Symond Newell and Kett's Rebellion

Norfolk's Great Revolt against Enclosures, 1549
by Peter E. Newell

In 1549 England was rocked by a major revolt in Norfolk against enclosures. Rich landowners were fencing off lands and woods, mainly to make agriculture more profitable; in the process depriving poor labourers and small farmers of small plots of land for grazing, growing food, and preventing them from gathering wood for fuel. This caused major upheaval and poverty, driving people onto marginal land & into cities. Enclosure was an important engine for the rise of capitalist agriculture, but this wholesale robbery of access to land was resisted for centuries, often by force.
Kett’s Rebellion in 1549 was probably the largest and most celebrated acts of resistance: 1000s of Norfolk yeomen and labourers took arms against landlords and demanded an end to enclosures. Peter E. Newell’s account, made personal by the role his ancestor Symond Newell played in the Rebellion, relates the background to the revolt, the personalities involved, and the dramatic outcome...

A5 pamphlet, 24 pages