The Doverhouse Estate was built by the London County Council after WW1, on the land of two large mansions, Dover Park and Putney Park House. The land, some 94 acres, was once upon a time a royal deer park and, in the twenties, still an area of great natural beauty.

The estate contained over one thousand homes and three allotment sites were incorporated from the outset.  Lying behind Dover House Road, each allotment site was surrounded by houses.  Sites 1 and 3 were approximately 3 acres each and Site 2 was smaller at  2 acres. Sites 1 and 3 each had 70 plots and Site 2 had 40.

The Roehampton Estate Garden Society was founded at the outset in 1922.  It later incorporated the Roehampton Horticultural Society, founded in 1873, making the renamed Roehampton Garden Society the oldest horticultural society in London.

Until the outbreak of WW2 in 1939, the estate was immaculately maintained by the Council and by the residents.  But by 1972, as a result of the war and public indifference, the estate and its amenities had deteriorated.  The Greater London Council, which had taken over responsibility for the estate in the 1960s, proposed to take over all three allotment sites for extra housing. The net gain was to be 185 extra houses.  Site 1 was to be developed in 1972, Site 3 in 1973 and Site 2, the smallest site, at some time in the future.

In March 1972, the Putney Society, together with the Roehampton Garden Society and the Wandsworth Historical Society published a Joint Report recommending, among much else, that:

1. All three allotment sites should be retained
2. Proper arrangements should be made for the security of the sites
3. Proper arrangements should be made for letting and managing the sites

Except for the fact that it was too late to save Site 1, the Report was successful in saving Sites 2 and 3, whose numbering is retained to this day.

In 1972, at the time of the Report, the allotments were available only to GLC householders, which included not only those on the Doverhouse Estate, but also those on the Alton, Ashburton, Eastwood and Ranelagh Estates (6,557 persons).  The fact that not all the allotments were tenanted was attributed to the GLC which, by failing to maintain site security and by allowing plots to remain uncultivated (instead of resuming possession and re-letting them), had pursued a deliberate policy designed to provide evidence of lack of demand. This led to the assumption that efforts to preserve the allotments were bound to fail.

In 1975, after considerable negotiation,  the Roehampton Garden Society was granted a 14-year lease to manage Site 2. Virtually all the plots were now let. In 1978, the GLC agreed also to lease Site 3 to the Society for a period of 11 years. The Society now manages both allotment sites on behalf of Wandsworth Borough Council.

When the allotments became the responsibility of the Society, tenancies became available to local people, now those living in Wandsworth.

As many of the original plots have now been halved, there are now about 250 plots on the two sites. The average area of each plot is 4 rods (100 sq m) though very few are of that size. The areas range from 1 rod to 9 rods.