TAYLORS’ DAIRY
Taylors Dairy in Deeping St James Many of us will have enjoyed the benefit of a milkman during lockdown and now can see no reason to break the habit! Three cheers for Milk & More! But it wasn’t long ago that the much smaller then village of Deeping St James had its own dairy! Herbert Taylor was born in 1874 in Little Downham; he was one of ten children. After school, he followed in his father’s footsteps and became an agricultural labourer coming to work in Deeping St James when he was just 17. He was in his early twenties when he married Maria Oldham just before Christmas in 1898. They set up home in Silverstone Cottages in Eastgate. Shortly after they had a son, James William, and in 1901 Maria was employed doing domestic duties. Herbert was a community minded chap who in 1909 was elected to the Fire Committee, ensuring that there were enough volunteers and that the fire engine was in working order. The family moved to Church Street, Herbert working as a miller labourer for
the local millers – the Oldhams – his wife’s family. They had three more children Herbert Leslie (Les), Doris and Thomas Oldham. In 1920 two cottages at the top of Eastgate, nearest the Cross, came up for sale and the couple purchased them to make one dwelling – now known as 13 Eastgate. One of the front doors was removed and two separate rooms created. At the back of the house there was a large walk-in pantry with a big kitchen and a cast iron cooking range. A boxed-in staircase led from the kitchen to a square landing with two bedrooms at the front and two at the back. A lean-to wash house was added to the south of the house containing a pump, sink, copper and a chimney – an erstwhile utility room. Across the yard was a large wood and coal store and the privy, instead of being at the bottom of the garden as they so often were, was nearer to the house. The large yard was at the side. A good gardener, Herbert tended the now large garden well, producing a good quantity of vegetables for the family. He also tended the garden continued >
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