Britain: Domestic economy

Enclosures

More intensive farming and arable production

Fencing off areas of land to be used for one thing

Farming techniques

Systematic crop rotation and use of regenerative nitrogen rich crops such as clovers to reduce soil exhaustion

1420 = 3m fallow acres , 1720 = 1.8m fallow acres

New crops, turnips, provided valuable food in winter for animals

300k horses in 1600, 630k in 1700

Ideas spread by increasing literacy rates

Water meadows

Diverted water from streams to fields ensuring they are kept damp

Encouraged earlier grass growth so animals could be better fed

300k horses in 1600 → 630k in 1700

Specialised farming

New techniques meant that farms were able to focus on the most profitable work

Regions began to develop distinct identities e.g. wiltshire and diary

Investment in agriculture

Investment encouraged expansion and risk taking

In south midlands - Over 50% farms part of over 100 acre estate in 1700 - 30% in 1600

National markets

Helped London become hub for domestic and overseas trade, driven by 1651 Nav Act

1663 Turnpike Act allowed for creation of toll roads e.g. Thames and Severn used to transfer agricultural products by 1700

Cloth trade

British economic backbone from 1625-1701

Profit from exports financed merchant activity and insurance industries

Contributed for 94% of all London trade in 1640

Reinforced by new techniques and workers from “Low countries” to Norwich due to profitability and Louis XIV revoking the Edict of Nantes

Immigration to cloth industry

British workforce lacked skills for progression so industry stagnated

13k immigrants in cloth industry by 1585

Dutch immigrants brough their expertise, techniques and training over with them

Growth of London

Dominant European trading hub

500k population made huge demand for goods like food and fuel

Attracted wealthy and poor through promise of work and chartered companies

Home to European banking centre

Banking

Switch to a sophisticated system created mainly by money scriveners and goldsmith bankers

Stop of the Exchequer from 1672 pushed people to seek private alternatives to royal finance

Interest rates fell from 8% in 1640 to 4-6% in 1688

Money scriveners

Raised money on behalf of others

Acted as professional brokers by matching wealth lenders with willing borrowers

Robert Abbott - Over 1.3m passed through his accounts from 1652-1655

Goldsmith bankers

Accepted deposits for safekeeping, issuing receipts which evolved into transferrable notes

Became much more trusted and used after Charles II Stop of the Exchequer in 1672

Laid foundations for Bank of England in 1694

Marine Insurance

British ports created huge demand for reliable marine insurance to protect ships’ cargo and merchant trading with Europe and Asia

Lloyds coffee houses established in 1688 became trading hub for insurance also provided intelligence an risk assessment

Fire insurance

Began in 1615 London and worth up to £40 k by 1627

Need for it exposed by the 1666 Great Fire of London

Friendly Society for Mutually Insuring Houses Against Fire established in 1684 where members paid into a shared fund which compensated for losses