About

Who We Are

We’re a friendly, diverse, dedicated bunch of fruit, vegetable and flower growers of all ages and levels of experience; some of us are complete novices, some of us are about getting the hang of this growing lark, and some of us have been growing here since the early 1960s.

Where to Find Us

Although we’re just off Bury Old Road, Langley Allotments is something of a hidden gem. If you search for the site you’ll find us – don’t be fooled by the blank space in the centre of the map, just above Glebelands Road; there are 90+ allotment plots under that chunk of grey.

A Brief History of our Site

A look at the 1891 Ordnance Survey map on old-maps.co.uk shows that our allotment site once belonged to the estate surrounding Langley House (mentioned in a biography of physicist and mathematician George Green as being the home of Miss Marion Tomlin, until her death in 1910).

 

A Bury Council publication on the nearby Poppythorn Estate Conservation Area fills in a few more details:

“Langley Hall [later Langley House] was built in 1862 for the substantial sum of £10,000. It was a large property set in extensive gardens with greenhouses and orchards. During the First World War it was used as a military hospital and was subsequently acquired by Prestwich Urban District Council for new housing … The Langley Hall Estate and part of the Polefield Estate were purchased by Prestwich Urban District Council in 1923. The Polefield Estate land included the row of cottages which formed part of Poppythorn Fold and the field behind where there were allotments [our emphasis]. The Langley Estate was owned by the Ecclesiastical Commission of England.”

In fact, the allotments must have been established some time during or between 1922 and 1923, as the relevant Ordnance Survey maps on old-maps.co.uk show the area marked as ‘Holyrood’ in 1922 and ‘allotment gardens’ in 1923. We are therefore approaching our centenary in 2022/23.

Langley Allotment Holders Association took over the running of the site in 1998 under Bury Council’s self management agreement.