ABSTRACT
… I now come to the condition of agriculture and of the class dependent on it; and with reference to this subject I find more diversity of circumstances prevailing in Cumberland than in any other case which has yet come under my notice…. Farms in this county are extremely various in size; but the proportion of those of 500 acres or upwards is very small, though in the lake district a farmer may have moorland pasture almost ad lib., to add to his tilled land. There is a class of landowners in this country, who, if not absolutely peculiar to it, far exceed in number and relative importance the ordinary proportion; I allude to the small proprietors or yeomanry, who are here known by the appellation of “statesmen”, that is, men of estate. Most of these occupy estates, worth from ten to fifty pounds a year, either freehold, or held of the lord of the manor by customary tenure. It is said that this class has been decreasing in numbers during the last seventy years; they are still estimated, however, at nearly 7,000. There is also a large class of small farmers not proprietors, whose holdings are from forty to 100 acres….
