Traced extract of the 1842 Tithe Map of Farnborough

Before the Allotments – 1800s to 1970s

When you come to the allotments to tend your plot, have you ever stopped to reflect on who passed this way before you? Farnborough’s history is well documented, and some of the early maps give some clues to how it all was in the past. An Enclosure map of 1811 is one of the earliest which shows field boundaries in the local area, but the individual fields were not named. However the traced extract of the 1842 Tithe Map of Farnborough (above) shows a little more detail and names these same enclosures.

The road junction in the lower left corner is now the Clockhouse roundabout, and Rectory Road runs east from there and then north toward the Rectory Road railway bridge in the upper right corner; what was then the new London and South-Western Rail Road also runs along the top of the map. Priory Street, which did not then exist, seems to follow what was then the boundary between Slades Plot and Asslets Field, with the recreation ground covering Slades Plot and Lower Slades.

It is then not difficult to see that the Jubilee Allotment Gardens are now on the field known as Upper Slades; slades means 'a valley, dell or dingle, an open space between banks or woods’.

We are not sure when Upper Slades, later known as Middle Field was first cultivated but given its location close to the heart of the old manor (Farnborough Place, now St Peter’s School) to which it then belonged, it was probably relatively early. It was not a part of the original estate purchased by the Empress Eugénie in 1885 (or the Trust established in 1888) but it is thought that along with Laundry Field and North Field, it was bought in the early part of the 20^thcentury by the newly arrived French monks as a part of their expanding farm.

By 1930 the Ordnance Survey map (below) showed the Abbey and Monastery and a small recreation ground with, coincidentally, some allotment gardens attached. Laundry Field can be seen adjacent to the former laundry, and Middle Field was still bigger than we know it today.

In 1955 the Farnborough Urban District Council bought almost half of the eastern side of Upper Slades/Middle Field from the Abbey to create a much larger recreation ground, and if the allotment gardens shown on the 1930 map were there until then, they certainly were not after that. Middle Field then assumed the size we know today as shown below; note the lines on the recreation ground showing the former field boundaries as seen on the earlier maps.

The path from the recreation ground to Church path

October 2010

In June 2011 the field was cut for the first time for some years by Br Michael.

Dom Michael cutting Middle field

June 2011

A few weeks later, when the grass was dry, it was all gathered in by the Rushmoor Voluntary Services ‘Bloomin Marvellous’ gardening team. We could not bale it for animal feed because it had Ragwort in it, so hay rakes were the order of the day.

RVS gathering in the hay (the path to North Field is in the background)

June 2011

The support we have received from the Bloomin Marvellous gardening team who visit the Abbey estate once a month for most months of the year, has been quite superb. Some of the time they would be working up on the main estate, and at other times they would be back on Middle Field, doing whatever we asked. Although they had undoubtedly been back several more times in 2011, the camera caught them again in February 2012 when the work to cut back the boundaries continued, each time taking wood into the centre of the field to be burnt. Someone on Row 7 must have a very fertile patch bearing in mind the amount of potash that was deposited there!

RVS pulling the timber out of the Laundry Field boundary to go on the fire

February 2012

Of course, a lot of tree felling was needed to get rid of the many dead trees on the boundaries, particularly the one adjacent to Laundry Field and Marten Penrose, a member of the Abbey Friends, and now an Allotment Association Committee member was usually on hand with his Practical Habitat Management Conservationist skills to ensure that all was done correctly. He is a good operator with a chainsaw, and is properly equipped with all the safety clothing and training, and so many a dead tree fell with his aid!

Looking towards the recreation ground; Marten Penrose felling another dead tree.

The new path up the side of the allotments now passes through where the pile of branches was lying.

February 2012

Safety was always paramount during this preparation work and a trench was always dug around the fire at an early stage to restrict the risk of the fire spreading.

The early stages of one of the many fires.

February 2012

By the spring of 2012 we felt we were beginning to win the battle in recovering the field. The Laundry Field boundary as it had been so many years before was being revealed and we were beginning to see that at one time there had been a ditch at the bottom of the banking although it had been so well filled by nature’s debris that only the slightest undulation in the surface was visible. This was something that we would need to attend to later.

RVS were back again a few week later and the brush was still going to yet another fire.

March 2012

The summer of 2012 saw the grass growing at a good rate again and so, yet again, the tractor was out in the field in September with the drum cutter attached for another cutting, this time with Marten in the seat.

Then the field had to be cut again

September 2012

Later the same month of this wonderful summer, with the grass well dried already, members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints turned out to help one Saturday to clear the hay off the field. This was their second visit to the Abbey which was in line with their requirement to help in the local community, and with about 30 adults and 20 well supervised children, they completely cleared the entire field of hay onto the tractor trailer in the morning. An amazing, and well appreciated effort!

Then the members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints came to help clear the hay; adults and children too.

September 2012

With the hay gone and an ever increasing list of people waiting for allotments, Philip and his father, Peter Harding from Sandhurst turned up with their World War II tractors to plough the plots in Row 1.

Soon after the hay clearance the first ploughing was done.

Row 1 gets its plots courtesy of the British Anzani Iron Horse Tractor Club.

October 2012

Philip and Peter are both members of the British Anzani Iron Horse Tractor Club, and a month later they had arranged for 5 other tractor owning club members to join them for a second ploughing day. Needless to say with seven tractors on the go we quickly saw Rows 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 appearing.

The second ploughing day in November 2012