Do you have memories of your families’ allotments? Do you have your own? Maybe you started gardening during the lockdown period of the pandemic? That wasn’t the first-time allotments have offered a green escape for us with research from the National Allotments Society showing a significant increase in council allotments during the pandemic (1). In this blog we’re exploring stories which offer a window into how we have utilised allotments for our own well-being in the past.
In conjunction with National Allotments Week, we have been exploring the records we hold about allotments here at Northumberland Archives. Allotments have existed for a long time, dating back to the late Anglo-Saxon/ early medieval period but it wasn’t until the General Enclosure Act of 1845, making it possible for the landless poor to gain ‘field gardens’, that these parcels of land became the allotments which we are so familiar with today. Later, the ‘Small Holdings and Allotments Act’ of 1907 and 1908 made Councils responsible for providing allotments if there was a demand for them (2). This is how many allotments are still run today, but how have the past 100 years shaped their future in the North East of England?
Allotments in War Time
The stories featuring in this blog are taken from the ‘Voices from the North East’ podcast, who kindly donated three recordings about Allotments in Ashington, Northumberland from the 1920s – 1980s. In one episode, Jacqueline shares that her father owned an allotment next to the railway line through Ashington and remembers waving to the passengers on the train from there. She creates an image of her father and the other allotment owners; dressing similarly with caps, corduroy trousers and boots. Some of the owners next to her father were very old and had served during the First World War – she said they would share their stories and she couldn’t believe what they talked about.
During the First World War, allotments gained popularity especially amongst soldiers returning from the front-line. Not only had allotments been encouraged by the government due to food restrictions and rationing but they gave ex-service men the opportunity to process the return home along with traumatic memories. In a registration book of war charities exempted under the 1916 war charities act, the Corbridge Soldiers Allotment Fund was exempted on the 6th of May 1918. Such charities allowed soldiers from with lower incomes to afford the rent and costs of running an allotment.
Jacqueline mentions that the allotments were the pride and joy of many men, and they offered huge community which was very important to them. The podcast creator’s mother talks about her grandfather, in another episode, describing the importance of allotments as a ‘green lung after 12-15 hours down the mine’. Her grandfather owned an allotment on Woodhorn Road during the 1920s where there are still some left today. She recalled he owned a Goose to scare intruders away from the allotment and kept a pig which was very common for the time.
Many allotment owners kept animals for meat including pigs, rabbits and chickens. This was popular from 1920s – 1950s, as the country faced the effects of two world wars and unemployment. During the Second World War there was a huge increase in allotment usage due to more food shortages and rationing. The Dig for Victory Campaign from the government helped create 1.3 million tonnes of food from around 1.5 million allotment plots (2). The government even encouraged the public to keep pigs or join a pig club, a group who bought, fed and looked after pigs, to supplement meat rations (3). Allotments were very important to the war effort with increased food restrictions – the government had the power to cultivate land to create wartime allotments, demonstrated in the council letter pictured below. Charges against allotment related crime could also be very severe. In the Morpeth Herald from the 16th August 1940, a man was sentenced to three months in prison for stealing food (including two chickens) from an allotment whilst drunk.
Post-war allotments
Towards the end of the Second World War there was concern about the potential decline in allotment use – a short article within the Berwick Advertiser from the 3rd of April 1945 stated that the ‘Chief Executive Officer to the War Agricultural Committee expressed alarm at the increasing number of people who believed that because the end of the war was in sight there was now no necessity for them to continue cultivating their allotments and gardens.’ After the Second World War, many wartime allotments were kept until possession of the land expired, with many keeping permenant allotments throughout the 1950s. In one of the podcast episodes, Neil and Eleanor talk about their father and grandfather having allotments during the 1950s. Eleanor’s dad owned an allotment on Green Lane, Ashington where he kept pigeons but didn’t train them. Many other allotment owners in the North East kept pigeons for racing and formed societies across the region.
Another popular past-time on the allotments in the North East was leek growing. Competitions were held across the region with prizes for the best vegetables in the show. Neil remembers his grandfather’s allotment and that he was a keen leek grower. He recalls Newbiggin allotments being the best protected from ‘leek slashers’ and some men sleeping with their leeks to protect them. He talks about how popular these leek shows were across the North East and jokes ‘it’s the only place your marra (marrow) can win a leek show!’
1970s to present day
With a focus on housing and rebuilding post-war Britain, allotment usage fell into decline, however, usage in the North East along with leek shows and pigeon racing seemed to remain popular. Nationally, the decline slowed during the 1970s with TV shows like the BBC’s ‘The Good Life’ inspiring interest in food production and self-sufficiency (2).
In another episode, the podcast creator’s father talks about owning his allotment in the 1980s, situated behind Hirst High School in Ashington. He wanted to grow organically without chemical interference and discusses the resourcefulness of allotment owners at the time. He says that allotment owners were often innovative and ‘hands on,’ being naturally good at recycling materials. One example given is the use of old windowpanes to replace panels in greenhouses or even build a greenhouse from scratch using them. He also used to attach old doors to the fence around his allotment to prevent too much wind from getting to the plants and they created bedding for plants using old railway sleepers.
It seems since the 1990s there has been a steady increase in allotment usage with waiting lists now more than two years long. Allotments seem more important than ever today with their many benefits to the environment, climate change and mental health. Should we create more space for allotments to secure a greener future? With the theme of allotment’s week being biodiversity, keeping an allotment can not only help your own health and wellbeing but can also create biodiversity for wildlife in the North East, defending us against climate change. The past 100 years have shown an increase in climate change, but according to research by the University of Sheffield, allotment land has declined by 65% since its peak in the 1940s – 1960s (4). Will allotment usage ever reach the level it once did? Can we turn back time to protect our future?
Bibliography:
- Interest in allotments soars in England during coronavirus pandemic | Allotments | The Guardian
- The history of allotments | National Science and Media Museum
- BBC – WW2 People’s War – “Pig Clubs”, Supplementing Meat Rations
- Urban food cultivation in the United Kingdom: Quantifying loss of allotment land and identifying potential for restoration – ScienceDirect
