South Cave Market Place

My husband Bill and I married in Brantingham Church on a cold day in January 1959, the snow lay thickly on the ground. We moved into Holderness Cottage, adjoining Holderness House, the home of Mrs Dunn, an elderly lady of whom we became great friends. The cottage was right next to the Town Hall, Mr & Mrs Doug Thornham lived upstairs in the Hall. Every hour the clock on the Town Hall chimed out and vibrated in the cottage, but funnily enough we eventually got so used to the noise, if the clock ever stopped we seemed to notice immmediately! It was a very small cottage, two bedrooms and two small rooms downstairs with no proper bathroom. I had my 3 children there and we lived there until 1970 when we bought our own home in Wesley Close. We lived there until 1981 and then moved back to 66 Market Place, the home of my in-laws who had just recently then passed away within a short time of each other. They were George and Vera Carr who had lived there since the beginning of the war. Mr George Carr's mother and sister lived a few doors away from them further down the street, which is now a shop and hairdressers. There were quite a few members of the Carr family living in South Cave and the West End at that time. There were also numerous members of the Thornham families scattered about in South Cave too at that time, and many other families who had lived and farmed there. We were farming then, my husband was contract farming with his father for some years when we first married and then he branched out on his own. We kept our implements at his father's smallholding and also reared pigs, calves, sheep, goats and chickens there. In August 1984 we moved to our smallholding in North Newbald where I still live. Over the years we reared all kinds of livestock, we had a Jersey cow called Daisy, and I made butter and curd from some of her milk. I reared many breeds of poultry and other birds, and small animals, and also kept goats for many years, which I eventually had to learn to milk as my husband was often out at work on the land. I made curd from that milk and once had a go at making cheese too. After many years of breeding sheep and everything, when my husband retired he always wanted to breed horses, so we sold everything else and he kept Shetland ponies, until unfortunately I had to let them all go when he became ill and needed full time care. Over the years I derived great pleasure from keeping the different animals, they all had their own personalities and some of them were quite comical at times, especially the goat kids. Often when I visit South Cave I see many changes which have been made there. In the Market place we had the Co-operative shop on the corner and Jackson's shop next door, which is now a furniture shop and several small shops. The Post Office is still there but several house have been built around it and housing estates. The Chemist shop (Mr and Mrs Brumfields) is still there but is now 'Boots'. Next door to the Chemist the Take-away, was a house and saddler's shop. The Bear Inn pub and The Fox & Coney are still there after many alterations to the properties. We also had a haberdashery/babywear shop which later turned into a barbers shop, which I think is now another kind of shop. Further up the newsagents was a grocery store. In Church Street just around the corner from the chemist Mr & Mrs Ward had a small gift shop, and a little further down Mrs Mary Thornham eventually had a haberdashery/babywear shop after the other closed down. There were several shops too at the West End of South Cave, which some have changed into different businesses over the years. We also had a fish and chip shop near the Town Hall (Mabel's) which is now the Veterinary Surgery. We also had a small grocery shop next to the bus stop in the Market Place (Scutt's) which was later run by many different people, some of whom later stayed in South Cave. South Cave has expanded quite a lot since I first moved there with all the housing estates and properties being built. In those days most people knew each other often related, I felt quite an outsider for many years before I was accepted as one of the 'Carr' family, as did most new-comers to the village! Nowadays most people are too busy dashing off to the towns to work they haven't time to get to know each other! The church is situated nearer the West End of South Cave next to the Cave Castle Hotel. I believe they also have many activities going on there now, as well as the Sports Centre, the library and the school, which has also expanded over the years. The Surgery/Health Centre is situated past the West End towards North Cave now. It was in Church Street for many years before expanding. It was originally in the Market Place in the big house belonging to Dr and Mrs Storrs-Fox and the surgery was run by the Doctor alone with help from Mrs Storrs-Fox. So many changes have taken place in South Cave over the years, probably not always for the better, but we all have to embrace progress eventually I suppose...