Growing Knowsley’s Future: Uncovering Our Food & Farming Heritage
“it’s easier in some places to buy a vape than an apple”.
A food desert refers to an area where residents, irrespective of income or location, lack easy access to affordable, healthy food options like fresh fruit and vegetables.
A study in 2021, by University of Liverpool postgraduate Georgia Collins, revealed 77% of Knowsley residents could be classed as living in a food desert. This means many people within Knowsley have to travel long distances to reach supermarkets or stores offering affordable fresh produce. Without a car, they often rely on small convenience shops – where options are limited and prices tend to be higher. These conditions affect overall health, wellbeing and community life.
Growing Knowsley’s Future grew out of the community-focused work Alchemic Kitchen, supported by Foodrise (previously Feedback), delivers across Merseyside as part of our mission to transform food systems for climate, nature and justice. We imagine a future where food is good for people and planet.
We work with communities to build truly just and resilient alternatives to the current food system. We work with local people and producers to ensure shorter, more transparent supply chains; provide good, meaningful jobs in food. We recognise food as something that connects people – not simply a commodity – and we work to ensure that fresh, sustainable food is available and accessible to all.
Through community-based conversations, we knew that Knowsley had once been made up of lots of farms, dating long before the borough was established in 1974. What we didn’t yet grasp was the sheer quantity of farmland subsumed by industry, housing, retail and roads. This project has only scratched the surface, but it shows how the area went from farmland to food desert within just a few generations. We also realised we were at risk of losing the memories of the people who lived and worked on the farms.
Discussions with Knowsley Archives revealed a trove of maps, photographs, documents and ephemera relating to food and farming – a story that had not previously been gathered together. This became the starting point for our Heritage Lottery Fund application; a project to capture stories and memories through creative, community-led practices. Learning from the past, we hope to inspire new generations to explore how they might shape Knowsley’s food future.
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Growing Knowsley’s Future has been made possible with The National Lottery Heritage Fund. Thanks to National Lottery players, Growing Knowsley’s Future has been able to explore and record the food and farming heritage of the borough of Knowsley and secure it for future generations.
The National Lottery Heritage Fund is the largest funder for the UK’s heritage, using money raised by National Lottery players, supporting projects that connect people and communities to heritage. Their vision is for heritage to be valued, cared for and sustained for everyone, now and in the future. From historic buildings, our industrial legacy and the natural environment, to collections, traditions, stories and more. Heritage can be anything from the past that people value and want to pass on to future generations. They believe in the power of heritage to ignite the imagination, offer joy and inspiration, and to build pride in place and connection to the past.
