In 1897 my Grandfather and his 'family moved into The Rats, as all locals called it, (The Ratcatchers). At that time there was a wall round the yard with a gate near the stables, and another one onto the Norwich Road between the nine-pin ground and the garden wall.

There was a pit in the corner where the signpost and pillar box now stand. In the middle of the yard a well where a large pump stood, this was taken down and a small pump was put near. Nine-pin ground today this would be called a skittle alley. In the end near the door my grandfather had a butcher's shop this got named Meat Shop, sometime in the 1930's it was pulled down. Then the pump got moved again to the end of the house just inside the garden gate.

In the summer there was a small fair on Gurney's Park which is on the left inside the Lodges at Haveringland. A man called Charlie Barnes had the swinging boats and used to move them and his van and trailer by traction engine. One evening he drove the engine down to the Rats and while he was inside his engine went through the well dome.

When cars got about the wall came down, the pit was filled in and the yard opened up. Now for the other side of the yard, there was stables, barn and a big coal house on the end, also a cart shed. My grandfather also kept a few bullocks and farmed 40 acres of land with horses of which he had several, he used to breed a foal every year. He sold Tom Hammond the shop-keeper a young horse and a few days later the army came and took it away into the l914-18 war. He also had a coal business as well, there was plenty of activity at the old Rats at that time.

My father was away, he was a shepherd and didn't work at home. He came back this way in 1910 when my grandmother died. He got the house just up the road  from the, Rats; in 1914 he bought the coal business and he didn't look back. From then on he had some land, he grew stuff for the horses and we also had a small. meadow.

I have still got that coal trolley which a lot of people still remember seeing round the streets of Cawston and villages around. A few years ago I took it all to piece and painted it; between the three of us we did 81 years as coal merchants in Cawston.

Grandfather died in 1921 at the age of 67, the Rats was then taken over by my uncle Billy, he died in 1934 age 59, then aunt Bessie took over. Alfred had been to the War and on his return, came back to live at the Rats; and when his mother retired he took over. Alfred ran the pub, taxies and coaches, until he moved across the road to The Grange in the 1970's. The Rats was empty for 2 years, it was up for sale as a private house until Frank and Rose Gunning bought it and opened it as a pub again, renaming it the Gay-Dunn; because they had been on the stage and TV (Frankie Dunn and Rosie Gay). They stayed at the pub for about 4 years and then moved to Wroxham.

Cawston Carriers: In 1880 to the early 1900's a Mr Kybird ran a service to and from Cawston and Norwich taking people and goods to the City and back. He also did weddings with a coach and two horses at one time; he lived at Eastgate House where he had a high shed for his coach, also at Cawston Bell.

After the 1914-18 War a Mr John Cooper ran a small bus, it was a 10 seater Crosly he kept it at the brickyard at that time the shed had a perspex roof. One day he had a fire and burnt the roof off.

Sometime in the early twenties a Mr Bert Nicholls came to Cawston and started a bus service with a T Ford which he kept at the Lamb (a pub in New Street) one night he came home from Norwich put his bus in the cart shed and went into the bar for a drink, he hadn't been there many minutes when someone ran in and said "Bert your bus is on fire." It burnt the roof off the cart shed, at that time he did the Norwich run three times a week, he also took the school boys to Aylsham on Tuesday afternoons. Sometime in the 1920's a Mr George Green bought Bert out, and he did exactly the same as Bert; Norwich three times a week and Ay1sham on Tuesday afternoons, taking the boys to Carpentry classes, he had the old T Ford until 1930 when he bought a new bus, a Chevrolet, he named it Perseverance! He used to put it in the Unicorn Yard until we came out of Carpentry class at 3.30, and we often had to go down after him! After a time the girls started Cookery classes (I wonder how many of the girls remember him turning them over on the way home?)

He ran his bus service until sometime during the Second World War 1935-45 and then he retired living up what is now known as Glebe Crescent.

Denny's Memories Part 2