River Cottage Autumn Church land

Date Published:

23/10/2008

We’re on a mission to put gardeners who want land for growing veg together with people who've got land to spare, so we've invited people to register their interest in our nationwide idea: Landshare

Already, within days of kick-starting registration, thousands of landowners and would-be gardeners signed up.

The sort of land that might be just what a gardener’s heart desires could be a garden share, a yard behind a company, a slice of a farmer's field or a flat roof capable of taking the weight of a few pots. One thing's for sure, we don’t need to limit the variety or size of plot nor even who should get involved. This scheme is for individuals, families, businesses and organisations.

There are lots of companies and organisations with large banks of land right across the UK; utility companies, property developers, supermarkets, government bodies, charities and the church.

Church land

There are more than 140 different religious groups in the UK. Out of these, the Church of England is the biggest known landowner and in fact, one of the biggest landowners in Britain, full stop.

In the early 14th century, the Catholic Church owned at least 25% of the land in England. However, it lost its assets during the reign of Henry VII, with most of them being given to the Church of England. The CoE then continued to bolster its landownings by bequests from wealthy benefactors and grants from the Government, equivalent to around £6 billion today.

Extraordinarily, no-one, including the Church, knows exactly how much land it has owned throughout history, nor how much it owns today. However, it is likely to be over 250,000 acres and in fact, could be considerably more.

The Church of England owns 112,000 acres of agricultural property. The Financial Times says that a conservative guess as to how much glebe land it must own is in the region of 129,000 acres. The CoE additionally owns a significant number of commercial and residential properties, schools, churches, cathedrals, parsonages and church halls.

There is no central body that singularly decides what church land can be used for. Instead, each individual Diocese controls the land in their area.

The Church of England has made its first commitment to Landshare. The London Diocese is now assessing their land to see how much is suitable to add to the Landshare database. If other Dioceses follow their lead, the potential is huge.

But it's not just land that's needed to make the Landshare initiative work - it's also the gardeners. So, register now for the chance to be involved. This is an opportunity for everyone to get together to help create access to fresh, local, seasonal food at a decent price.

Click here for information on Landshare and to register.

More information from River Cottage Autumn.

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