(the)+Enclosures

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=Enclosure Awards=

The valley of the Minsmere is typical of the landscapes of Suffolk's low-lying, flat marshland beside estuaries and coastal valleys. Underlying the marshes are alluvial deposits of marine origin. Only at Henstead on the Hundred River, the Share Marshes on the Waveney, Sizewell Belts and Hundred River valley in Aldringham can any significant deposits of peat be found. The marine deposits indicate that in the Roman period and probably for some time afterwards, there was a sizeable sea inlet occupying what is now the Waveney valley almost down to Beccles. On the coast, Southwold and Sizewell were probably islands, as were some smaller areas such as Buckanay in Alderton and Oxley in Hollesley - both containing the Old English suffix -ey meaning ‘an island’. Bawdsey contains the same suffix and would have been virtually an island except for a narrow causeway on the west side.

Marshland reclamation began in the Suffolk coastlands in the early Middle Ages, with works being undertaken at Orford in the 12th century, but sea surges in the 13th and 14th centuries led to serious set-backs. Losses of arable land on the Suffolk coast are recorded between 1291 and 1341. Amongst the places affected was Leiston Abbey. This monastery had been founded on a small island in the marshes in 1182, but frequent inundation of its lands by the sea led to the monastery being rebuilt further inland in 1363. A ruined chapel is all that now remains of this monastic enterprise.

The rate and scale of marshland reclamation increased greatly in the 18th and 19th centuries. In the north this was facilitated by the establishment of the Commission of Sewers for the Hundreds of Blything, Mutford, Lothingland and Wangford in 1786. Enclusures in Theberton were set in motion by the Enclosure Award of 1824. Former open areas of marsh, often used for common grazing, were divided up by straight ditches beside the Minsmere River. But there were also awards for the remaining open areas of inland common land. The

=Enclosure maps=













=Enclosure Apportionments=

Tylers Green A R P Leiston Theberton boundary 33 //Lord Huntingfield// 2. 2. 30 34 //W. Tatnall// 3. 36

Little Green & Winters Heath

35 //Lord Huntingfield// 1. 0. 24 Boundary of Leiston & Theberton 36 //Lord Huntingfield// 5. 3. 06 Winters Heath

Boundary of Theberton

//Lord Huntingfield// 5. 3. 18 //Eliza Hinton//

Theberton Common Fen

43 //William Tatnall// 10. 2. 23 42 //William Tatnall// 15. 0. 38

41 & 3. 15 40 exchanged to //William// //Tatnall// 4. 3. 13 39 //Lord Huntingfield// 8. 3. 38 ruins of old abbey 38 //William Tatnall// 4. 1. 26 37 //William Tatnall// 11. 1. 28 All surrounded by //William Tatnall//

The Map and Plans of Commons, Common Fen grounds & Waste Lands Theberton Common Fen in Leiston

//Rev. G. C. Doughty// 16. 3. 38 Boundary dividing the Parishes of Westleton & Theberton //Lord Huntingfield// 9. 2. 14 for right of soil //Lord Huntingfield// 2. 0. 00 //Henry Cabbald// 3. 3. 10 //Thomas Whiting Wootten// Esq 24. 2. 11 Theberton Bogs //Joseph Peckover// 8. 1. 32 //W. Rous// 1. 1. 34 //John Barley// 1. 1. 32 //W. Rous// 3. 10 //Mary Day// 2. 0. 10 //T. W. Wooten// 1. 1. 38 //Francis Balls// 2. 2. 33 Darsham Trustees //William Eade// 2. 00 //T.W.Wootten// 1. 2. 06 //Francis Balls// 2. 0. 12 //T.W.Wootten// 3. 32

//Zachariah Kett// 3. 35 //T.W. Wootten// 1. 1. 23 //Widow Ford T. Paul J. Ward J. Rous//