Thursday, June 16, 2022

BRIGG ALLOTMENTS: FOOD FOR THOUGHT DOWN THE DECADES


Some Brigg people today rent allotments from the Town Council to grow their own fruit & veg to supplement what's bought from local shops, or sometimes flowers.
There are plots off Atherton Way/Redcombe Lane and along the northern section of Grammar School Road - the latter to be replaced by a new site on part of Woodbine Park, close to South View Avenue and Preston Drive.
But relatively few residents today will realise that growing produce for the table has been going on at various locations in Brigg for centuries.
This used to be done on a large scale in what were less affluent times.
So-called field gardens were evident from the 11th century, when Brigg began to develop, through to the 19th - some being located on land to the north of the Town Drain, close to where Barnard Avenue (the A18) is today.
To the south these gardens faced properties in the courtyards and alleyways behind Wrawby Street and the Market Place, where most of Brigg's working class families lived.
Maps of Brigg in the 19th and early 20th centuries show extensive allotments to the east of Wrawby Road and to the north of Bigby Road - covering a large area as far as the cemetery. This veg-growing land included today's Glanford Road, Eastfield Road and Nicolgate Lane on which properties were built at various times.
On the western side of Wrawby Road the Workhouse (constructed in the 1830s) had land nearby which was used to grow produce, as did Brigg Grammar School which had boarding facilities for live-in pupils.
Brigg County Primary School - erected on Glebe Road in 1929 - had a garden which grew rhubarb, potatoes and other veg. This was still being sold to pupils' families for a few pence in the late 1960s, with headmaster Reg Stocks keeping an eye on pupils' efforts and offering tips. The rhubarb was wrapped in newspaper prior to being taken home.
Lastly, just a reminder that Brigg Town Council is now accepting entries for its annual competition to reward the best-kept gardens and allotments, with the closing date for entries drawing near. View full details here...

PICTURED: Jason Ladley, who has enjoyed garden & allotment competition success in recent years, pictured on an Atherton Way plot earlier this week; part of an old map showing extensive allotments near Wrawby Road (marked out centre right); and an allotment view from Grammar School Road.