It's hard to know the date the first allotments in the modern sense arrived in Marlow as all the first ones were privately rather than council owned and they tended to be small scale. Records don't really exist for the establishment of these couple of acre concerns. But one of the first, and the oldest still existing, is the Parish allotments off Munday Dean Lane, aka the Workhouse Field allotments. This is part of land known as "the Berwicks" for hundreds of years, and believed to be part of an historic charitable bequest.
Although laws had been enacted in the times of George III and William IV to empower churchwardens and overseers of the poor for example to take over parish land for use by the labouring poor, this did not seem to happen in Marlow. The 1882 Allotment Extension act tried to clarify and strengthen the earlier acts, and this was followed by the 1887 Allotments Act that compelled authorities to provide land for allotments were demand was felt. The parish in Marlow just pipped the last act. In 1886 the Vicar and churchwardens hatched a plan to turn the field adjacent to the former workhouse into allotments. In February they went to the 6 acre field to divide it into 41 plots (or 44, depending on who you believe). They made an occasion of it and some of the future allotment holders went along to witness the division. The annual rent would be 6d a pole, with most plots 20 poles in size. This was regarded as an "exceedingly low" rent at the time. The number of applicants had exceeded the number of plots. The Churchwardens were said to be "extremely satisfied" with their effort. Although mention is made later of the Vicar (Rev Fearon) wondering whether any other Parish land could also be turned into allotments, the plan was shelved despite the success of the workhouse field site. Probably this was because there was a big increase in privately owned allotment grounds in the next few years. The tenants of all of these had to be artisans or labourers. The potential gardeners were required to swear to their status, and there was clearly some quibbling about who exactly was a member of that group. In 1901 the agreement was worded to say access to a plot at the Parish allotments was restricted to the "labouring poor." At meeting of parish council that year, the question was raised as to whether the several parish councillors who rented plots there really qualified under that condition. It does seem doubtful that they would have classed themselves as either poor or labourers under other circumstances considering they were business owners. But the parish council said no favouritism had been shown.
The next large scale allotment that is still with us today was at the area known as Hanging Hill off Prospect Road. (From 1886/7) This was owned by Mr Micklem who must have seen the success of the nearby Parish Allotments, and thought he could put his own large field to profitable use in the same way. He would also charge 6d a pole. He was not wrong about the demand for more plots, as every one was snapped up within days of Mr Micklem announcing his intentions. By 1890, the Board of Agriculture reported the fact there were 217 allotment plots in Marlow across all sites.
Around this time small areas off Glade Road were also let as allotments. These were on the other side to Foxes Piece and were also run as a business. Some only had 1-2 plots. They quickly earned the reputation for charging high rents for indifferent ground. Foxes Piece allotments, owned by large scale landowner General Owen Williams, started in December 1889. He had previously let the land to a local farmer, but allotment provision were regarded as a better way to earn money. They also undercut the Glade Road neighbours - at first! All of these allotments could be described as "the Glade Road allotment gardens" or the Marlow Fields allotments so it can be hard to split the history of the sites. The stated size of Owen William's Foxes Piece actually let as allotments varied hugely. The "other" site, largely forgotten now, on the east side of Glade Rd belonged for many years to Robert Hammond Chambers, who also owned the long vanished "Marefield Allotments" for a while. The latter was a 4 acre site also described as located "in Dean Street opposite the Bank beerhouse". It was actually just beyond Berwick Close as you head down Berwick Road towards Munday Dean. Other very small sites were located off New Town Road, the largest of which was Mrs Marshall's measuring just over an acre.
Poor labourer, high rents
Hammond Chambers was a controversial land lord for the allotment holders. He charged 10d a pole which was described as an extremely high price. (1895) He was not the only private owner of allotment land to charge this level of rent however. A letter to the local press signed "a working man" complained at these high charges in Marlow. He had been told that as some plot holders defaulted on their rent, the remaining ones had to be made to pay in order to make the sites profitable. Charitable enterprise they were not. Our letter writer complained that Mr Dorsett had promised to act on the high rents when he was up for election as a councillor but nothing visible had been done. The following month, the Marlow Parish Council tried to address the problem. They wrote to both of the Glade Road allotments owners who were now charging the same "unacceptable" 10d a pole rent. While Owen Williams agreed to reduce the rent back to 6d, the reply recieved from the agents acting on behalf of Hammond Chambers was "unsatisfactory." It was a landlords market it seems. In this year, 54 acres were under cultivation in Marlow as allotments. The cheapest plots were 4d a pole.
The light fingered and quick fisted
The variety of vegetables and fruit on offer at the allotments proved a tempting sight to some of the lighter fingered Marlow residents. For example, two ladies recieved a 5s fine each for helping themselves to turnip tops at Foxes Piece in 1892. (Turnip tops were often eaten at this time, and were also sold as "spring greens".)
There are reports of rival plot holders coming to blows. Some disputes with petty beginnings ended up in court. In 1900 George Boddy, a labourer from Eton Place and Hanging Hill plot holder, found himself before the magistrates bench for pulling up his allotment neighbours John Dormer's broccoli plants. John had made a path across his plot which other people had also began to use. He turned a blind eye until some of those wandered off the path and trampled his crops. He therefore decided to dig up the path and plant some broccoli where it had been. George said he thought path was a shared one and objected. He was heard to threaten to pull up the new plants so when they were indeed destroyed, he was summoned. As no serious harm was done, George escaped a fine but was made to pay 5s 6d costs.
The problem with pigs
Pig keeping was a problematic occupation in Marlow. The various parish officers responsible for dealing with nuisances often had to deal with complaints about people erecting a pigsty against a house, not necessarily their own! At the time, pig keeping was allowed at both the Glade Road allotment gardens and at Hanging Hill and Marefield. As Glade Road was increasingly developed for middle class housing, the presence of the pigs became a little contentious. The medical officer of Marlow Urban District Council braved a visit to the sites after an avalanche of complaints in 1897. He went on a warm day in July and could not disagree that the local residents had a just cause for complaint after experiencing the smell from the manure first hand. (He counted an incredible 157 pigs on the Glade Road sites and 73 at Hanging Hill). The poorly constructed styes with no proper bases or drainage were ordered to be improved or taken down. But the problem just sprang up again elsewhere! In the meantime, Glade Road residents hoped for a favourable wind in the opposite direction.
Chicken and pigeons could also be kept at most of the allotments. The former were a frequent target of thefts. In 1900 several fowls were stolen from the Glade Road allotment of Spittal Street butcher Thomas Carter. Baker Henry Sawyer of Little Marlow was found guilty of this theft along with a similar one in Wycombe Road. His punishment? 14 days imprisonment with hard labour.
Allotments, a tonic for the working man.
Allotment gardening was regarded as a wholesome activity that would encourage the poor to be industrious - a well meant if misplaced thought when it concerned manual labourers who already knew the meaning of hard work all too well. Classes for allotment produce were introduced into local horticultural shows with cash prizes on offer. Some classess recieved no entries however and so these particular ones were abandoned. It's hard to know why some classes were not supported, but perhaps the allotment holders could just not afford to pay the entry fee required to submit veg in all the classes they would have liked to. Competing for different allotment prizes clearly bought a lot of fun and pride for others. Another idea to encourage the gardeners was to hold lectures on relevant subjects, sometimes on the allotment grounds themselves. A large number of working men attended lectures organised by the Marlow Technical Education Centre at one of the Glade Road allotments in 1894. They had secured Richard Dean, a fellow of the Royal Horticultural Society to give talks on how to make allotment gardening profitable. He spoke of the striving to produce better and better crops that could be encouraged by some friendly rivalry if the plot holders could organise their own show and horticultural society. They decided to do just that.
Later history
The 1908 Allotment Act acknowledged that many local authorities had dodged earlier requirements to provide land for allotments where demand existed so it made provisions more explicit and extensive. In Marlow a committee was formed, meeting in the Institute, to look into the issue of whether more allotments needed to be provided. They had received many letters asking for more plots to be made available. They decided to investigate who the people were making these requests and whether "the demand was genuine." Perhaps they thought a landowner hoping to flog some land to the council was writing fake letters? Unfortunately it was up to the Parish Council to police themselves in regard to this vetting and however many letters were sent to them asking for plots, they always decided the need for more allotments was not sufficiently demonstrated. To be fair to the council they said not everyone replied to their letters asking the wanna be allotmenteers to come to a meeting to state their case. The fact this was going to be held on a work day when there was no paid time off probably had something to do with that. However, the Parish Council report on the land then let as allotments is interesting. Hanging Hill, Foxes Piece, Marefield and Glade Rd allotments were all still in operation. Potential future sites were identified off New Town, Little Marlow and Dedmere roads. 120 people again wrote to the council in 1910 asking for more allotments, and again the request was ignored. No doubt this was partially sparked by Foxes Piece going up for sale. Initially knocked down unsold, it did eventually find a buyer in Marlow Urban District Council chairman John Langley. He paid £1,300 for 23 acres - some of which was not in horticultural use at the time. He did however continue to allow some of the site to remain as allotments. Some of this land would a few years later be donated to the town for the building of Marlow's second Cottage Hospital.
This blog deals with events up to 1920's but I will just add that in 1939 the Marlow Urban District Council wrote to the Minister of Health and to the Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries for sanction to acquire some land at Foxes Piece for use as allotments at a cost of £1,300. The following year mention is made of the acquisition of the "playing field known as Foxes Piece" for £800. Part of the motivation for the extended playing field provision was the influx of war time evacuees in Marlow. This part continued in use as playing fields for a while before the building of Foxes Piece First School 1954-56. The allotments remain, not as large as they once were of course.
Related posts
Where your gardener ancestor worked: here
Marlow heroes Bonny & Corby, related to Hanging Hill here
History of Foxes Piece area - here
General Marlow history posts: here
To find all mention of your ancestor here, use the A-Z person index in the top drop down menu. There is currently over 6,000 people in there. To find other posts about Glade Rd, see the Specific Shops, Streets etc index in the same menu.
Researched and written by Kathryn Day
Sources:
Hall, Thomas H. The Law of Allotments - being a treatise on the law relating to the allotment of land for the labouring poor (Longmans, Green and Co, 1886)
Local newspapers including:
Reading Mercury 11 November 1939, Bucks Herald 13 February 1886, 10 February 1933, Maidenhead Advertiser 17 December 1886, South Bucks Standard July 13 & 26 September 1894, 20 March 1913. All copies at British Library.
Board of Agriculture report into allotment cultivation at Marlow 1890.
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