The English Peasantry - Francis George Heath (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1874 edition. Excerpt: ...such a system as that adopted by Mr. de Moleyns is obvious. In a recent letter which I received from the excellent Vicar of Burrington, he informed me that for a long time previously not a single inhabitant of his parish had been an inmate of the district workhouse. There is at Burrington an admirable system of allotments. About thirty years ago some of the; cottagers were permitted to enclose pieces of common land on the top of some of the Mendip hills. These enlosures have since been used as "garden grounds." Each garden plot averages a quarter of an acre in extent, for which a merely nominal rent of is. 6d. per annum is all that is required by the Lord of the Manor. These "garden grounds," as they are called, are much prized by the labourers, who grow in them their little. crops of fruit and vegetables. A system almost identical with that pursued at Burrington was adopted by Canon Girdlestone during his residence at Halberton; for, notwithstanding the great demand made upon his time by his work of peasant migration--which will be found noticed at length in the succeeding chapter--the Canon did not allow the cause of Education in his parish to suffer. As at Burrington so at Halberton, the Vicar adopted the admirable plan of obtaining situations for the most deserving of the pupils in his schools; thus offering a powerful incentive to diligence and good behaviour, and giving the most practical encouragement to education. CHAPTER V. THE WORK OF CANON GIRDLESTONE. ANON-GIRDLESTONE may fairly be considered as the pioneer of the agricultural labourers' movement. He, in fact, commenced, in the north of Devon, as early as the year 1866, the system of peasant migration with which his name has been associated. It is probable that had it not been for the...