A Brief History of Ripon City Allotment Society

(courtesy of Roger Satariano)

There are six allotment sites in Ripon which are owned by Ripon City Council and administered on their behalf by Ripon City Allotment Society – more of which later.

The site at Riverview was opened in the 1970s : the other five are older but it is uncertain when they were first established. Nevertheless we know the allotment provision was much larger because a substantial part of the allotment land at Bondgate Green was taken to develop the Dallamires Lane Industrial Estate. The plots remaining at Bondgate Green are numbered 73 -105!

Until the Local Government Reorganisation of 1974 took place the six sites were administered by Ripon Borough Council. At that point responsibility for the administration transferred to the Parks Department of the newly created Harrogate District Council. Prior to 1974 annual rents had been £1 / plot although plots at Fishergreen could be had for 10 shillings [50p]. Following the reorganisation improvements such as the installation of water supplies at Fishergreen and Bondgate Sites and replacement of fences were undertaken but rents also began to rise substantially.

In 1974 plotholders at Kirkby Road Allotments formed a committee headed by Joe Cooper. Joe was appointed Chair : George Procter became the Secretary and another 5 members completed the committee. Membership of the association was opened on 1 January 1975. Initially only the Kirkby Road site was involved. Before the end of the year the Bondgate Green site had been co-opted and very soon all sites had affiliated and what became known as Ripon City Allotment Society [RCAS] came into being.

Soon discussions / negotiations began with Alan Ravenscroft, Director of Parks and other officers at Harrogate District Council about rents which were increasing by significant amounts annually. During these discussions possibility of Self Administration was raised. Although prepared in principle to take on the self admin of the sites the terms being offered by Harrogate were not acceptable.

Fortunately Councillor Jack Baily - the father of one of the tenants at Gallows Hill – discovered “allotments” were a parish responsibility meaning Ripon’s allotments had in 1974 been wrongly transferred to the control of the District Council. This was disputed by Harrogate officials but eventually they conceded. Following which terms for a self administration arrangement were negotiated with Ripon City Council. The Ripon sites have now been successfully self-administered for more than 40 years.

When the Society took over the administration of the allotments none of the sites were fully tenanted. Currently all sites are fully occupied and have a waiting list of potential tenants.
The RCAS staged the first Ripon Horticulture Show in 1981 at the High Ripley Hall. The show has been staged every year since except for 1997 [Princess Diana’s funeral] and 2020 Covid. The show moved to Ripon Racecourse in the 1990s when the Hugh Ripley Hall was unavailable.

Also in 1981 members gave their time and built the brick shed near the entrance to Kirkby Road Allotments to store machinery. It was also used for the selling of fertilisers, composts, pesticides etc to members at advantageous prices. The society also sourced a couple of 50kg bags of seed potatoes from a local potato merchant [Robbie Scorer] and sold them on to individual members in 7lb lots. Nowadays seed potatoes come in 2kg nets. We take orders for more than a dozen varieties. The first Seed Scheme [with Suttons Seeds] saw about a dozen members benefit from a 20% discount. Over the years the suppliers have changed on several occasions. Currently 50% discount is available from Marshalls Seeds.

The brick shed was replaced as the shop by a sectional building in 2017 although it is still serviceable and used for storage.

The Top Plot Competition was also instigated in the early 1980s. The first judge was Mr Windle who at the time had a nursery business on Dallamires Lane. Although the judge has changed many times this event is still held in June every year.

Over the years the Society have arranged numerous visits, evening talks, slide shows, and demonstrations. The last of which were a series of talks in early 2020 which weren’t completed because of the Covid lockdowns.

we have a new seed suplier including our exclusive 10% discount code

click on their logo below for more info.

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Ripon City Allotment Society represents the interest of allotment holders within the city.

It promotes the use of allotments and provides services and information for its members.

It also administers six council owned allotment sites in Ripon.