A Potted History of the Site

The site, originally a quarry, was acquired by Leeds City Council (then Leeds Corporation) as an allotment site on the 26th February 1892.

By the 1930's several hundred huts and greenhouses of varying size and structure had sprung up. By the mid 1930's it was the aim of the Corporation to tidy up the site somehow with help from Wades Charity.

This organisation started in 1530 during the reign of King Henry VIII when Thomas Wade left property in his will which has since been added to by others, for the benefit of the people of Leeds. Suffice to say it’s been running a long time and the charity has a long association with our allotments.

The provision of Model Allotments was envisaged as far back as 1938 but the outbreak of war in September 1939 prevented progress.

The site was re planned again in 1956/1957 with the help of a grant from the Trustees of the Wades Charity. In 1955 the site was completely cleared and on the 26th June 1958 the site was re-opened by the then Lord Mayor of Leeds Alderman Mrs Mary Pearce (JP).

The total area of the site exceeds 8 acres and the new re-modelled site provided 119 allotments the majority being 10 square rods or 300 square yards.

Many of our plots are now divided in half both to meet the demand for allotments and to allow for the fact that many people no longer have a lifestyle that allows them to maintain a full plot.

In recent years Wades charity have helped as we have renewed or refurbished all the gates on the site with grants made available by the charity.