Our History
The Dover House Estate was built by the London County Council after World War I, on the land of two large mansions, Dover Park and Putney Park House.
The land, some 94 acres, was once a royal deer park and, in the 1920s, still an area of great natural beauty.
The estate was planned with houses in short symmetrical terraces and pairs, with every house having a vista over green space. The layout and
design of the estate is influenced by the Garden City movement.
By completion, in 1927, 1,212 homes were built. The estate included three allotment sites and a children's recreation ground.
Lying behind Dover House Road, each allotment site was surrounded by houses.
Sites 1 and 3 were approximately 3 acres each and Site 2 was smaller at 2 acres. Sites 1 and 3 each had 70 plots and Site 2 had 40.
The Roehampton Estate Garden Society was founded in 1922. It later incorporated the Roehampton Horticultural Society, founded in 1873, making the renamed Roehampton Garden Society the oldest horticultural society in London.
Until the outbreak of WWII in 1939, the estate was immaculately maintained by the Council and by the residents. But by 1972, the estate and its amenities had deteriorated.
The Greater London Council, which had taken over responsibility for the estate in the 1960s, proposed taking over all three allotment sites for extra housing. The net gain was to be 185 extra houses. Site 1 was to be developed in 1972, Site 3 in 1973 and Site 2, the smallest site, at some time in the future.
In March 1972, the Putney Society, together with the Roehampton Garden Society and the Wandsworth Historical Society, published a joint report that recommended:
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All three allotment sites should be retained
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Proper arrangements should be made for the security of the sites
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Proper arrangements should be made for letting and managing the sites
Except for the fact that it was too late to save Site 1, the report was successful in saving Sites 2 and 3, whose numbering is retained to this day.
In 1972, at the time of the report, the allotments were available only to GLC householders, which included not only those on the Dover House Estate, but also those on the Alton, Ashburton, Eastwood and Ranelagh Estates (6,557 persons).
The fact that not all the allotments were tenanted was attributed to the GLC which, by failing to maintain site security and by allowing plots to remain uncultivated (instead of resuming possession and re-letting them), had pursued a deliberate policy designed to provide evidence of lack of demand. This led to the assumption that efforts to preserve the allotments were bound to fail.
In 1975, after considerable negotiation, the Roehampton Garden Society was granted a 14-year lease to manage Site 2. Virtually all the plots were now let.
In 1978, the GLC agreed also to lease Site 3 to the Society for a period of 11 years.
The Society now manages both allotment sites on behalf of Wandsworth Borough Council.
When the allotments became the responsibility of the Society, tenancies became available to local people, ie those living in Wandsworth.
As many of the original plots have now been halved, there are now about 275 plots on the two sites.
The plot sizes vary, ranging from 1 rod (25 sq m) to 9 rods (225 sq m).
