History

Mansewood High Park Allotments was founded in 1951 during Glasgow's housing expansion following the Second World War. 
 
During the war, the city had been heavily bombed by the Luftwaffe, with areas like Clydebank suffering particularly bad due to the Clyde shipyards being a key target of the raids. Over 13th and 14th March 194, practically the entirety of Clydebank was destroyed. Out of 12,000 residential buildings in the town, only eight remained undamaged. 35,000 were made homeless. With thousands of other damaged buildings across the city, permanent housing was needed urgently.
 
On top of this, even before the war, Glasgow's surviving housing weren't really up to standard. The sandstone tenement blocks that had been built in the Victorian times as slum housing for the city's workers still lacked running water for the most part, and overcrowding was rife and many were in urgent need of repair. 
 
These problems were a major motivation behind the housing expansion that the council embarked on after the war in the areas surrounding Glasgow City Centre. The Mansewood area was one that 
 
With housing though, you need local amenities – the facilities that make living in an area easier. As food rationing was still on-going, there was a real need for food, so allotments were popular with communities. The creation of a dedicated allotment at Mansewood High Park was welcome. 

The Mansewood Site- Henry's Croft Farm

Henry's Croft Farm (later Mansewood Allotments), listed on William Roy's Military Survey of Scotland 1747-1755

Plans for an allotment site around the Mansewood area were put forward around 1951. Glasgow City Council chose to compulsory purchase a site known as Henry's Croft Farm on top of what is now Mansewood High Park to build the allotment. The farm itself was a collection of arable fields around and on top of the hill that were used for grazing sheep and cattle and agriculture had been going on at the site since at least the 18th century. Arguably, building an allotment on the site in the 50s helped to maintain a link to historic local food production that would probably have been lost to concrete in the development-bonanza of the 1960s and 70s.

Mansewood High Allotments, as the site was called, proved to be very popular and most plots were let out quickly. High demand at the site led to an extension, but over time this popularity fell and the allotment site was made smaller. As many older plotholders gave up their growing spaces, the allotment began to fall into dereliction.

Rebirth

In the late 1990s, new plotholders moved on to the site and reinvigorated Mansewood, tiyding the site up and reletting derelict plots to budding growers. Since then, things have only improved and all of the plots on Mansewood Allotments are currently let, with a waiting list open for people who want to join.  The site is managed by the Mansewood Allotment Committee – a group of plotholders at the site who are elected to positions each year. There's a great community spirit at Mansewood, and all plotholders are encouraged to get involved with the committee and to help out at communal work parties.