‘We are looking at ways to withhold the land as allotments,but it is not easy’On 25 March this year at around 6am each plot-holder had a letter hand-posted through their door. It was from the owner of our site, Coombe Allotments, or giving us exactly a year to leave.
Lady Day is on 25 March. That’s an archaic reference now – it isn’t even marked on calendars – but its use is a reminder of how extinct the plots are: it is the day on which contracts between farmers and landowners were traditionally signed. We contemplate this may be one of the oldest sites in the country. It is marked on the 1847 tithe map and there is a hedged field of the same dimensions on a 1763 map. The village cottages and allotments would have been used by workers in the wool trade,which was the primary industry here.
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Source: theguardian.com