Enclosure
enclosure: 1. An area surrounded by a fence, often to contain animals. Compare exclosure 2. The action of enclosing open land. Field (NOTE: The term enclosure is used in England to refer especially to the enclosure of common land in the 16th and 18th centuries, when rights to common land were removed and major landowners used ditches, fences, hedgerows, and walls to mark the boundaries of land which they owned freehold.) Understanding enclosure history helps farmers manage land and livestock effectively.