Field scabious Knautia arvensis I think.

yes that is a good id

I grow this in the garden with seed collected in the wilds of sunderland haha

I think it's Devil's-bit Scabious, Succisa pratensis. Knautia has deeply lobed leaves.

some of the leaves on mine are not lobed at all, which makes weeding them out a pain. also devil's bit tends to be a darker purple. but it could well be devil's bit.

where did you see it growing? devils bit tends to be on more acidic soils and field scabious on chalky soils.

Re the colour I thought the photo was a bit over exposed - they might well be darker than they look here?

Aren't the flowers a bit small for arvensis?

at this time of year mine are much smaller than in the height of summer.

Ah well, its a scabious anyway...