Water supply problems

Recently, we have been looking at details of information typed for the museum by Albert Emms, who had been an evacuee in Market Lavington during the second world war.

He had been billeted with his mother and siblings in a house behind the old fire station. The fire engine was housed in the Market Place and the area behind was called Saint James’ Square. Mains water had only come to the village in 1936 and Albert wrote that ‘The cottages were very old, no plumbing, we had an old pump outside the door. It was shared by all the neighbours. It was not nice for drinking. We got our water from Broadwell. It was very nice.’ (We have heard the same regarding Ken Mundy and his use of a yoke to collect water from Broadwell.)

Albert lists members of the Cooper family as his new neighbours – Mr and Billy Cooper and Gran Mrs Cooper. (See Granny Cooper for a photo of the St James’ Square housing and Mr Cooper washing.)

Albert wrote that ‘The health people condemned the water pump outside our door and put an outside tap about four doors away and when you turned the tap on in the morning the water was worse than the pump.’

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