History

The site originally formed part of the vast estate of a former Duke of Cambridge whose name is commemorated by the tree lined avenue to the north of the site. The Cambridge Estate, as it was known for hundreds of years, originally occupied the area bounded to the north by Richmond Park, to the west by the eastern aspect of the ancient town of Kingston-upon-Thames, and to the south by the original settlement of Maeldune (Malden), now known as Old Malden. The Eastern boundary of the Cambridge Estate linked with that of another titled landowner and now forms part of the suburban town of Wimbledon.

In the early years of the 20th century the Cambridge Estate began to be acquired for housing and other development by builders, farmers, and the emerging local authorities. The land which now forms the Allotment site was given to the people of New Malden during the period of the Great War (1914-1918) to be used for gardening purposes the stewardship of the land being vested in what was then known as the Borough of Malden and Combe. Subsequent political rearrangements did away with many of what used to be known as ‘local boroughs’ and they were all amalgamated into what today is known as the Royal Borough of Kingston-upon-Thames.

See the maps on the Maps page

To dig one's own spade into one's own earth!
Has life anything better to offer than this?
Beverley Nichols