 The "Eastway Allotments" were known more locally as "Abbott's Shoot" or "Bully Fen".The gardens were established in 1924 by Major Arthur Villiers, director of Barings Bank and philanthropist, to provide small parcels of land for local people in that deprived area to grow vegetables.In keeping with conditions of Villiers' bequeathal that the allotments be maintained in perpetuity, the 80 individual plots were tended for over a century by a tight-knit community.