MEMORIES OF
CATTLE LAITHE, KNOTTINGLEY
by JEAN NORFOLK
PART ONE
When
I was six-months old my father, after months of fruitless searching,
found an empty cottage at No. 3 Cattle Laithe, Knottingley, and this was
to be my home for the next 18 years. It was reached by what was then no
more than a muddy track leading from the roundabout and the crossroads.
Although
we, like most other folks in those days, had very little money, I can
truthfully say that they were on the whole very happy years for me.
Living at Cattle Laithe may have seemed like a last resort to many
people but I remember the years I spent there with great fondness.
The
very last cottage, the largest dwelling in the row, was occupied then by
Mrs Lawrence who was our rent collector and her husband, and their two
sons Stan and Cecil (Tish). Mr Lawrence died whilst I was still very
young so apart from a photograph of him with his dog ‘Rags’ I have
no recollections of him at all, but I remember Stan and Tish very well.
In later years the Seaton’s took over when Mrs Lawrence moved away
into a bungalow.
Our
other neighbours included the Skinner’s and Hardingham’s, June,
Olive, Ron, Bert, Alan and Pauline and of course their mother Jessie;
Fred and Mary Bugg and their children George (Barker), Margaret, Terry
and Christine; the Oldfield’s, the Wilkinson’s, the Wainwright’s,
Mr and Mrs Belton and their children Lorraine and Edward, and the
Wakefield’s, to name but a few.
The
Wakefield’s were evacuees from London during the war and included Mrs
Wakefield along with her children Ernest, Dorothy, Tommy, Johnny and
Douglas. Mr Wakefield was a serving soldier.
Further
along the lane leading to ‘The Valley’ (as mentioned by George
Barker in his article in the March issue of 'The Digest') at Beehive
cottage, lived Mr and Mrs Bamford and their son and daughter Frank and
Lillian. Lillian later married Eric Tunningley. Mrs Bamford ran a tiny
sweetshop from her kitchen and I once got a nasty bite from their big
black dog ‘Boss’ when I was about six or seven years old. It grabbed
my leg when I went to buy sweets. There was no hospital visit or doctor
though, Mr Bamford sucked out the poison and spat it out and then Mrs
Bamford put some iodine on the wound and bandaged it. In later years the
Brett brothers Jim and Jack, together with their wives Margaret and
Barbara, moved in to Beehive Cottage.
Further
along the lane and across the valley lived Mr and Mrs Bill Ross with
their children Ann, Stuart, Linda and Jennifer, and around the corner
was the home of the Scott’s. I always remember the huge crossed
whalebones that marked the entrance to their garden. We were told that a
seafaring man had once lived there before the Scott’s arrival. Peter,
Brian and Hilda Scott are the three that I recall most vividly. Two
older sisters, Madge and Irene, married two American brothers either
during or shortly after the war I believe.
These
are just a small number of the people that I remember. There were many
more of course who touched my life in one way or another and I shall
recall them later.
The
cottages at Cattle Laithe were reputed to have been used by Oliver
Cromwell’s men at some time as a sort of ‘barracks’ whilst he
(Cromwell) was staying at Pontefract Castle, and they were turned into
cottages at a later date. Another theory was that they had been used as
stables for Cromwell’s horses. I rather think the latter explanation
is more feasible than the first, although my father (and I’m inclined
to agree with him) said both ideas were a load of rubbish! He thought
they had simply been farm workers cottages at some time, considering the
fact that there were at least half a dozen farms then within a radius of
a few miles.
Mum
and Dad had hardly any furniture whatsoever then so they went to Jay’s
Furniture shop in Cornmarket, Pontefract and bought a bed, a sideboard
and a table and chairs ‘on tick’. I think my mum told me they should
have paid five-shillings a week for them, but they were purchased on
credit against all dad’s principles, and he paid more than double that
amount each week, just so that he could clear the debt as quickly as
possible.
I
can’t remember him ever buying anything on credit. He hated debt.
"If we can’t afford it then we either wait until we can – or we
do without!" was his motto. Dad always seemed to have a tiny ‘nest-egg’
tucked away for a rainy day. Not a colossal amount of course but we were
never totally ‘skint’. Indeed, Dad’s canny year long saving of a
couple of shillings a week at Deacon’s toy shop in Middle Row,
Pontefract, created some of the most magical Christmas’s for us as
children, even during the bleak times of war.
My
brother Ken was born on 13th March 1936 and was named Kenneth
Arthur after my grandad Hobman.
I
have vivid memories of when we received new bikes for Christmas one
year. Ken got a blue three-wheeled tricycle and I got my first ‘two-wheeler’
– a blue fairy cycle. I remember Stan Lawrence dressed in army
uniform, teaching me to ride by running along behind me, holding the
seat until I was confident enough to ‘go it alone’. Ken and I were
more thrilled though with two tiny clockwork mice that Dad gave us and
we spent hours chasing them around under the beds!. Another year I was
thrilled to get up on Christmas morning and discover a much longed for
desk and chair. I lifted the lid and found the entire surface inside
covered in bars of chocolate, Mars Bars, Milky Way, Smartie’s etc.
Underneath were books, crayons, pens and pencils – sheer heaven! I’ve
never forgotten those wonderful childhood Christmas’s and I still
recall how dad used to always have another surprise tucked up his sleeve
for later. When all the excitement was over and we were having our tea
he would produce yet another little gift for us - a book or another
small toy, something to keep the magic of Christmas going for just a
little while longer. Mum said that when we moved to Cattle Laithe Dad
was like a teenager. He was the most undemonstrative of men really, but
having his own home at last was a joy to him.
He
developed a passion for auction sales and my poor mum used to wonder
what on earth he would bring home next on the carrier fixed to the rear
of his push-bike. Sometimes she was pleased, as she was the day he
brought home a box of kitchen equipment, pans, cutlery and crockery.
Another time he returned triumphantly with a couple of flat irons, a
toasting fork and a small wooden stool. The stool was really unstable
and through the years Dad constantly warned us not to stand on it or it
would topple over. I don’t know how it survived for so long, but it
did. Mum used to take it with her when she went pea-picking. One day mum
was speechless when Dad returned home from Selby on Uncle Dick’s horse
and cart with two huge watercolour paintings. Too big to fit on his
bike, they depicted Angels with outstretched wings standing guard over
tiny babies in their cribs.
"For
goodness sake Charlie!" she protested " Take those bl***y
things down!" when Dad hung them on the wall opposite the
fireplace, but he thought they were great.
Mum
often said that for someone who claimed to be non-religious he had a
strange choice in paintings and they remained on the wall for quite a
long time. Dad even used to hang holly and paper chains on them at
Christmas!
One
day in exasperation, my Mum ‘accidentally’ knocked one off the wall
so she took the other down too and that was the end of the angel
pictures. Some weeks later Dad brought home an oil painting of a
racehorse. Although my mum wasn’t too keen on it she admitted that it
was preferable to the angels. I loved it and I remember marvelling at
the expertise of the artist in capturing the sheen on the horse’s
coat. I don’t know what happened to it or where it ended up, but it
hung above our fireplace for some years.
Our
cottage had one room downstairs dominated by a huge black range. A brick
built copper with a grate underneath stood on the right hand side and a
brown earthenware sink with a cold water tap on the left. When we first
moved in there was no water inside, everyone used a communal pump in
front of the dwellings. Mains water was added when I was about two years
old.
A
door from the living room led through into a large walk-in pantry and
the stone stairs that went up to the landing and bedroom. Next to the
stairs was a back door which was never used simply because it didn’t
lead anywhere! The cottages rested against a backdrop of limestone
scarp, which meant a couple of feet or so between the limestone facing
and the cottage rear walls. When you sat in the tiny window seat on the
landing, which served as a second bedroom, you were on the same level as
the fields and as a child I spent many hours watching ploughs, tractors
and harvesters come within a couple of yards of the landing window.
The
front bedroom had a tiny fireplace with a grate for a coal fire and a
window that overlooked the garden and the flagged path that led from the
front door to the gate in the grey stone wall. Across the lane beyond
the grey stone wall were the coal sheds and behind them the communal ‘midden’
and the toilets. The toilets were simply wooden seats with a hole in the
middle and a bin underneath. A nightmare when you needed to ‘spend a
penny’ at night. The number of times I’ve sat on the loo in pitch
darkness with my Dad standing guard outside the door! He would shine his
torch on the ground to reassure me that he was still there and if ever
that beam of light disappeared for a second I’d call out "Dad?!
Dad?!" and he’d swiftly shine his torch under the door again
saying wearily "I’m still here, I’m not going anywhere."
There
was no gas or electricity and when we first moved in to the cottage the
only form of lighting we had was candles. All the cooking was done on
the big black range and my Mum produced some wonderful meals in that
oven and some delicious baking – homemade breadcakes were a treat!
Dad
came home one day with an Aladdin paraffin lamp from Selby market. It
was the kind of lamp that needed a ‘mantle’ which I think we used to
buy from the local ironmongers shop. You placed it in the lamp, lit the
mantle with a match and the protective film on it burnt away in a flash
leaving an extremely delicate oval shaped mesh that produced a brilliant
light. Each mantle lasted a couple of months or so if you were careful
but woe betide you if you accidentally touched it. It would either end
up with a hole in it so that its performance was impaired or just
totally disintegrate into a small heap of white ash. My parents got wise
to the fragility and learned to always keep a couple of spares on hand.
Dad’s
garden and his livestock became not only a means of providing food but a
labour of love for him. I remember when I was about 5 years old, he
sectioned off a tiny patch of garden and told me it was mine…"My
Garden!" It was not much bigger than a hearthrug but I was thrilled
to bits when he planted pansies and forget-me-knots around the border
and put a small rose bush in the middle. Over the years the rose bush
gradually took over in spite of being cut back frequently and eventually
my garden disappeared beneath it, although it was breathtaking in
summer, a mass of pink blooms!
Directly
in front of the cottage was the small flagged yard and the flower
garden. Across the lane, behind the coal sheds and the toilets was the
large back garden where Dad grew all his vegetables and kept his
livestock. He was in his element, he loved it. He built chicken runs and
rabbit hutches and put down an old tractor tyre that he’d scavenged
from somewhere, cut in half and filled with water to create a makeshift
pond for half-a-dozen ducks.
He
got most of his chickens and other livestock from Selby market, brought
home of course on the back of his bike! Sometimes he brought a couple of
rabbits or another time half a dozen Rhode Island Reds. Mum got quite
used to having a cardboard box standing on the hearth with two or three
tiny yellow chickens in them – weaklings from his latest batch that
needed warmth to keep them alive. Sometimes they made it, sometimes not.
Dad always planned ahead and when the hens produced lots of eggs during
the summer laying season, it was a common sight to see half a dozen
buckets of eggs covered in Isinglass to preserve them, standing on the
pantry floor. They kept us going right through winter most years.
My
earliest memories are of Dad taking me to school on my first day at
Ferrybridge Infants. The headmistress then was Miss Burton with Miss
Alka and Miss Burns, the other two teachers. In those days, each pupil
had a little fold up bed and every afternoon we had to take a half-hour
nap. I think this was just an excuse to let the teacher have a break!
We
got a bottle of milk each day, but unless there were any ‘spares’ we
Cattle Laithe kids had to save ours until lunchtime – it was too far
to walk home – so we could have a drink with our packed lunches.
I
recall a brother and sister named Needham, who lived at Grove Hall. I
forget their Christian names, but we used to swap sandwiches to vary our
menus! No school dinners until a few years later.
I
wonder if anyone remembers the two bridges that we passed under on our
way to and from school each day before the A1 replaced the old Great
North Road? I remember it as the place where my schooling began.
Whenever we approached the bridge Dad would spell out the words on the
advertising slogan displayed there; LOCKHEED HYDRAULIC BRAKES –
BRITISH LABOUR – BRITISH CAPITAL – BRITISH MANUFACTURE. Ah – those
were the days!
When
I was eight, Ken started school too. Right from the very first day he
hated it. He cried every day. Ken had to wear glasses which he was
totally averse to. Whenever Mum or Dad walked us to school, as soon as
they had turned their back to go home he would whip off his spectacles
and put them in his pocket. When the teachers asked where they were he
would say he’d ‘forgotten’ them until one day Miss Burns told Dad
that he hadn’t worn them for about a week. He didn’t ‘forget’
them anymore. One day after Dad had left us at school Ken started
sobbing heartbrokenly, but this time he seemed to be more upset than
usual. I couldn’t console him so I waited until Dad had pedalled out
of sight and said "Come on – we’re off!"
I
walked him out of the school gate, back along the Great North Road to
the crossroads and up the lane leading to Cattle Laithe, until we
reached the field in front of Deveroyd Farm. We went into the field and
spent a lovely sunny day laughing and joking together underneath the
pear trees eating windfalls together with our packed lunches until it
was almost time for school to finish. I had a wristwatch then which Dad
had bought for me when I had measles. It cost him twelve shillings and
sixpence. We reached home just as my Mum was setting out to meet us and
told her we’d been let out of school early. We thought we had got away
with it too until Miss Alka collared Dad next day to ask "Why didn’t
Jean and Kenneth come to school yesterday?" That was the only time
I ever played truant.
A
short while later, one Sunday morning, Dad pedalled to Glasby’s garage
to telephone for the doctor when Ken was taken ill suddenly. The doctor
visited around 9.30am and said it was "just a touch of
bronchitis", and that Ken would be fine. My parents called the
doctor out again just over an hour later, knowing it was more than just
bronchitis. This time, quite annoyed at having his Sunday ruined, the
doctor said "Let him go out for a breath of fresh air – it’s a
nice day"
When
he had gone, dad jumped on his bike and went to call out a doctor from
another practice in Knottingley who arrived around midday. He
immediately diagnosed meningitis and said it was too late to do anything
to help him. Ken died shortly afterwards; he was just six years old.
Jessie
Skinner (later Hardingham) went into my home to help my Mum and Dad and
left me outside with her eldest daughter June. I had been outdoors with
June all morning watching the to-ing and fro-ing of doctors and my Dad
and had no idea then what had happened, although I guessed it was
something serious. I remember June tickling me and telling me jokes to
try and make me laugh. Later I learned she had been told to look after
me and keep me from crying. I didn’t cry then because I didn’t know
Ken had died. It’s strange how some things remain locked in your
memory still just as vivid and real as they were when you were a child.
Miss
Burns, Ken’s teacher, brought flowers on the day of his funeral and I
sat in a car with my Dad’s oldest sister Aunt Anni (Mrs. Ronnie
Grayson) trying to comfort me as we drove from Doncaster Road Chapel in
Ferrybridge to the cemetery. All the teachers and pupils at the school
lined the pavement as we passed.
Miss
Burn’s walked up to Cattle Laithe several times afterwards purely out
of concern for my parents. Within a few months my poor mother’s dark
brown hair had turned completely white. Dad always spoke fondly of
"That young lass from Leeds" (Miss Burns) who cared enough to
walk the long road from Ferrybridge School to Cattle Laithe, to see how
they were coping with their loss and to offer her help.
I
was only nine years old and I found it very isolating and hard to cope
with the feeling of fear that death brings especially when it’s
someone close to you. I didn’t feel able to discuss that fear with
anyone, didn’t want to be a nuisance to Mum and Dad. It was a long
time before I could accept that Ken was gone.
I
have always been deeply grateful though for the one and only day I ever
played truant from school and for that fact that I wiped away that
little lads tears for a while, and Oh the times I’ve thanked God for
that lovely day we spent together under the pear trees!
Jean Norfolk (nee Hobman)
February 2004
Other articles by Jean Norfolk
Christmas at Cattlelaithe
Charles Burton Hobman
Mrs Madge Holman