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PART I
From the memories of Nora Hillman. This article was first published in the West Sussex Gazette on 17 October 1996
'I was born in Steyning in 1910, and lived there until early in 1925,' wrote WSG reader Nora Hillman from Storrington in her memoirs. She died last year.
'A rather different Steyning to the one we now know, although the High Street and Church Street look roughly the same. It was smaller and more compact with many more green spaces in and around it - Shooting Field, Breach Close, Highland Croft, and the meadow opposite the Star Inn, etc.'
'Most people knew one another and many families were related. Family nick names were handed down from one generation to another, such as the 'Dido' Monneries, 'Plummey' Pellings and various families called 'Moke'.'
'Traffic was mainly horse-drawn in my early days, gaily painted wagons, traps, dog-carts; and a horse-drawn cab plied between the station and the town. There were steam traction engines drawing one or more trucks full of tree trunks to Duke's timber yard. These traction engines drew water from the stream, which passes under the High Street near the Star Inn - passing their hose pipes through the hole in the wall above the stream.'
'The fire engine lived below the town clock, the crew being summoned by the bell there. It, of course, was horse-drawn and someone first had to catch the horses, which often occasioned delay in setting out.'
'Cows were driven down the High Street to be milked daily in the barn and outbuildings where the Catholic church now stands.'
'Most tradesmen had handcarts or bicycles for delivery of goods though a few had horse-drawn vehicles.'
'There were more utility shops in those days: four bakers, five grocers, the small International Store, two newsagents, three butchers, hardware, milliners and others.'
'Something we shall never hear or see again is small boys hanging on to the backs of horse-drawn carts, and others envious, shouting to the driver 'Whip behind'. Or Goble who sold fish from his cart, and when in full cry could be heard on the Round Hill! On hot dry summer days the water cart went round spraying the streets - then more dusty than today.'
'To go a little further back: when my mother came to Steyning first in 1896, water was obtained from a pump in the garden. Her neighbours in Mouse Cottage were worse off for they had no source of water at all. They obtained water for cleaning purposes from the mill stream and were supposed to get drinking water from the pump at the foot of the steps leading to Court Farm Cottages. The residents there objected to this especially in dry weather.'
'Even when I was a small child the terraced houses such as Pompey's Terrace and Sir George's Place had only boxed-in outside taps between each two or three houses.'
In part II, Nora's memories continue with an avid description of a working class home around the time of the first world war, plus she explains in some detail how they amused themselves in those pre-television times.
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