Stepney City Farm is a city farm in

Stepney Stepney is a district in the East End of London in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. The district is no longer officially defined, and is usually used to refer to a relatively small area. However, for much of its history the place name appli ...

, London, England. It is situated on Stepney Way with its entrance on the roundabout leading onto Stepney High Street and Belgrave Street towards Limehouse. The land is owned by

Tower Hamlets Council Tower Hamlets London Borough Council is the local authority for the London Borough of Tower Hamlets in Greater London, England. The council is unusual in that its executive function is controlled by a directly elected mayor of Tower Hamlets, c ...

through a

trust Trust often refers to: * Trust (social science), confidence in or dependence on a person or quality It may also refer to: Business and law * Trust law, a body of law under which one person holds property for the benefit of another * Trust (bus ...

, "The King George's Fields Trust" chaired by the

Mayor of Tower Hamlets The mayor of Tower Hamlets is the directly elected mayor of Tower Hamlets London Borough Council in east London, England. The first election for this position occurred on 21 October 2010, taking on the executive function of the borough counci ...

. The farm was founded in 1979 by Lynne Bennett; at that time it was called Stepping Stones. Local residents, schools, churches and community groups were consulted and wasteland left after a

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

bomb destroyed the Stepney Congregational Church in 1941 was secured for the farm's use. The site has been through several incarnations since the 17th century. Worcester house (locally known as King John's Palace) was an original building from which ruins remain onsite, and the remains of the old Sunday school and the Stepney meeting house can be seen. Known as the Stepping Stones Farm up until 2009 under the management of Lynne Bennett, the 4.2-acre. From 2009–2012 the farm was technically the legal and financial responsibility of Tower Hamlets Council but is now run by a

charity Charity may refer to: Giving * Charitable organization or charity, a non-profit organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being of persons * Charity (practice), the practice of being benevolent, giving and sharing * C ...

, "Stepney City Farm Ltd", with a 10-year

lease A lease is a contractual arrangement calling for the user (referred to as the ''lessee'') to pay the owner (referred to as the ''lessor'') for the use of an asset. Property, buildings and vehicles are common assets that are leased. Industrial ...

as from 2012 (registered in June 2010 as Charity Number 1136448). The farm also runs workshops in rural crafts through its resident artisans;

blacksmith A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such as gates, gr ...

woodworker Woodworking is the skill of making items from wood, and includes cabinet making (cabinetry and furniture), wood carving, joinery, carpentry, and woodturning. History Along with stone, clay and animal parts, wood was one of the first materials ...

and

potter A potter is someone who makes pottery. Potter may also refer to: Places United States *Potter, originally a section on the Alaska Railroad, currently a neighborhood of Anchorage, Alaska, US * Potter, Arkansas *Potter, Nebraska * Potters, New Je ...

. In 2011, the farm created an 800 square metre community garden and added low-cost growing boxes for community use. In May 2013 a cafe and shop selling farm-reared meat and eggs as well as vegetables grown on-site was opened. It is open to the public six days a week. There is a Farmers' Market every Saturday. It is the home of The Green Wood Guild, a

green wood Green wood is wood that has been recently cut and therefore has not had an opportunity to season (dry) by evaporation of the internal moisture. Green wood contains more moisture than seasoned wood, which has been dried through passage of time or ...

and traditional woodworking craft workshop run by

Barn the Spoon Barnaby Alexander Carder, known as Barn the Spoon (born 1981), is a British artisan spoon carver, teacher, author and co-founder of Spoonfest, the annual international festival of spoon carving in Edale in Derbyshire, UK. He is also founder of ...

Crossrail

In 2010

Crossrail Crossrail is a railway construction project mainly in central London. Its aim is to provide a high-frequency hybrid commuter rail and rapid transit system crossing the capital from suburbs on the west to east, by connecting two major railway l ...

took over approximately a third of the Farm's site as part of the works to build a rail transport link connecting east and west London. This work was scheduled to end in 2018 with the land returned to the farm. In January 2011 Crossrail opened up an archaeological dig at the construction site on the farm. A ventilation shaft next door to the farm leads down to the one of the largest mined caverns in Europe. In mitigation Crossrail worked closely with the farm to allow the existing animals to remain by making major improvements to the farm, especially the drainage of the fields and building a large barn for over-wintering the animals and a rural arts building to house the farm's craftspeople. The farm officially opened these buildings on 8 September 2012.

Lloyd and Leila

The farm's bull and cow Lloyd and Leila were featured in '' Strictly Come Dancing'' with

Nancy Dell'Olio Nancy Dell'Olio (born 23 August 1961) is an Italian-American lawyer and media personality. She first came to public notice as the girlfriend of football manager Sven-Göran Eriksson. Early life Annunziata Dell'Olio was born in New York City ...

and

Anton du Beke Anthony Paul Beke (born 20 July 1966), known professionally as Anton Du Beke (), is a British ballroom and Latin dancer, and television presenter, best known for being a professional dancer and later a judge on the BBC One celebrity dancing sh ...

in 2011. In 2013 the cows' grazing field became unavailable as a result of

construction. The cows were offered a permanent home at

Hillside Animal Sanctuary Hillside Animal Sanctuary, based in Frettenham, Norwich, and with a site at West Runton, North Norfolk, is the United Kingdom's largest home for different kinds of farm animals and horses. The vegan-run sanctuary is funded entirely on public do ...

, but there was a problem with moving them there as they had not been registered properly at birth by the original charity, as has been a legal requirement by the

British Cattle Movement Service The British Cattle Movement Service (BCMS) is the organisation responsible for maintaining a database of all bovine animals in Great Britain; Northern Ireland has a separate database maintained by the Department of Agriculture and Rural Developme ...

for all cattle born in the UK since 1 July 1996. A campaign was started to get permission from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) to grant an exemption to the usual cattle movement restrictions. The exemption was not granted despite the involvement of local Member of Parliament, Jim Fitzpatrick (former Minister for Defra), and the cows were culled in December 2013.

References

External links

Stepney City Farm Website
{{Coord, 51.517155, -0.043302, source:wikimapia_region:GB_type:landmark_scale:5000, display=title City farms in London Stepney