of 1801 which sanc-
tioned large-scale land reform.
The process of enclosure was largely complete by the end 1.6 Land conversion, drainage and recla-
of the 18th century. mation

Another way to get more land was to convert some pas-

1.4 Development of a national market ture land into arable land and recover fen land and some
pastures. It is estimated that the amount of arable land in
Markets were widespread by 1500 with about 800 loca- Britain grew by 10–30% through these land conversions.
tions in Britain. These were regulated and not free. The The British Agricultural Revolution was aided by land
most important development between the 16th century maintenance advancements in Flanders, and the Nether-
and the mid-19th century was the development of pri- lands. Due to the large and dense population of Flanders
vate marketing. By the 19th century, marketing was na- and Holland, farmers there were forced to take maximum
tionwide and the vast majority of agricultural production advantage of every bit of usable land; the country had
was for market rather than for the farmer and his fam- become a pioneer in canal building, soil restoration and
ily. The 16th-century market radius was about 10 miles, maintenance, soil drainage, and land reclamation tech-
4 3 BRITISH AGRICULTURE 1800–1900

nology. Dutch experts like Cornelius Vermuyden brought 2 British Agricultural Revolution
some of this technology to Britain.
in perspective
Water-meadows were utilised in the late 16th to the 20th
centuries and allowed earlier pasturing of livestock af-
The Agricultural Revolution gave Britain for a time the
ter they were wintered on hay. This increased livestock
most productive agriculture in Europe, with 19th-century
yields, giving more hides, meat, milk, and manure as well
yields as much as 80% higher than the Continental aver-
as better hay crops.
age. Even as late as 1900, British yields were rivalled only
by Denmark, the Netherlands and Belgium. But Britain’s
lead eroded as European countries experienced their own
1.7 Rise in capitalist farmers agricultural revolutions, raising grain yields on average by
60% in the century preceding World War I.
With the development of regional markets and eventually Despite its name, the Agricultural Revolution in Britain
a national market, aided by improved transportation in- did not result in overall productivity per hectare of agri-
frastructures, farmers were no longer dependent on their cultural area as high as in China, where intensive cultiva-
local market and were less subject to having to sell at low tion (including multiple annual cropping in many areas)
prices into an oversupplied local market and not being had been practised for many centuries.[29][30]
able to sell their surpluses to distant localities that were
Nor could British arable agriculture withstand the chal-
experiencing shortages. They also became less subject lenge of cheaper imports from North America and other
to price fixing regulations. Farming became a business regions from the 1870s. Grain acreage fell by 45% by
rather than solely a means of subsistence.[25] the 1930s as farmers shifted from food crop to livestock
Under free market capitalism, farmers had to remain production, and imports of food (and livestock feed) sur-
competitive. To be successful, farmers had to become passed domestic production in the years preceding World
effective managers who incorporated the latest farming War I.
innovations in order to be low cost producers.

3 British agriculture 1800–1900

1.8 Selective breeding of livestock
In England, Robert Bakewell and Thomas Coke intro-
duced selective breeding as a scientific practice, mating
together two animals with particularly desirable charac-
teristics, and also using inbreeding or the mating of close
relatives, such as father and daughter, or brother and sis-
ter, to stabilise certain qualities in order to reduce ge-
netic diversity in desirable animals programmes from the
mid-18th century. Arguably, Bakewell’s most important
breeding programme was with sheep. Using native stock,
he was able to quickly select for large, yet fine-boned
sheep, with long, lustrous wool. The Lincoln Longwool
was improved by Bakewell, and in turn the Lincoln was
used to develop the subsequent breed, named the New
(or Dishley) Leicester. It was hornless and had a square,
meaty body with straight top lines.[26] Bakewell was also
the first to breed cattle to be used primarily for beef. Pre-
viously, cattle were first and foremost kept for pulling
ploughs as oxen or for dairy uses, with beef from surplus
males as an additional bonus, but he crossed long-horned
heifers and a Westmoreland bull to eventually create the
Dishley Longhorn. As more and more farmers followed
his lead, farm animals increased dramatically in size and
quality. The average weight of a bull sold for slaughter at
Smithfield was reported around 1700 as 370 pounds (170
kg), though this is considered a low estimate: by 1786,
weights of 840 pounds (380 kg) were reported,[27][28]
though other contemporary indicators suggest an increase
of around a quarter over the intervening century.
New fertilisers, besides the organic fertilisers in manure,
were slowly found as massive sodium nitrate (NaNO3 )
deposits found in the Atacama Desert, Chile, were
brought under British financiers like John Thomas North
and imports were started. Chile was happy to allow the
exports of these sodium nitrates by allowing the British
to use their capital to develop the mining and imposing
a hefty export tax to enrich their treasury. Massive de-
posits of sea bird guano (11–16% N, 8–12% phosphate,
and 2–3% potash), were found and started to be im-
ported after about 1830. Significant imports of potash
obtained from the ashes of trees burned in opening new
agricultural lands were imported. By-products of the
British meat industry like bones from the knacker's yards
were ground up or crushed and sold as fertiliser. By
about 1840 about 30,000 tons of bones were being pro-
cessed (worth about £150,000). An unusual alternative
to bones was found to be the millions of tons of fossils
called coprolites found in South East England. When
these were dissolved in sulphuric acid they yielded a high
phosphate mixture (called “super phosphate”) that plants
could absorb readily and increased crop yields. Mining
coprolite and processing it for fertiliser soon developed
into a major industry—the first commercial fertiliser.[31]
Higher yield per acre crops were also planted as potatoes
went from about 300,000 acres in 1800 to about 400,000
acres in 1850 with a further increase to about 500,000 in
1900.[32] Labour productivity slowly increased at about
0.6% per year. With more capital invested, more organic
3.1 Seed planting 5

and inorganic fertilisers, and better crop yields increased ships.

the food grown at about 0.5%/year—not enough to keep
up with population growth.
Great Britain contained about 10.8 million people in
1801, 20.7 million in 1851 and 37.1 million by 1901. 3.1 Seed planting
This corresponds to an annual population growth rate of
1.3% in 1801-1851 and 1.2% in 1851-1901, twice the Before the introduction of the seed drill, the common
rate of agricultural output growth.[33] In addition to landpractice was to plant seeds by broadcasting (evenly throw-
for cultivation there was also a demand for pasture land ing) them across the ground by hand on the prepared
to support more livestock. The growth of arable acreage soil and then lightly harrowing the soil to cover the seed.
slowed from the 1830s and went into reverse from the Seeds left on top of the ground were eaten by birds, in-
1870s in the face of cheaper grain imports, and wheat sects, and mice. There was no control over spacing and
acreage nearly halved from 1870 to 1900.[34] seeds were planted too close together and too far apart.
Alternately seeds could be laboriously planted one by one
The recovery of food imports after the Napoleonic Wars
using a hoe and/or a shovel. Cutting down on wasted
(1803–1815) and the resumption of American trade fol-
seed was important because the yield of seeds harvested
lowing the War of 1812 (1812–1815) led to the enact-
to seeds planted at that time was around four or five.
ment in 1815 of the Corn Laws (protective tariffs) to
protect cereal grain producers in Britain against foreign The seed drill was introduced from China to Italy in the
competition. These laws were only removed in 1846 af- mid-16th century where it was patented by the Vene-
ter the onset of the Irish Potato Famine in which potato tian Senate. Jethro Tull invented an improved seed drill
late blight [35] ruined most of the Irish potato crop and in 1701. It was a mechanical seeder which distributed
brought famine to the Irish people in 1846–50: though seeds evenly across a plot of land and at the correct depth.
the blight also struck Scotland, Wales, England, and much Tull’s seed drill was very expensive and not very reliable
of Europe, its effect there was far less severe since pota- and therefore did not have much of an impact. Good
toes constituted a much smaller percentage of the diet quality seed drills were not produced until the mid-18th
[36]
than in Ireland: in addition many Britons could afford century.
to buy specially-imported food from other countries —
the famine-stricken Irish were too poor to do this. Hun-
dreds of thousands died in the Irish famine and millions
more emigrated to England, Wales, Scotland, Canada, 4 Significance
Australia, Europe, and the United States, reducing the
population from about 8.5 million in 1845 to 4.3 million
by 1921. The Agricultural Revolution was part of a long process
of improvement, but sound advice on farming began to
Between 1873 and 1879 British agriculture suffered from
appear in England in the mid-17th century, from writers
wet summers that damaged grain crops. Cattle farmers
such as Samuel Hartlib, Walter Blith and others,[37] and
were hit by foot-and-mouth disease, and sheep farmers
the overall agricultural productivity of Britain started to
by sheep liver rot. The poor harvests, however, masked a
grow significantly only in the period of the Agricultural
greater threat to British agriculture: growing imports of
Revolution. It is estimated that total agricultural output
foodstuffs from abroad. The development of the steam
grew 2.7-fold between 1700 and 1870 and output per
ship and the development of extensive railway networks
worker at a similar rate.
in Britain and the USA allowed US farmers with much
larger and more productive farms to export hard grain The Agricultural Revolution in Britain proved to be a ma-
to Britain at a price that undercut the British farmers. jor turning point in history, allowing population to far
At the same time, large amounts of cheap corned beef exceed earlier peaks and sustain the country’s rise to in-
started to arrive from Argentina, and the opening of the dustrial pre-eminence. Towards the end of the 19th cen-
Suez Canal in 1869 and the development of refrigerator tury, the substantial gains in British agricultural produc-
ships (reefers) in about 1880 opened the British market tivity were rapidly offset by competition from cheaper im-
to cheap meat and wool from Australia, New Zealand, ports, made possible by the exploitation of new lands and
and Argentina. The Long Depression was a worldwide advances in transportation, refrigeration, and other tech-
economic recession that began in 1873 and ended around nologies.
1896. It hit the agricultural sector hard and was the
most severe in Europe and the United States, which had
been experiencing strong economic growth fuelled by the
Second Industrial Revolution in the decade following the 5 See also
American Civil War. By 1900 half the meat eaten in
Britain came from abroad and tropical fruits such as ba-
nanas were also being imported on the new refrigerator • Agriculture in the United Kingdom#History
6 7 FURTHER READING
6 Notes
[1] Richards, Denis; Hunt, J.W. (1983). An Illustrated His-
tory of Modern Britain: 1783-1980 (3rd ed.). Hong Kong:
Longman Group UK LTD. p. 7. ISBN 0-582-33130-7.
[2] Overton, Mark (1996). Agricultural Revolution in Eng-
land: The transformation of the agrarian economy 1500-
1850. Cambridge University Press. p. 206. ISBN 978-0-
521-56859-3.
[3] G.E. Mingay (ed), The Agricultural Revolution: Changes
in Agriculture 1650-1880 (1977), p.3
[4] Peter Jones, Agricultural Enlightenment: Knowledge,
Technology, and Nature, 1750-1840 (2016), p.7
[5] See also Joel Mokry, The Enlightened Economy: Britain
and the Industrial Revolution 1700-1850 (2009), p.173
[6] Overton 1996, pp. 1
[7] R. W. Sturgess, “The Agricultural Revolution on the En-
glish Clays.” Agricultural History Review (1966): 104-
121. in JSTOIR
[8] Apostolides , Alexander; “English Agricultural Output
And Labour Productivity, 1250–1850: Some Preliminary
Estimates” Accessed 21 Mar 2012
[9] Overton 1996, pp. 117
[10] Overton 1996, pp. 167
[11] Overton 1996, pp. 116,7
[12] Fallow Land Accessed 20 March 2012
[13] Overton, 1996, p. 77.
[14] Overton 1996
[15] Temple 1986, pp. 18, 20
[16] “The Rotherham Plough”. Rotherham: The Unofficial
Website.
[17] “The Rotherham Plough”. Rotherham.co.uk.
[18] Landes, David. S. (1969). The Unbound Prometheus:
Technological Change and Industrial Development in
Western Europe from 1750 to the Present. Cambridge,
New York: Press Syndicate of the University of Cam-
bridge. p. 18. ISBN 0-521-09418-6.
[19] Overton 1996, pp. 134–6
[20] Overton 1996, pp. 135, 145
[21] Landes, David. S. (1969). The Unbound Prometheus:
Technological Change and Industrial Development in
Western Europe from 1750 to the Present. Cambridge,
New York: Press Syndicate of the University of Cam-
bridge. p. 46. ISBN 0-521-09418-6.
[22] Taylor year-1969, pp. 132
[23] Overton 1996, pp. 137–40
[24] Grubler, Arnulf (1990). The Rise and Fall of Infrastruc-
tures: Dynamics of Evolution and Technological Change
in transport (PDF). Heidelberg and New York: Physica-
Verlag.
[25] Overton 1996, pp. 205–6
[26] “Robert Bakewell (1725 - 1795)". BBC History. Re-
trieved 20 July 2012.
[27] John R. Walton, “The diffusion of the improved Short-
horn breed of cattle in Britain during the eighteenth
and nineteenth centuries.” Transactions of the Institute of
British Geographers (1984): 22-36. in JSTOR
[28] John R. Walton, “Pedigree and the national cattle herd
circa 1750–1950.” Agricultural History Review (1986):
149-170. in JSTOR
[29] Merson, John (1990). The Genius That Was China: East
and West in the Making of the Modern World. Woodstock,
New York: The Overlook Press. pp. 23–6. ISBN 0-
87951-397-7A companion to the PBS Series “The Genius
That Was China”
[30] Temple, Robert; Joseph Needham (1986). The Genius
of China: 3000 years of science, discovery and invention.
New York: Simon and Schuster. p. 26Temple estimates
Chinese crop yields were between 10 and twenty times
higher than in the West. This is not the case. Perkins
finds an average Chinese grain yield about twice the late
18th-century European average. China’s advantage was
in intensive land use and high labour inputs, rather than in
individual crop yields (except for rice, suited only to some
parts of Mediterranean Europe).
[31] Coprolite Fertilizer Industry in Britain. Accessed 3 April
2012.
[32] British food puzzle. Accessed 6 April 2012.
[33] “English Agricultural Output and Labour Productivity,
1250–1850: Some Preliminary Estimates”. Accessed 21
March 2012.
[34] British Agricultural Statistics. Accessed 6 April 2011.
[35] http://vegetablemdonline.ppath.cornell.edu/factsheets/
Potato_LateBlt.htm. Accessed 6 April 2012.
[36] Temple 1986, pp. 26
[37] Thirsk. 'Walter Blith' in Oxford Dictionary of National
Biography online edn, Jan 2008
7 Further reading
• Ang, James B., Rajabrata Banerjee, and Jakob B.
Madsen. “Innovation and productivity advances in
British agriculture: 1620-1850.” Southern Economic
Journal 80.1 (2013): 162-186.
• Campbell, Bruce M. S., and Mark Overton. “A new
perspective on medieval and early modern agricul-
ture: six centuries of Norfolk farming c. 1250-c.
1850.” Past and Present (1993): 38-105. in JSTOR
 7

• Clark, Gregory. “Too much revolution: Agricul- 8 External links

ture in the industrial revolution, 1700–1860.” in The
British Industrial Revolution: An Economic Perspec- • http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/empire_
tive (2nd ed. 1999) pp: 206-240. seapower/agricultural_revolution_01.shtml BBC
History: Agricultural Revolution in England 1500 -
• Dodd, William (1847). The Laboring Classes of 1850
England : especially those engaged in agriculture and
manufactures; in a series of letters. Boston: John
Putnam.

• Fletcher, T. W. “The Great Depression of English

Agriculture 1873–1896.” Economic History Review
(1961) 13#3 pp: 417-432. online

• Harrison, L. .F C (1989). The Common People, a

History from the Norman Conquest to the Present.
Glasgow: Fontana. ISBN 978-0-00-686163-8.

• Hoyle, Richard W., ed. The Farmer in England,

1650–1980 (Ashgate Publishing, 2013)

• Kerridge, Eric. The Agricultural Revolution (Rout-

ledge, 2013)

• Mingay, Gordon E. “The” Agricultural Revolution”

in English History: A Reconsideration.” Agricultural
History (1963): 123-133. in JSTOR

• --do.-- The Agricultural Revolution: Changes in Agri-

culture, 1650-1880. (Documents in Economic His-
tory.) London: Black, 1977 ISBN 0713617039

• Overton, Mark (2002). Agricultural Revolution in

England 1500 - 1850. Cambridge, England: Cam-
bridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-56859-5. fo-
cus on 1750 to 1850.

• Snell, K.D.M (1985). Annals of the Labouring Poor,

Social Change and Agrarian England 1660–1900.
Cambridge University Presslocation=Cambridge,
UK. ISBN 0-521-24548-6.

• Thirsk, Joan. "'Blith, Walter (bap. 1605, d. 1654)'".

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford
University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2008. Re-
trieved 2 September 2011.

7.1 Historiography

• Allen, Robert C. “Tracking the Agricultural Revo-

lution in England.” Economic History Review (1999)
52#2 pp: 209-235. online

• Overton, Mark. “Re-establishing the English Agri-

cultural Revolution.” Agricultural History Review
(1996): 1-20. in JSTOR
8 9 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

9 Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

9.1 Text
• British Agricultural Revolution Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Agricultural_Revolution?oldid=749691440 Contributors:
Bryan Derksen, Scipius, Anthere, Maury Markowitz, Ewen, Edward, Nommonomanac, Dominus, Kku, Evercat, RickK, Wetman, Gidonb,
Hadal, Tsavage, GreatWhiteNortherner, Alan Liefting, Agendum, DocWatson42, Everyking, Dratman, Mboverload, Dumbo1, Pgan002,
Gdr, Antandrus, Madmagic, Adamsan, Tothebarricades.tk, Szczerbiec01, Icairns, Kmccoy, Noisy, Chris j wood, Discospinster, Melt-
Banana, LindsayH, Xezbeth, Viriditas, Russ3Z, Ral315, Alansohn, Anthony Appleyard, Arthena, Andrewpmk, JanSöderback, Denniss,
Wtmitchell, Velella, Mjpotter, Woohookitty, Merlinme, Brunnock, Slocombe, King of Hearts (old account 2), Kbdank71, Doughboy,
Vary, A-rock, Yamamoto Ichiro, FlaBot, RexNL, Gurch, Gareth E. Kegg, Butros, DVdm, Bgwhite, Wavelength, Conscious, Tomunist,
Gaius Cornelius, Anomalocaris, Fnorp, NawlinWiki, Dialectric, Orioneight, Rjensen, Nick C, Emersoni, Nate1481, DryaUnda, Dead-
EyeArrow, Elkman, Electric counterpoint, WAS 4.250, Djramone, NielsenGW, LakeHMM, Babij, Yvwv, SmackBot, Britannicus, Sticky
Parkin, Davewild, GraemeMcRae, Yamaguchi , Gilliam, Betacommand, Chris the speller, Bluebot, Hibernian, Zak.l, Dan198792, Li-
ontooth, Rrburke, RaCha'ar, Dacoutts, RafaelG, Galaxydog2000, John, Breno, JorisvS, Minna Sora no Shita, Peterlewis, IronGargoyle,
RomanSpa, Waggers, Utsanomiko, Iridescent, JoeBot, NativeForeigner, D'lin, Tawkerbot2, MightyWarrior, Eastlaw, JForget, Page Up,
Richard Keatinge, Cydebot, Evenmadderjon, Bookgrrl, Bmcln1, MacGuyver, Kubanczyk, LeeG, Dougsim, John254, Ramckay, Noclev-
ername, Alkashi~enwiki, Oreo Priest, Geniac, Magioladitis, VoABot II, Biddleybong, Omicron18, OHFM~enwiki, Xhancock, DerHexer,
MartinBot, MichaelTucker, CommonsDelinker, Bjmoon, Tgeairn, J.delanoy, Silverxxx, Johnbod, Ephebi, Chiswick Chap, Student7, Julian-
colton, Funandtrvl, Signalhead, Wikieditor06, Rohanmahtani, Hugo999, Philip Trueman, Oshwah, Peter Erwin, BlarghHgralb, Sintaku,
Melsaran, AllGloryToTheHypnotoad, Wassermann~enwiki, Wiae, Billinghurst, Rhopkins8, Phmoreno, Logan, Ponyo, T0talM0r0n, Tresi-
den, Yintan, Qst, Hubert97, Lightmouse, Dposte46, Escape Orbit, R00m c, RegentsPark, ClueBot, Bob1960evens, Snigbrook, Dobermanji,
The Thing That Should Not Be, MorganaFiolett, Mild Bill Hiccup, Lame Name, Ktr101, Catfish Jim and the soapdish, Excirial, Alexbot,
Jusdafax, Ykhwong, Sun Creator, SchreiberBike, BluePhildog, Versus22, Mhockey, Camboxer, Dthomsen8, Skarebo, Addbot, Rlowesfor-
wiki, Tcncv, Wkrocek, Fluffernutter, 5 albert square, Fireaxe888, Equilibrium007, Tide rolls, Lightbot, MuZemike, Ettrig, Legobot, Yobot,
Ptbotgourou, Trisw, THEN WHO WAS PHONE?, Bathysphere, Ayrton Prost, Eric-Wester, Nasier Alcofribas, AnomieBOT, Jim1138, Kei-
thbob, AdjustShift, Bluerasberry, Materialscientist, Citation bot, Katafray, Zad68, Capricorn42, Westermark-Ost, Geopersona, Amaury,
Sabrebd, Shadowjams, Buchraeumer, FrescoBot, Wilfridselsey, Pedgi, Applezapotis, ZenerV, Cubs197, LittleWink, Thinking of Eng-
land, Vrenator, Jarmihi, Fayedizard, Diannaa, Nascar1996, Snk89, DRAGON BOOSTER, Enauspeaker, EmausBot, John of Reading,
Dewritech, Golfandme, Solarra, Tommy2010, HMS Vanguard, K6ka, Kaimakides, Lucas Thoms, Mz7, Lobsterthermidor, Robb010101,
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Gareth Griffith-Jones, Satellizer, Chester Markel, Ryantheking, Helpful Pixie Bot, Smitnj, HMSSolent, Andrew Gwilliam, Thejman987,
Titodutta, Editor guy person, DBigXray, MKar, RLjoseph, MusikAnimal, Altaïr, Rubert Prawn I, GRighta, Arwen III., BattyBot, Tutelary,
Cimorcus, Khazar2, Soni, MrNiceGuy1113, MaxwellDecoherence, Wbflowers16, Lugia2453, Frosty, Foonarres, Faizan, Epicgenius, Yes-
terday’s man, Howicus, AlwynJPie, Haim0601, DavidLeighEllis, Mohamed-Ahmed-FG, Unknownanonamous, XW42, Whizz40, Fafnir1,
Monkbot, Johnsoniensis, TerryAlex, Buggy12345, Annabruce, Mwhitt02, D.S. Cordoba-Bahle, EChastain, LL221W, Chiffrephile, Colleen
Sheridan, GreenJonan, Desklin, Emilybyrne, Lowercase dd, Fuortu, JDFedit and Anonymous: 451

9.2 Images
• File:Commons-logo.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg License: CC-BY-SA-3.0 Contribu-
tors: ? Original artist: ?
• File:Folder_Hexagonal_Icon.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/48/Folder_Hexagonal_Icon.svg License: Cc-by-
sa-3.0 Contributors: ? Original artist: ?
• File:People_icon.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/37/People_icon.svg License: CC0 Contributors: Open-
Clipart Original artist: OpenClipart
• File:Plan_mediaeval_manor.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6b/Plan_mediaeval_manor.jpg License:
Public domain Contributors: [1] Original artist: William R. Shepherd, Historical Atlas, New York, Henry Holt and Company, 1923
• File:Portal-puzzle.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/fd/Portal-puzzle.svg License: Public domain Contributors: ?
Original artist: ?
• File:Veranotrigo.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4f/Veranotrigo.jpg License: CC BY 2.0 Contributors:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/soilscience/2513807337/ Original artist: Soil-Science.info

9.3 Content license

• Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0