Tuesday, 23 January 2018

Home Town

Stowmarket, a market town almost in the centre of Suffolk, population around 20,000.

I was born there, when I was small I went there every week on the bus to visit my Grandma, then went to Grammar school and Youth Club there between 1966 and 1971  and lived there between 1975 and 1980 and for 6 months in 1991/2, also worked there between 1978 and 1980. It's always felt like MY town. I know my way around it, back streets, short cuts- and have even got used to the new roads that have appeared while we lived at the smallholding over by the coast.. Now we are back in Mid Suffolk it's my town again.

Here's a narrow alley, a path from the church to the High Street. When my Mum was small and lived in town there were houses up both sides. I can remember when there were houses on the right and an Eastern Electricity depot on the left. Now the town library is on the left and most of the buildings on the right have been demolished or rebuilt as part of the shops on the main street.


This triangle of grass just off the main street is know to everyone my age and older as "The Camping Land"
Nowadays you can't imagine anyone pitching a tent here but just to the left of my photo is the Stowmarket Guide Hut, it's been there since the 1920s and my late mum said she used to camp here when she was in the guides during the 1930s. When I was small there were many more trees and shrubs and benches for sitting. The only public toilets in town were beside the Guide Hut and every Thursday when we went shopping mum would have to take me to the loo before we went back into town to catch the bus home!


These cottages are just behind me as I took the Camping Land photo. They've been here since the 1700's but nobody noticed them much until 2012. 
 That's when The Museum Of East Anglian Rural Life restored them


Must go on one of the guided tours sometime to see inside.

I'll probably show you around more of my Home Town over the next year.

Thanks for comments yesterday

Back Soon
Sue


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36 comments:

  1. Sooze23 January 2018 at 06:49

    Very interesting, thanks Sue. The guided tour of the cottages would be something I'd love to do.....love seeing how people lived years ago.

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    1. Sue in Suffolk23 January 2018 at 08:16

      I shall definitely go inside sometime during the summer

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  2. KC'sCourt!23 January 2018 at 07:24

    That is very interesting. My dad was born in Bramford Road in the 1930's, and when we were sitting form filling for a change of address, place of birth he quoted 'I Put Some Water In Charlie's Hat' in a loud-ish voice making everyone giggle!

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  3. Joy23 January 2018 at 08:27

    Lovely photos - really interesting, thanks. I'd love to see more.
    J x

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  4. Sue23 January 2018 at 08:28

    I love the traditional salmon pink of houses in your area. You really must go on a tour of those cottages.

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    1. Sue in Suffolk23 January 2018 at 11:07

      According to tradition the colour of Suffolk Pink limewash was made with blood from cattle!

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    2. Sue23 January 2018 at 17:39

      Ewww ... now I don't like it as much. Thank goodness for Dulux ;-)

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  5. Living Alone in Your 60's23 January 2018 at 08:29

    I haven't been to Stowmarket in years, I had a colleague who lived there and travelled on a motorbike everyday to work. Must visit again soon.

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    1. Sue in Suffolk23 January 2018 at 11:06

      Quite a long way on a motorbike - specially if raining!

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  6. Poppypatchwork23 January 2018 at 08:53

    Thank you for the guide, will look forward to hearing your history of the town.

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    1. Sue in Suffolk23 January 2018 at 11:05

      I shall definitely look inside these cottages and other buildings round the town

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  7. Aril23 January 2018 at 09:24

    Don't think I've ever been. Am very fond of Suffolk though.
    Arilx

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    1. Sue in Suffolk23 January 2018 at 11:04

      The Museum of Rural Life with its buildings moved there from other parts of East Anglia is the star attraction

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  8. Alizabethy23 January 2018 at 10:53

    Stowmarket is a lovely market town. I've been on the tour of the cottages and it's like stepping back 50 years or more. It reminded me so much of my old Great Aunts cottage with the same type of wallpaper, crockery and antimacassars on the chairs. The rest of the Museum is well worth a visit too.

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    1. Sue in Suffolk23 January 2018 at 11:03

      Been to the museum itself several times but not the cottages. I shall go this year.
      Lovely to find another reader from Suffolk. Our year in Ipswich was OK but we were glad to get back to the country again, got so fed up with the noise of police cars going along Norwich Rd all day. We were up higher in Preston Drive but they were still LOUD!

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    2. Alizabethy23 January 2018 at 11:58

      I know what you mean as I live just off the Norwich Rd too!

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  9. Sheila23 January 2018 at 12:15

    I would love to see inside that cottage.
    Hugs-x-

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  10. Barbara M.23 January 2018 at 12:50

    I love seeing your hometown. Very pretty.

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  11. Grandmother23 January 2018 at 12:59

    I really enjoyed your post and reading about Stowmarket and seeing the photos. Jean/Winnipeg.

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  12. Sharon23 January 2018 at 13:16

    Stowmarket is a lovely little town. I haven't been there much but I did take my kids to the Museum of East Anglian Life one year when they came with me to visit Mum. They had a really good time. Isn't it funny how you know things like that about your hometown? When I was home last year I went with Mum to the part of Ipswich she grew up in and we wandered around the street where she lived. There were all kinds of stories she could tell me. It was like that the part of Ipswich I grew up in too except when I was growing up it was on the edge of the town in a 'new' estate. Now it is grown right past that and there are houses in fields where we used to play!

    I'm looking forward to learning more about Stowmarket!

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    1. Sue in Suffolk23 January 2018 at 18:37

      Some people moan about Stowmarket, but it's not that bad, busy but at least the traffic doesn't go through the middle of town as it did years ago

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  13. Elaine23 January 2018 at 17:18

    I'll look forward to seeing some more, especially the cottage. Stowmarket sounds like it is a similar size to our market town of Louth, though I think they have grown at different rates.

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    1. Sue in Suffolk23 January 2018 at 18:35

      Stowmarket has gone from about 10,000 people to 19,000 in 40 years.Several huge new housing estates on the edges

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  14. Jean23 January 2018 at 19:12

    It is so interesting to read about Stowmarket and see the photos. I look forward to more. We did visit the town and the Museum of East Anglian Life years ago when we had our campervan.

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  15. Fiona A23 January 2018 at 19:49

    Well, until now the only thing I knew about Stowmarket was that Delia Smith lived nearby! It looks beautiful. As I live in Devon I will have to rely on your blog for my tour!! :)

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  16. Meg23 January 2018 at 19:53

    It would be so interesting going back to your hometown and seeing what is the same and what has changed over the years. Lovely to read about some of its history, I love exploring old towns. Also, glad to read in your earlier post that your Col is home with you again now. That would be a relief to both of you! Hope his strength returns quickly. Meg Xx

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  17. Candace23 January 2018 at 20:27

    This was fun to see parts of "your town" especially your particular memories. More please! :)

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  18. Rachel Phillips23 January 2018 at 22:47

    My memory of Stowmarket is of the train stop and three men getting on there who were in the British Army with office jobs in Whitehall and had lots to say to each other and used to disturb me when I was going down for a course in London and trying to study. We always shared the same table seat. On day three they started including me in their coffee without payment and apologised for disturbing me. One of them always got up at Ilford sheds to get ready to get off and left his mates and they all said cheerio to him. I used to nod. It always puzzled me because the only stop was Liverpool Street where we all got off. On the Friday night on the way back I met them all again and they bought me tea. No words were ever spoken apart from thank you and hello and goodbye. I have not forgotten it.

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  19. Jackie24 January 2018 at 01:21

    Lovely learning about the town. I was a Guider here in my city and I so wish we would have had a Guide Hut and a place like that to camp.

    God bless.

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  20. Lisa30 January 2018 at 07:42

    Catching up with posts!
    How fabulous that these cottages were restored. A tour would be so interesting.
    Lisa x

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