History of Reading Society

THE subject of the February talk was “A history of Reading’s allotments”.

The speaker was Evelyn Williams who has published an e-book on the subject and has cultivated a plot at the Waterloo Meadows allotments for the past 10 years.

The origins of modern allotments can be traced back to medieval times when most of the poor rural population would grow much of their food on the “common lands”.

However, from the 17th century onwards, vast tracts of rural England would be transformed by the Enclosure Acts.

These Acts of Parliament created legal property rights that favoured rural landowners, mostly the Lords of the Manor, and established the field system of tenanted farms whose boundaries were defined by the dry-stone walls and hedge rows familiar today.

Consequently, the rural poor were dispossessed of their land rights and many migrated to work in the new industrial towns.

Many of those who were involved in providing allotments in the early 19th century did so out of paternalistic motives. In the 1830s, the famous local author Mary Russell Mitford in her story Bere Regis, about life in a fictionalised Reading, gave an account about “the power of allotments to rescue and redeem the drinking classes”.

In the enclosure of Tilehurst in 1817, three plots of land were set aside at Kentwood and Workhouse Commons for agriculture to generate income for the purchase of fuel for the poor of the parish.

Today, this land is used for allotments and has 100 plot holders. It is administered by Tilehurst Poor’s Land Charity. Other early allotments were established at Whitley Wood Lane in 1858 and at Grove Road, Emmer Green, in 1865.

The rapid expansion of Reading’s population in the wake of the industrial revolution fomented local opinion and led to demands to secure green open spaces for public recreation.

A Mr Wing gave a talk on the subject of Old Caversham in 1894 in which he declaimed: “All should unite to guard what all may share; the general good should be the general care.”

Eventually, the Government was forced to legislate and in 1908 the Small Holdings and Allotments Act became law. This stipulated that the provision of local authority allotments, where there was a demand, would be compulsory.

The criteria for an entitlement to a plot appeared in Reading’s 1910 allotment rules where the definition for eligibility was any person who was resident in the borough and belonged to the labouring classes.

In Reading, the 1908 Act began a process of land purchasing by the council.

Mr L H Bailey, a land agent, was appointed and the newly formed County Land Agents Association convened its first meeting at the Great Western Hotel on August 7.

Some landowners were not always willing to sell their land to the council. In 1909, when the council attempted to compulsorily purchase land from Sir Walter Palmer at Norcot Farm, he refused to sell and during the subsequent enquiry argued successfully that the land was the best on his farm and would not be suitable as allotments.

In 1912, across the river at Caversham Park, the owner, Mr Crawshay, protested at the council’s proposal to turn land on his estate into allotments.

He said the land was “in full view from his house and its use for that purpose would be unsightly”.

At the outbreak of the Second World War, the number of allotments in Britain had decreased from a peak of 1,300,000 in 1920 to fewer than 1 million.

At this time, the Berkshire Chronicle reported that the number of plot holders in Reading had increased to 4,262.

In 1940, the Federated Horticultural & Allotment Association of Reading was formed.

This was a grouping of allotment societies under the banner of the Ministry of Agriculture’s Dig for Victory campaign, its task to reduce Britain’s reliance on food imports.

Huntley & Palmers Horticultural Association was among the founder members.

The allotments at Culver Lane, Earley, are still a reminder of their contribution to the war effort.

Today, in Reading, there are 20 allotment sites with 1,160 plots which are managed by the borough council as well as private sites in Caversham and Tilehurst.

A recent resurgence in their popularity means applicants may have to wait up to 10 years for a plot to become vacant.

The subject of the next talk will be “Defending Reading” and the speaker will be Mike Cooper. The talk will be followed by the society’s annual meeting.

This will take place at Abbey Baptist Church, Abbey Square, Reading, on Wednesday, March 20, beginning at 7.30pm.

All are welcome — £2 to non-members.

Sean Duggan