Women, enclosure and estate improvement in eighteenth-century Northamptonshire

McDonagh, Briony A.K.

Abstract

This paper examines the role of elite women in estate management, enclosure and landscape improvement in eighteenth-century England, a topic which has to date received little in the way of sustained academic consideration. The paper focuses on four women who took control of sizeable Northamptonshire estates in the 1760s and early 1770s, and demonstrates that these women were active as both managers and innovators. In examining the women’s involvement in estate management, the paper explores a series of important questions about women’s place in the history of parliamentary enclosure and landscape improvement, as well as women’s role in eighteenth-century society more generally.

Citation

McDonagh, B. A. (2009). Women, enclosure and estate improvement in eighteenth-century Northamptonshire. Rural History, 20(2), 143-162. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0956793309990021

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Oct 1, 2009
• Online Publication Date: Sep 10, 2009
• Publication Date: Oct 1, 2009
• Deposit Date: Dec 20, 2018
• Print ISSN: 0956-7933
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 20
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 143-162
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0956793309990021
• Keywords: Women, property, enclosure, landscape, agricultural improvement, Northamptonshire, landownership,
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/432657
• Publisher URL: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/rural-history/article/women-enclosure-and-estate-improvement-in-eighteenthcentury-northamptonshire/EDF223EA9E1A3FC45C34C190CDF738E8