ALLOTMENT GARDENS: RESEARCH CHALLENGES AND SURPRISING DISCOVERIES

Urban Farm DB summary

This paper documents how archives were used to write a history of the twentieth-century urban allotment movement in England. Beginning with a case study of allotments in Ilford (now London Borough of Redbridge), 100 years of council minutes were used as a foundation. A demographic profile of plot holders in Ilford/Redbridge showed that, contrary to established narratives, they were not necessarily from poor and working classes but reflected their communities.