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Somerton
Somerton maps
Historic maps of Somerton and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Somerton maps
Somerton area books
Displaying 1 of 11 books about Somerton and the local area. View all books for this area
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Memories of Somerton
Displaying a selection of personal
memories of Somerton.
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Broad Street, Somerton.
I lived in Somerton from 1942 to 64, and my parents long after that. I do remember the cafe at Lazenby's. Their shop was a bit of a competitor to ours, both being grocers! My mum did a lot of dressmaking, and I think we bought materials in Harris's. I went to Monteclefe school, and the teachers were then Miss Godfrey, and Miss Bibby. I quite liked Miss Bibby, but not Miss Godfrey. Yes, the toilets were rather primitive, extremely cold, so you only went when you were desperate. My brothers went to the Boy's school in Broad street, and it was run by Miss Lacey. She was great! We went to the youth club behind the vicarage, and were allowed to play tennis on the Vicarage court. There were sometimes garden parties. The vicar was Mr Hayter, and his wife, and they had four children. Stephen, John, Veronica, & Angela, I think. We had dances Upstairs in the Red Lion Rooms, and the playing field was behind the Half... Read more
The Viaduct.
A great place for walks, and sledging in winter, great fun, and Gordon Adams went into the hedge at the bottom and broke his leg. Mrs Brown from the dairy played the organ in church, and played for my wedding.
Railway Line.
To the right of the bridge was the Telephone Exchange, and in my day Sally Till lived there, and her mum was the telephone operator. It was alleged she listened in on calls, as you could in those days. But no-one really cared. You just learned to be careful what you said to your friends!
Monteclefe Girls School.
I used to go to Montecleffe girls school from 1956 untill 1959. It was an all girls school then with the toilets outside and they were wooden seats! Mr. Davey was the care taker. My teacher in class one and two was Miss. Swain and in clases 3 & 4 it was Miss. Bibby. She was a strict old woman. Her house adjoined the school.
Memories of Somerton.
Yes I remember The Triangle, I used to buy fish and chips at Coopers fish and chip shop. They had a collie dog like Lassie, called Shaun. My dad used to take me to Mr. Law's shop to buy my school shoes. His shop was on the left of the picture. On the right used to be a carpet shop.
I Used to Live Here
I grew up living in a cottage on West Street (just out of shot on the left) Next door to Mr and Mrs Vincent. Mr Vincent had the garage over the road... I remember that he had a penny farthing bike in the window.
The Cooper's had a fish shop in the Triangle there was a marble slab in the middle of the shop and they also sold fruit and vegetables. I think Mr Cooper (Ron) also had a van and delivered fish to the surrounding villages.
One the left you can see Leonard Hughes Shop - my friend Phillip Mitchell lived there. They were next door to Mr and Mrs (Bill and Joyce) Chapman who were farmers.
Next door to the Vincent's on the left was Mr Law's shop - he was a Cobbler and also sold shoes. Mum used to buy our school daps there.
Next to that was Mr and... Read more
Gran And Grandpa Lazenby's Shop
Gran and Grandpa Lazenby had a grocery shop here. I believe they also had a café next door but I can’t remember that. I do remember looking through the window in the back of the shop and seeing my Mum slicing bacon on a big red machine.
Mum tells me her worst job was to turn the handle of the coffee roasting machine – she hated the smell of roasting coffee and to this day only ever drinks tea.
My other memory is having my lunch in the garden at the back… I used to sit in Grandpa’s lovely garden on a little flower pot and use a bigger one as a table.
I’m told Mum used to cycle out to all the farms to collect the grocery orders and then Grandpa Lazenby used to deliver them in his grey van. I can remember looking through the windows in the shop door and watching them leaving –... Read more
Post Office And Boy's School
The Red Lion Building used to be a Post Office run by Mr and Mrs Salter. Next door to was the Boy's School. The boys and girls went to separate schools in those days – the girls were taught by Miss Bibby at Monteclefe and the boys by Miss Lacy at the Boy’s School. I think I’d been at Monteclefe for a year when they moved us all up to the Boys School. We were crammed in together while they modernised Monteclefe. When we eventually moved back Monteclefe became co-ed and we were taught by Mr Davis and Miss Swain – Miss Lacy was our head mistress. Miss Lacy was very creative and I loved our art classes. I loved going to school but my worst memory is of school milk. We used to be given 1/3 pint every day. In winter the frozen milk was brought in and placed near the big stoves in the class rooms to thaw out. I... Read more
