Between 1750 and 1860, seven million acres of farmland in England was removed from common ownership and 'Enclosed' for private use.
Villagers who had depended on access to their common land endured a transition from susbsistence farmers to landless labourers.
Some worked on the land as employees in the new larger-scale farms, but most moved to the rapidly expanding towns, providing a workforce for the emerging factory system.

In 1793 the villagers of Milcombe were deprived of 1,135 acres by an Act of Enclosure of 'land and grounds, lying within the hamlet and liberties of Milcomb, in the county of Oxford'.