Most people think allotments started during World War I, when people in densely populated areas needed to grown their own food to survive. However, as with everything in England, it has a much longer and more interesting history. During the medieval period, villages were arranged around the "open field" system, and each villager was randomly allocated about 15 acres for subsistence farming. There were no borders between the fields, and there were also common areas for grazing livestock, gathering wood, etc.
However, during the 15th and 16th century, British wool exports became quite profitable. Sheep were easy to keep and needed fewer people to maintain, and so many landowners enclosed their lands, evicting the villagers and destroying their homes. If you lost your income, you were a pauper, and if you lost your home as well, you were a vagrant. And at the time, vagrants were treated as criminals. It is estimated that up to three-fourths of villagers were evicted during this period.
This quite alarmed the Crown, as it meant lower tax revenues and a large underclass population. Henry VII made it illegal to destroy homes, and Henry VIII made it illegal to convert crop land to pasture. However, this made little difference, leading to riots between in the 16th century. A poem from the time sums up the situation nicely:
As a result of the enclosures in England, many people moved from rural areas into cities. With the advent of steam power and cheap labour, Britain went on to lead the industrial revolution, with rural farming practically abandoned. By the 19th century, King George III (of American Revolution fame) passed a series of Inclosure Acts, which stripped away the last "common" land.They hang the man, and flog the woman,
That steals the goose from off the common;
But let the greater villain loose,
That steals the common from the goose.
However, many of these Acts directed a small portion of land be made available to the poor, which became known as allotments. 1873 there were less than 250,000 plots, but by the first World War that increased to 1.5 million! The numbers have been falling steadily, as interest in allotments as ebbed and flowed, and ten years ago the number was around 265,000, although that has now rebounded to around 330,000. Of course, the allotments are scattered all over, and so some areas have waiting lists in the thousands, leading to the misperception most people have that it is impossible to get an allotment in London. I called our nearest allotment a month ago, and last week they called to say they had some vacancies.
The first plot she showed us was 5 poles, which is 1/32nd of an acre, or about 135 square feet. We both agreed that was way too big. Fortunately, they had a smaller plot of 4 poles, which we thought we could handle. The rent is £24 (US $36) per year, and we are entirely responsible for our plot. (This is not a "community garden.") If we don't maintain the plot, they can take it back and give it to someone else. I am more worried about losing the plot, as it is quite a distance from the gate, and right now they all look pretty much the same. (I should have taken the GPS coordinates with my phone.)
It's actually quite ridiculous, as we already have way too much on our plates, but we're both quite excited. Today we're going to strip off the grass, piling it into the corner to let it compost, and began preparing the ground. We have no idea what we're going to plot -- Jess suggested practical foods that are easy to grow, while I suggested we plot ingredients in "meals." I suspect she'll win.
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