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Edgbaston Guinea Gardens are the last remaining example in Birmingham of groups of detached rented gardens which once
encircled eighteenth century Birmingham. Upwards of two thousand town gardens, laid out on sites divided by hedges,
with annual rents of between 17/6 and 30/- were tenanted largely by the skilled working class. The tenants of the gardens
were described in 1849 as "principally inhabitants of the town of Birmingham, engaged in
manufactures and shops."
By
1871 the town had expanded and most such gardens were covered by "shabby suburbs." The Guinea Gardens formed part of
the Estate of Baron Calthorpe which built its fortune on the development of Edgbaston as a high-quality, high value suburb
with an embargo on trades and manufacturing, and a small artisan area towards Balsall Heath.
This meant that there
was a demand for small gardens for rent. However, the modest income yielded would not explain why the site was never
developed.
It may be the land is geologically unsuitable. It is certainly within the
flood plain of the Chad Brook,
a fact made worse over the years by several man-made changes to the brook's watercourse and the culverting of its stream.
The
third Lord Calthorpe was distinctly philanthropic, a friend of William Wilberforce, and a social reformer. In the absence
of other information, it is not unreasonable to ascribe the decision to keep the site as gardens for rent at least in part
to charitable motives.
Leases traded on the gardens at Westbourne Road included the value of buildings on each plot
- brick or wooden summerhouses and a wide range of shrubs, plants and trees. Many contained other buildings such as
arbours, tool houses and privies. The gardens were highly prized and leases would be handed down over several generations
of a family. The summerhouses were literally that - dwellings for holiday periods during the summer; fitted with a stove,
a privy in the garden and a water supply from the brook or the then lodge at the entrance from Westbourne Road.
The
First World War gave the allotment movement an urban emphasis which it has never lost. In the Depression, an allotment
was for many families quite literally a life- saver and, with the Second World War, the Dig for Victory campaign placed allotments
at the front rank of the nation's defences.
But, post war, Britain and especially Birmingham which has been described
as "the capital of the allotment", wanted something a bit more frivolous and a bit less like hard work. Allotments went
into a tailspin of decline.
When Harold Wilson's government took power in 1964 practically the first act was to set
up a powerful committee chaired by Harry Thorpe, professor of geography at the University of Birmingham to report on how to
arrest this decline. Thorpe took the view that "the allotment movement could be virtually extinguished within a short
period of years, unless action is taken to improve the appearance and standards of allotments."
Birmingham City Council
tackled the implementation of his conclusions with typical energy and alacrity. Its Allotments Committee favoured central
pavilions for allotment sites, with individual tool lockers, the removal of hedges, clean and neat perspectives, and the demolition
of ramshackle sheds and greenhouses.
The aftermath of war was austerity, which combined with the natural 'make do and
mend' spirit of gardeners and the ravages of time, had left the Guinea Gardens site run down. By 1973, 44 tenants were
working 49 plots out of 77, many "not well cultivated." At the same time, the Clean Air Act came in, banning coal fires,
and there was a nationwide panic about children dying from being poisoned by licking lead-based paints.
The Birmingham
City Council's Allotments Committee minutes record "the Government Committee of Inquiry into Allotments indicates quite clearly
that unless the whole concept of allotments is radically altered, the appearance of allotment sites greatly improved and a
new attitude adopted by organisations, the movement is destined for extinction."
The Committee banned chimneys on plots,
and, city-wide, removed many hundreds of "old and decrepit" structures deemed to be unsightly. The aesthetic judgements
of a Britain in the grip of a white-hot technological revolution may be regretted, but it cannot be gainsaid. Many years
later,the hard work of Sheila Hughes and her husband, the late Jeff Hughes, then the driving force behind what was left of
the site, caused a characteristic bothie to be reconstructed from recycled materials on plot 32, which may be viewed on application.
Situated
as it is, next to the home of lawn tennis, the Edgbaston Archery and Lawn Tennis Association, and the Botanical Gardens, founded
in 1832 and home to a major collection, the Guinea Gardens is looking to the future with optimism. Enough original features
- chiefly hedgerows - remain to enable English Heritage to include the site, Grade Two listed, in its Register of parks and
gardens of Special Historic Interest.
In a recent debate in the House of Commons it was stated that "signs are hopeful"
for the importance of allotments and that the city allotment is due for a revival.
The best view of the Edgbaston Guinea
Gardens is from the Redditch train, but you have to be quick to catch it !
Monica Foot
Vice-Chair, Edgbaston Guinea
Gardens Society
May 2005
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