Deopham Allotments

Contents

Location

The following map shows the location of the allotments on the Ordnance Survey Map published in 1906 incorporating revisions from 1905:

Reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland

Lease of Land

A lease was agreed between the Right Honourable John, Earl of Kimberley, and the Parish Council of the Parish of Deopham on July 31^st 1926. This is a decade after the allotments were shown on the Ordnance Survey map reproduced above.
The lease covered 5 acres of land to be leased for 8 years starting from October 11^th 1925 (so the lease was partially back-dated) in return for an annual rent of £6 to be paid in two equal installments. The land was to be used for “allotments for the labouring population of the said Parish of Deopham and for no other purpose”.
No buildings were to be erected on the site, and the Earl retained the right “to all game and nests and eggs of game, rabbits and wild fowl on the said demised lands with full power for the said Earl to enter upon the said land with dogs and ferrets, nets and guns or otherwise to shoot, hunt and sport over the said land at all times”.
It was further defined that no single tenant should have more than 40 rods (¼ acre) of land whilst there are other tenants available.

A full copy of this lease has been reproduced here.

Rent Collections

This book covers the rent collections for the allotments over the period from October 1927 to October 1944.

Correspondence

Several letters were sent over the years 1943 – 1945 by the Clerk of the Parish Council on the subject of allotments; these are summarised in the table below.

Date	Resident	Address	Message	Effective date	Comment
2/4/1943	Mr A. Paul	Low Common	6 months notice to quit allotment 1A		[No reason given]
2/4/1943	Mr W. Matthews	Hall Lane Hackford	6 months notice to quit all allotments		[No reason given]
2/4/1943	Mr F. Leveridge	Deopham	6 months notice to quit allotments 2&3		[No reason given]
22/9/1943	Mr R. Burgess	Low Common	Accepted for a 1/2 acre allotment	from Oct 11th
23/9/1943	Mr H. Davey	Low Common	Accepted for a 1/2 acre allotment	–
23/9/1943	Mr H. Monks	Low Common	Accepted for a 1/2 acre allotment	from Oct 11th
23/9/1943	Mr H. Mofar [?]	Low Common	Accepted for a 1/2 acre allotment	from Oct 11th
23/9/1943	Mr S. Davey	Hackford	Accepted for a 1/2 acre allotment	from Oct 11th
23/9/1943	Mr E. Hodges	Hackford	Accepted for a 1/2 acre allotment	from Oct 11th
23/9/1943	Mr A. Phoenix-Stone	Deopham	Accepted for a 1/2 acre allotment	from Oct 11th
25/9/1943	Mr W. Matthews	Hackford	Accepted for a 1 acre allotment	from Oct 11th	Part of Mr Phoenix’s & will be measured & maintained for you.
27/9/1943	Mr A. Paul	Low Common	Accepted for a 1/2 acre allotment	from Oct 11th
27/9/1943	Mr F. Leveridge	Victoria Inn	Accepted for a 1 acre allotment	from Oct 11th
27/9/1943	Mr E. Collins	Half Moon Inn	As you already occupy about seven acres of land the Council are not allowed to let you have any land from allotments.
3/10/1945	Mr R. Burgess	Deopham	Accepted for a 1/2 acre allotment	from Oct 11th 1945
12/10/1945	Mr E. Patrick	Deopham	Accepted for a 1/2 acre allotment	from Oct 11th 1945

Invitation to Purchase

In 1958 the Council was invited to purchase the allotments land, but they declined.

Sale of Allotments field

The field used for the allotments was sold by estate agents Hall and Palmer with the assurance that planning permission could be obtained for its development. When this was refused, Mr. Hall was obliged to buy back the land.

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Date	Change
26/6/24	Published