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History of Allotments in England
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Posted by johnmac09 St Ives, England (My Page) on Thu, Oct 22, 09 at 17:25
| Believe it or not the origin of English allotments lies in common land established in Saxon times over a thousand years ago. To read the full story go to the web site below and click the link on the right under the Welcome section. |
Here is a link that might be useful: An English Allotment Garden
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: History of Allotments in England
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| Guess I missed the forest in the trees. |
RE: History of Allotments in England
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| So JohnMac09, with 100,000 on a waiting list, this must mean it's a sellers market for allotments. Do you know how much a "typical" allotment goes for in the UK? (I'm assuming it on depends on location and size.) (Below is a direct link to the article JohnMac09 referenced above.) |
Here is a link that might be useful: History of Allotments
RE: History of Allotments in England
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| I find from an American viewpoint it is quite hard to comprehend the English Enclosure era (ironic, I suppose, since many of our ancestors came here no doubt as a result). To me, 'common' land would seem like land owned by government. Obviously, common land and land owned by the Crown were not one and the same at that time and place. The idea that certain powerful individuals could simply take land that had been common for centuries and make it elite is bizarre from a modern perspective. I am surprised that the resistance was not more intense. Though when the powerful trash the powerless it really isn't so difficult is it? |
RE: History of Allotments in England
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| Hi Grandad... the annual rent for an allotment is £22, or about $36. It's very cheap considering the size of the plot, typically about 250 square yards. Hi pnbrown... problem with common land was no-one 'owned' it as such and once the landlords took control of it, supported by Parliament, their workers didn't stand a chance. As for resistance... did you click the link to understand what hanged, drawn and quartered meant? It was the most barbaric form of execution ever... and that was if the executioner was feeling generous towards you. If they really wanted to make you suffer you'd still be conscious when they started the quartering bit! |
Here is a link that might be useful: An English Allotment Garden
RE: History of Allotments in England
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| Hi Grandad All allotments are rented. You can't buy them. Mine is located 5 minutes walk from my home on the edge of a park in a historic city. I paid £33.30 rent for it this year (ca $50.50). So you can see that urban plots are more expensive than rural ones, for obvious reasons. However, it is still fantastic value. This includes unlimited water, maintenance of the boundary grass and shrubberies and free leaves in the Autumn when the council dumps the sweepings from local parks next to the allotment site. When I took it over about 17 years ago nobody was interested in allotments. I rang the council, they sent me a map and told me to pick a plot from the many vacant ones. By the end of the week I had my allotment. Unlike some US community garden schemes the plots are not reallocated annually. As long as you pay your rent and keep up your plot you have it for as long as you like. |
RE: History of Allotments in England
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| A bbargain indeed... So with the benefit of the Gulf Stream, does your climate allow for gardening most of the year? |
RE: History of Allotments in England
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| For most crops unfortunately not, grandad. My allotment is in Cambridgeshire, in the east of England, so not near the gulf stream effect. Having said that, I've just planted my garlic cloves, thinking of next July's blue skies and long summer evenings! John |
Here is a link that might be useful: An English Allotment Garden
RE: History of Allotments in England
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| The rent seems to be reasonable. But there should be enough to go around for those who want it. Being in waiting list for years sound like hard labor camps, that they make you suffer and go coocoo! |
RE: History of Allotments in England
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| Depends what you mean by gardening, grandad. I live in the South West so my weather is milder than Johnmac's. I usually plant garlic and broad beans(favas) in October/November. Also cropping but not exactly being gardened will be many brassicas eg kale, Brussels sprouts, cabbage etc, Swiss chard, leeks, swedes(rutabagas) and parsnips. Some years I can get away with a few lettuces, endives and mache, especially if I use cloches. The weather is seldom too cold to go and potter on the allotment tidying, composting, digging etc. The main issue in winter is finding a dry, non-working day to get down there. Cyrus, yes it would be good if there were enough to go round but you have to think of the cost of land in a small island, particularly in urban areas. Who is going to give up valuable real estate for people to garden on? And as for the waiting lists I think there is quite a fast turn over as people's intial enthusiasm is quashed by the realisation that gardening takes some time and skill and may not be quite the rosy picture of self sufficiency painted in the magazines. Lots of newcomers on our allotments give up after discovering that digging is hard work. Also people go on waiting lists and never take themselves off again if they move away or their personal circumstances change, so I think the waiting time has to be taken with a pinch of salt.
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RE: History of Allotments in England
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| That's the confusing bit, John. The lands in question were not owned by anyone, and yet the 'landlords' (local gentry? local gangsters?) were able to take it over. We are talking about big sections, I believe. Pieces in thousands or tens of thousands of acres in many cases? You'd think if one powerful family of tough guys made a move on a particular piece that some others would counter. I understand that the average peasant couldn't do much about it - other than get hanged, and maybe drawn and quartered for extra credit. Similarly the average American can't do much about the logging off of hundreds of thousands of acres of publicly-owned timberland. Massive companies with big clout at court? I think I get it now...... There are some long-settled regions where the commons have persisted to present day. Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan have still great forests of apple and walnut that people far and near collectively harvest. Grazing and haymaking around the trees also happens and has reached such intensity that the forests are being gradually destroyed (this according to Roger Deakin's last book). Of course that is sooner or later the fate of all commons, but it's impressive that they lasted so long. Hopefully the governments there will take ownership and good stewardship. |
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