Who would of thought that allotments, those gentle havens of giant cabbage growing, would have an equally thrilling and horrifying history? It involves violent oppression of the poor, riots, revolts, bloodshed, deception and theft from the vulnerable. It is a story with many heroes, and an equal number of villains in surprisingly high places.
For anyone interested in knowing more, this fascinating book is well worth a read:
Of Cabbages and Kings: The History of Allotments by Caroline Foley
Going back to well before the 'dig for victory' campaigns of the 2nd world war, it goes right back to pre-Norman invasion times, and looks at the way society was structured to allow everybody, even the poorest members of society, access to enough land to live, grow fruit, veg, and cereals, keep animals and feed themselves and their families. There were large swathes of common land, belonging to everybody, where people could graze their animals and grow crops.
Then, already wealthy landowners started to petition parliament to let them enclose the common land and claim it for themselves. The Enclosure (or Inclosure) act of 1773 (which still stands today) allowed these toffs to implement a wholesale land-grab, booting the poor subsistence farmers from the land and taking away their means of existence. This ushered in dark, difficult times for the poor folk who depended on subsistence farming, leading to the horrors of the Victorian workhouse as peasants became paupers and no longer had the means to feed themselves.
The book follows uprisings, protests and riots spawned by the theft of the land, and the heroes who kicked against the degredation of the poorest; from the enigmatic figure of 'captain pouch', to Winstanley and the Levellers sowing carrots on the enclosed land (his house was burnt down by the authorities for this heinous offence).
Luckily, there were a number of philanthropists who recognised that people who could feed themselves would be less likely to cause problems, so land was donated to be used for allotments. and in 1908 it was made law that councils had to provide allotments if there was a demand for them.
This was all BEFORE allotments helped us win two world wars, and became a valuable tool in the fight against malnutrition, the current dominance of a processed junkfood diet, and an antidote to the stress of modern life.
The book really highlights the incredible value of allotments, how hard the fight was fought for them, and how precious they are.
