Market Place 1904, Somerton
Market Place 1904, Somerton Ref: 52498
Memories of Market Place 1904, Somerton
Be the first to add a memory of Market Place 1904, Somerton
Somerton & local memories
Read and share memories of Somerton and Somerset inspired by Frith photos.
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
The Market Square
The Library was in the building on the left – I was a real book worm so I loved being able borrow new books every week. We used to go to Sunday school at the church. Reverend Hayter was our vicar (daughters Pauline and Janet) and Mrs Leach used to teach us. She had children about my age Jonathon and Rachel. Behind the Church next to the vicarage was a hall where we went to Brownies… I was a Gnome Sixer! Our Brown Owl was called Mrs Stocker and she had a daughter called Jill.
Next door to the Church (the house with the bay window) was Mrs Witty’s wool shop. I particularly remember she had a beautiful curtain made from glass beads that separated the shop from her living room. I was SO envious of that curtain and always wished we could have one too.
Next door to the Wool Shop was Mr Pattimore’s antique shop, and next to that... Read more
Langport Road And The School
Mr Bryant had a hardware shop (on the right) I seem to remember Mrs Bryant had a Corgi dog (I was always quite scared of it) Up the road a bit on the right I’m sure Mr Garland had a little shop – he was a boot maker.
On the corner you can see the Infant’s School. Mrs Williams ran the school and she had a lovely Labrador dog called Sally. The school became a bit crowded so the little ones were sent around to the Drill Hall Behind Berry. Mrs Lareham was our teacher. We had to walk round the corner to the school two by two holding hands. It was a different era in those days if you were naughty Mrs Lareham hung a notice around your neck with things like “Keep away from me I bite” or “Keep away from me I tell lies” written on a board on strings. In those... Read more
Brown's Fields
We knew this spot as Brown's Fields. Farmer Brown had the dairy in Broad Street and used to drive his cows down the lane by the Lynch. In summer time we used to go down to the river to play and have picnics. In the winter time it was a great place to use your sledge. We often used to sit inside big sacks and slide down the hill (hopefully missing the cow pats). In the summer we used to pick little wild strawberries off the viaduct. I'm sure we weren't supposed to go there but we never came to any harm.
The Station
Our cottage in West Street used to almost back on to the railway line. We lived next door to Mr and Mrs Dummet (Aunty Mable and Uncle Ern) next door again was the telephone exchange (I think a boy called Michael Elliot lived there) then there was Station Lane then the Alms Houses. I remember when we moved up to the Old Brewery House I couldn't sleep because I really missed hearing the trains go by. We were all sad when they closed the station.
Living Opposite The Catholic Church in Somerton.
I lived opposite the Catholic church from 1949 untill 1970 when I joined the army. I was friends then with Bridget Cox and Eileen White. We went to Sunday school at the Congregational church for years. Somehow I fell out with Bridget and Eileen and her family moved away. I remember Martins shop at the end of Langport Road and used to get groceries for my mum. My dad was a thatcher and rode a push bike to work every day. He had a vegetable garden out behind Berry, what we called Behind Town. Now the garden has gone and houses are there called The Thatch! It is beacause my dad had thatched barns there, but someone set them alight. I went to the then infants school which was at the end of the road, near chapmans farm that was. The farm always smelt of pigs. When I left school in 1965 I went to work in Yeovil for a few months but hated the job and so I went... Read more
How I Chose Somerton to Live
Whilst serving in the Fleet Air Arm at RNAS Yeovilton the squadron I was serving on had an organised function in the Red Lion and I well remember standing outside and saying to my brother, who was also on the same squadron, that one day I would like to live in Somerton. That day came in 1975 when together with my wife we left married quarters and moved into a newly built house in Parlklands Way. We have since moved but still live in Somerton. It is quite strange that my brother also lives here in Somerton. It must have been an excellant night at the Red Lion to make me wish to live here but I am happy that I do.
