We received an email from Stuart Walter Markham Newbold who has many memories of Nethergate Street where he lived as an evacuee with his mother and sister during the war. We are grateful to Geoffrey Went for this article giving the history of this particular area - (Photos will be added)

A walk down Nethergate Street

This street, also called "Back Lane" and other unmentionables has since pre-war days become one of the most changed streets in the town. Starting from the Broad Street end nearest the common we see on the left the building that houses the offices of "Waveney Truck Parts". This area was formally known as the Railway Meadow and was partly used for growing vegetables and keeping chickens and pigs by Mr. Charlie High and Mr. John "Broomy" Baldry. In earlier days it was used by the railway for coal storage (small pieces were still being dug up in the 1950's) and for dumping soil from the trucks which had been used for transporting sugar beet. The ground was levelled out when the meadow was purchased by Mathes the Bakers and a warehouse was built on the site.

On the right hand side two new houses now stand where George King had his garden and grew fruit and vegetables for his greengrocery round, this was taken over by his son Gilbert on return from the army. Turning right we pass the house on the corner where George used to live until he moved into his new house that he had built on part of his garden in Broad Street. On the left are a row of cottages and on the wall is a plaque "Nether Farm". This small farm was kept by Mr. Ted Reeve, a mere slip of a man at 24 stone. He kept two horses "Blind Tony" who in latter years used to pull a trolley up and down Broad Street moving reams of paper for Clay's Printing Works, this old horse always chose the time and place when to rest and Ted never made him move on until he was ready. There was very little traffic in those days as Broad Street was, except for traffic to Nethergate Street, a dead end to the Railway Goods Yard and the common.

The other horse that Ted kept was used for general work and used for driving a chaff cutter by being fixed to a revolving shaft and walking round in a circle, There was a small hatch in the wall which allowed Ted to shout instructions to whoa, back up or walk on. This area is now occupied by Independent Windows. Also living in one of the cottages was Mr. and Mrs. Ford. Mr. Ford used to sound the Last Post and Reveille at the November Memorial Service for many years and in his younger days would climb to the top of the tower to do this. Moving on past the "loke"which is the lane down to the marshes which are owned by the Council we come to Taylors Engineering which was once the Waveney Dairy owned by Laura Hancy followed by her son Alfred Hancy. During the second World War gallons of evaporated milk in cans were stored in the loft above the milking sheds in case of emergency. After the invasion scare was over this was sold off to schools and bakers. The two small cottages were used by Alfred Hancy and his family and the head cowman.

On the right hand side are the garages of the houses built on what was part of George King's garden. On the left are two semi- detached cottages in one of which lived Charlie High the last Signal Man on Bungay's Railway and is today occupied by his daughter. Next door lived Percy Hancy (no relation to Alfred) who kept a few cows down his yard and had a small milk round (a can on a bike). On the opposite side of the road there used to be a footpath leading up to Broad Street and this area contained several cottages which have since been demolished and replaced with new houses. Further on the right (soon to be demolished) were the offices of Saul & Co. which replaced a row of small cottages. On the opposite side was a detached house and behind this was the yard of "Old" Charles Hancy a hay dealer.

The "Old" was to avoid confusion with "Young" who lived next to the common. Old Charlie used to in the winter when necessary clear the streets of snow using an adjustable horse drawn snow plough, this was triangular shaped and could be made narrow or wide to suit the width of the road. One or two horses, depending on the depth of the snow, would pull this along and would be shod with leather studded boots on their hoofs to prevent them slipping. Charlie would also provide the horse and tumbril to remove the snow from the sides of the road and dump this on the little Common. (When this melted boys could be seen looking in the grass for coins that had been dropped unnoticed in the snow when people were shopping).

On the same side down the yard opening was a small shop kept by Mrs. Bird who kept the street supplied with groceries etc; this little shop closed early in World War 2. Opposite up on the hill lived Percy and Mrs. Harmer and Jerry and Mrs. Read. (This house has now been replaced by a new one) Percy had a cycle shop in Upper OUand Street for many years. Next we see Stone Alley leading up to Broad Street, for many years this was always known as Bowes Lane after the bakers shop that was at the top. Opposite the alley now being developed into a housing estate stood a maze of small houses that held most of the street's inhabitants. These people were mostly moved out in 1938/9 and rehoused in the new estates at Jubilee and Flixton Road. The site was then occupied by an Electric Blanket factory, later to become the Army Cadet H.Q. and then demolished to make way for Saul's and later Jewson's wood yard. Further along behind a black tarred wall (now demolished) was the vegetable garden of "Cranford" a large house in Broad Street once owned by Ronald Wightman of H. Wightman & Son. Part of this now contains a small estate called Meadow View.

Opposite are a row of cottages and the large new house now replaces the entrance and part of "Cranfords" garden. Moving along we come to the back of the Broad Street Wine shop "Threshers" which used to be "Gordon Barratts" for many years and the lane next to it is appropriately called Brandy Lane. On the other side of the road is a detached house and next to it enclosed by a high wall is a bungalow and garden owned by Mr. R. Lovett. This was once the vegetable garden of "Gordon Barratts" and also contained a tennis court where Bungay Tennis Club used to play. On the opposite side the wall encloses what was the garden of The Bank House, now a car park for Barclay's Bank. Years ago the Bank House was for the sole use of the Bank Manager.

Next we come to the old Maltings Building now used by Dragon Fly Motorcycles, during the early part of the last war the lower floor was converted into an air raid shelter. On the other side of the road where the warehouse now stands was a built up area containing several small cottages one of which had a smoke house where "Dod" Ward would smoke herrings and sell them round the town. Opposite stands The Gig House and another small dwelling where once stood stables where sadly, Fred Roife the well known poacher of "I Walked By Night" fame met his demise. On the corner is a small shop once owned by a baker called Barber who also owned the stables and used horses to deliver bread round the town. Where the car park now stands were shops owned by the well known Harry Branford and Buckams. Harry sold almost anything and many an unwary newly married lady who ventured into his shop was usually advised of certain family planning methods so he could gain another regular customer.

Entering into Bridge Street we say farewell to Nethergate Street and hope this has raised a few memories among the older generation and interest in the younger.

Geoffrey Went