Was any part of this estate recently enclosed? There was an enclosure in 1863. Advantage was taken of the Enclosure Act.
How many acres were enclosed then ?—I am sorry to say I cannot tell you the acreage.
Roughly speaking, what was the proportion of the amount enclosed there to the amount of property which you had before the Enclosure Act?—I am sorry to say, without getting it up, I could not tell you. I have not gone into that sufficiently. We have the maps to show it, and all that was sold.
I mean when the enclosure took place, was only a small portion allotted to your estate, or was it considerable in area? You may say a small proportion, comparatively speaking, I think.
Well, 500 acres?—Yes, it would be as much as that, my agent says.
And the whole estate is 2,000?—3,000 over here in Denbighshire.
The Enclosure Act applied to the Denbighshire property, did it not?—Yes, not to the Merionethshire.
Do you recollect whether any recreation grounds or allotments for the use of the labouring poor were apportioned at the same time under this Enclosure Act?—No.
None? None; it is not a thing which would be appreciated there, I think, with us; I do not think it would be taken advantage of.
But by—and—bye in the future it might be useful, might it not? I do not think so. They are essentially sheep farmers; they do not even garden.
Were there any squatters' cottages on the common and the waste?—Yes, there were a few.
How were they dealt with?—They were sent away, and the property was sold and apportioned by the Enclosure people, and some of the ground sold to pay to the Enclosure Commissioners for the costs, I believe. Then the squatters were sent away, you mean?—Yes. I was looking through the old accounts last night at the time the squatters were there; they had not paid any of them previously, they were all in arrears.
And so they were evicted?—Yes, they were sent away, a few of them. There were only a few of them, I believe
