Stepney City Farm, London

A city farm of about 4.2 acres in Stepney, east London, founded in 1979 by Lynne Bennett as 'Stepping Stones' on the wasteland left after the Stepney Congregational Church was destroyed by bombing in 1941. It combines livestock, a community garden, a farmers' market and traditional craft workshops.

Alongside sheep, cattle and geese, the site runs an 800 m² community garden (opened 2011), a Saturday farmers' market, and rural-craft workshops in blacksmithing, woodworking and pottery, including green woodworking by the Green Wood Guild.

Run by founder Lynne Bennett until 2009 and since then by the registered charity Stepney City Farm Ltd, on a ten-year lease from 2012 for land owned by Tower Hamlets Council through the King George's Fields Trust. Income comes from the café and shop opened in May 2013, the Saturday farmers' market and craft workshops.

The farm has kept a wartime bomb site in community agricultural use for more than 45 years and built an income mix of direct sales and crafts. In the 2010s, however, Crossrail took roughly a third of the site for construction of the east–west rail link. As mitigation Crossrail funded improved field drainage, a large barn for overwintering animals and a rural arts building, opened on 8 September 2012 — but in 2013 construction removed the cattle's grazing field, and although the local MP intervened, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs refused an exemption for moving unregistered cattle, and the two animals were culled in December 2013. The case shows how directly a major infrastructure project can cut into the operating base of an urban farm.

This entry is compiled from the public sources, official sites and research below.

• ArticleStepney City Farm - Wikipedia ↗en.wikipedia.org