Northfield Allotments are

allotment Allotment may refer to: * Allotment (Dawes Act), an area of land held by the US Government for the benefit of an individual Native American, under the Dawes Act of 1887 * Allotment (finance), a method by which a company allocates over-subscribed s ...

s in the Northfields district of

Ealing Ealing () is a district in West London, England, west of Charing Cross in the London Borough of Ealing. Ealing is the administrative centre of the borough and is identified as a major metropolitan centre in the London Plan. Ealing was histor ...

. They are the oldest allotments in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, having been created from common land in 1832 as Ealing Dean Common Allotments. Originally, their area was over twenty acres but this has been reduced by encroachment, taking about 60% of the land for other developments. The remaining allotments are recognised as an

asset of community value In England, an asset of community value (ACV) is land or property of importance to a local community which is subject to additional protection from development under the Localism Act 2011. Voluntary and community organisations can nominate an ass ...

and

Site of Importance for Nature Conservation Site of Nature Conservation Interest (SNCI), Site of Importance for Nature Conservation (SINC) and regionally important geological site (RIGS) are designations used by local authorities in the United Kingdom for sites of substantive local nature ...

History

The allotments were created from

common land Common land is land owned by a person or collectively by a number of persons, over which other persons have certain common rights, such as to allow their livestock to graze upon it, to collect Wood fuel, wood, or to cut turf for fuel. A person ...

on 7 November 1832, by order of Charles James Blomfield, Bishop of London and

lord of the manor Lord of the Manor is a title that, in Anglo-Saxon England, referred to the landholder of a rural estate. The lord enjoyed manorial rights (the rights to establish and occupy a residence, known as the manor house and demesne) as well as seig ...

of Ealing. The common was Ealing Dean Common, being in Ealing Dean, and was also known as Jackass Common, after the donkey and pony races held there in the summer. The size of this area of land was twenty

acre The acre is a unit of land area used in the imperial Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor, or imperialism. Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to: Places United States * Imperial, California * Imperial, Missouri * Imp ...

s, two

rood A rood or rood cross, sometimes known as a triumphal cross, is a cross or crucifix, especially the large crucifix set above the entrance to the chancel of a medieval church. Alternatively, it is a large sculpture or painting of the crucifixion ...

s and sixteen

perches Perch is a common name for fish of the genus ''Perca'', freshwater gamefish belonging to the family Percidae. The perch, of which three species occur in different geographical areas, lend their name to a large order of vertebrates: the Percif ...

. The allotments were to be no more than in size, and to be cultivated by poor parishioners. As well as providing

poor relief In English and British history, poor relief refers to government and ecclesiastical action to relieve poverty. Over the centuries, various authorities have needed to decide whose poverty deserves relief and also who should bear the cost of hel ...

, the bishop's aim was to encourage gardening, which he favoured as a pastime. In 2017, there were 141 plotholders.

Encroachment

The allotments have been subject to encroachment over the years as the land on the western side of Northfields Avenue was taken for housing and a formal park – Dean Court and Dean Gardens. That

compulsory purchase Compulsion may refer to: * Compulsive behavior, a psychological condition in which a person does a behavior compulsively, having an overwhelming feeling that they must do so. * Obsessive–compulsive disorder, a mental disorder characterized by i ...

took about 60 per cent of the original area. The remaining allotments are now recognised as an

by the borough council. They are also designated as a

as they are surrounded by a

hedgerow A hedge or hedgerow is a line of closely spaced shrubs and sometimes trees, planted and trained to form a barrier or to mark the boundary of an area, such as between neighbouring properties. Hedges that are used to separate a road from adjoini ...

which is about long and provides a habitat for wild life such as hedgehogs and

stag beetle Stag beetles are a family of about 1,200 species of beetles in the family Lucanidae, currently classified in four subfamilies.Smith, A.B.T. (2006). A review of the family-group names for the superfamily Scarabaeoidea (Coleoptera) with corrections ...

s. In 2017, they were threatened with further development, as the current landlord – the

almshouse An almshouse (also known as a bede-house, poorhouse, or hospital) was charitable housing provided to people in a particular community, especially during the medieval era. They were often targeted at the poor of a locality, at those from certain ...

charity, Pathways – planned to build more housing upon the land. This provoked a campaign to save them which was backed by Professor Jeremy Burchadt, an authority on allotments, who declared that they were almost certainly the oldest in London. Others backing the campaign include the local MP,

Rupa Huq Rupa Asha Huq ( bn, রাবেয়া "রূপা" আশা হক; born 2 April 1972) is a British Independent MP, columnist and academic. Elected as the Labour Member of Parliament (MP) for Ealing Central and Acton at the 2015 general ...

, and thousands of petitioners.

Gallery

References

{{reflist, 30em, refs= {{citation , url=https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/row-over-plans-to-dig-up-londons-oldest-allotments-in-ealing-to-build-desperatelyneeded-social-a3536621.html , newspaper=Evening Standard , title=Row over plans to dig up London's oldest allotments in Ealing to build 'desperately-needed' social housing , author=Tom Powell , date=13 May 2017 {{citation , url=http://ealingdean.co.uk/section/history , title=History of Northfields Allotments; Enclosure of the allotment land , author=Simon Coleman , date=5 December 2014 , publisher=Ealing Dean Allotments Society {{citation , author=Diane K Bolton, Patricia E C Croot and M A Hicks , title=Ealing and Brentford: Charities for the poor , work=A History of the County of Middlesex , volume=7 , location=London , year=1982 , pages=170–172 , url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/middx/vol7/pp170-172 {{citation , url=http://www.londongardensonline.org.uk/gardens-online-record.php?ID=EAL012 , title=Dean Gardens , work=London Gardens Online , publisher=London Parks and Gardens Trust , year=2012 {{citation , url=https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2017/aug/02/social-housing-green-space-ealing-dean-northfield-allotments , newspaper=The Guardian , author=Peter Watts , date=2 August 2017 , title=Green space v social housing: the fight for the future of London's oldest allotments {{citation , url=http://www.ealingtoday.co.uk/default.asp?section=info&page=eanorthfieldsallotments006.htm , newspaper=Ealing Today , title=Northfields Allotments Given Asset of Community Value Status , date=10 April 2017 {{citation , url=http://www.getwestlondon.co.uk/news/west-london-news/history-professor-backs-fight-save-11887601 , title=History professor backs campaigners fighting to save 'London's oldest' Northfields allotments , author=Robert Cumber , date=15 September 2016 {{citation , url=https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/protecting-allotment-sites-is-essential-to-the-health-and-environment-of-londoners-z9903dnq7 , newspaper=The Times , author=Jane Merrick , date=17 November 2017 , title=Protecting allotment sites is essential to the health and environment of Londoners

External links

Ealing Dean Allotments SocietyNorthfields Allotments
– Pathways London Borough of Ealing Urban agriculture