Editing Enclosure (section)

===Enclosure roads===
The road system of England had been problematic for some time. An 1852 government report described the condition of a road between Surrey and Sussex as ''"very ruinous and almost impassable."''{{sfn|Secretary of State|1852|page=4}} In 1749 [[Horace Walpole]] wrote to a friend complaining that if he desired good roads ''"never to go into Sussex"'' and another writer said that the ''"Sussex road is an almost insuperable evil"''.{{sfn|Jackman|1916|page=295}} The problem was that country lanes were worn out and this had been compounded by the movement of cattle.{{sfn|Mingay|2014|pages=48–49}} Thus the commissioners were given powers to build wide straight roads that would allow for the passage of cattle. The completed new roads would be subject to inspection by the local justices, to make sure they were of a suitable standard.{{sfn|Mingay|2014|pages=48–49}} In the late eighteenth century the width of the enclosure roads was at least {{convert|60|feet|0}}, but from the 1790s this was decreased to {{convert|40|feet|0}}, and later 30 feet as the normal maximum width. Straight roads of early origin, if not Roman were probably enclosure roads. They were established in the period between 1750 and 1850.{{sfn|Friar|2004|p=146}}{{sfn|Whyte|2003|p=63}} The building of the new roads, especially when linked up with new roads in neighbouring parishs and ultimately the [[Turnpike trusts|turnpike]]s, was a permanent improvement to the road system of the country.{{sfn|Mingay|2014|pages=48–49}} 
{{multiple image|total_width=780
|align=center
|image1=Decaying hedge - geograph.org.uk - 1715089.jpg
|caption1=Decaying hedges mark the lines of the straight field boundaries created by the 1768 act of Parliament{{efn|Bowes (Yorkshire) Inclosure Act 1766 [[List of acts of the Parliament of Great Britain from 1766#Private acts|(6 Geo. 3. c. 70)]]}} for the enclosure of Boldron Moor, [[North Riding]], Yorkshire.{{efn|Boldron was in [[Startforth Rural District]]. The District was abolished and became, for administrative purposes, part of [[County Durham]] after the [[Local Government Act 1972]].{{sfn|Black|2004|page=198}}}}
|image2=Scafell massif enclosures.jpg
|caption2=View of the [[Scafell]] massif from [[Yewbarrow]], Wasdale, Cumbria. In the valley are older enclosures and higher up on the fell-side are the parliamentary enclosures following straight lines regardless of terrain.
|image3=Enclosure Road, Lazonby.jpg
|caption3=A parliamentary enclosure road near [[Lazonby]] in Cumbria. The roads were made as straight as possible, and the boundaries much wider than a cart width to reduce the ground damage of driving sheep and cattle.
}}