Page 62 - ALG Issue 2 2021

Southern
Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, Wiltshire, Berkshire, Hampshire and Isle of Wight
The New Enclosures
Cassington Allotments Versus Blenheim Estates, Oxfordshire
When you live in a village which can trace its history back through 3,000 years, cultural heritage becomes
a relative concept. The Cassington Allotments are located in the centre of our village of about 300 households bordering on the village Conservation Area, classified as Green Belt, and comprising a plot of around 4 acres. Like other villages, Cassington has actually lost allotments, at least two that we know of, but this one remains where it has been for over 100 years. It has, over that time, become the green beating heart of our village
and is fully occupied. Young, old and those in between meet to cultivate its rich soil providing organic produce for local families and friends, all with a
low carbon footprint. It is difficult to overestimate the critical importance
of this community recreational space especially during Covid when it has allowed the community to remain active outside and to have social contact, albeit
at a distance. It has also become a haven for wildlife with a particularly rich herpetofauna (lizards, snakes and slow worms) but also a great biodiversity of fungi, plants, insects, birds and bats. The combination of wild hedgerows and human-influenced habitats are why these species cohabit with our gardeners. You can therefore imagine the shockwaves within the village in October 2020 when Blenheim Estates, a commercial development company
of Blenheim House, Woodstock, Oxfordshire, posted leaflets through the majority of doors in the village describing a new development of 40 houses covering about two thirds of our allotments.
The brochure, a “consultation” document was little more than a
sales brochure pitching the various benefits of the development to the villagers. The Cassington Allotments Association were not consulted prior to this brochure being sent nor were they included on the postal list, a surprise as we are Blenheim Houses tenants on this land. The Duke of Marlborough, like many of the landed gentry in the
Young, old and those in between meet to cultivate its rich soil
United Kingdom, is the beneficiary of the brutal history of enclosure that
has taken place within our lands since the 13th century, reaching its height
in the 18th century . The Inclosure Act of 1801 was particularly significant for Cassington where nearly 2000 acres of land were enclosed between 1801-1804, the great bulk of which went to the Duke, more than 1,300 acres, covering most of the land to the north and west of the village . Blenheim set about a reorganisation of the roads, waterways and land surrounding the village. Two hundred years later and Oxfordshire has become a very popular place to
live. The economic success of Oxford as a city and surrounding areas, the rural nature of west Oxfordshire and the fact that local people had built real
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62 Allotment and Leisure Gardener