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92 years a villager
- the story of Arthur Howard
On the 19th January, 1911, Arthur Howard was born at the ‘Arch’,
adjacent to the medieval church at Bottisham. His story covers life
in Bottisham over the next nine decades. In that time many major
changes have been made to the village services and buildings. Oil
lamps have been replaced by gas which, in turn, has been replaced by
electricity. Water, raised from wells by a bucket on a long pole, has
been replaced by piped water. The best water came from the bore-
hole dug down to the greensands, by the Council, on the ‘Hill’
nearby Bedford’s shop (later the ‘Stocks’ restaurant). The quality of
the water varied according to the position of the well in the village.
For example, water from the well in the Pigthle was very hard A
sewerage system, installed when the American airforce arrived in
World War II, has replaced outhouse privies. Privies later built on
the side of the houses replaced the need to pull the ‘box’ on wheels
from the bottom of the garden for ‘disposal’ in a hole dug in the
garden! Some carried their buckets to the allotments on the site
where the Royal British Legion now stands. Entry to this site was
through Church Farm, once the key had been obtained from Charlie
Parker. Such was life until the early 30’s. Arthur has seen brick
buildings erected in place of Tudor cottages; mud tracks with no
footpaths, and deep ditches either side, replaced by metalled roads.
Small boys enjoyed pressing their boots into the road surface of
Town Street (now High Street) and water oozed out from the springs
below the surface. Some 12 beer-houses have been reduced in
number, currently, to one inn; and modern street lighting has
replaced the occasional oil or gas lamp. Education has changed
beyond the conception of the modern child, and the village
population has more than doubled since Arthur’s childhood. His
story also includes the impact of modern social services, transport
changes and the evolution of sophisticated modern communication.