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People

Name
Day, Charles (b.1904)
Introduction

Charles Day became a butcher in 1926 when his father died. Charles and his mother ran the butchers in the village of Trull near Taunton.  He began work at six o’clock in the morning and four o’clock in the summer, finishing at eight o’clock in the evening.  He retired in 1971.

 

Charles Day’s brother also ran a butcher's shop in Pitminster.  Charles bought animals from Taunton cattle market when it was held on Castle Green. He delivered the meat around the local villages using a pony and trap, and kept meat in an icebox.  Holidays were rare; occasionally Charles would take Monday off to go shooting.

Taunton livestock market. The market took place on Castle Green, in front of the Somerset County Museum and behind the famous Clark’s hotel. Taunton livestock market. The market took place on Castle Green, in front of the Somerset County Museum and behind the famous Clark’s hotel.
Sound File
Listen to Charles Day - 1.57MB Duration 3:25 min.
Transcript

Lecturer: Did you have any customers in Taunton?

 

CD: Any amount of customers in Taunton. A lot of them were people from the village that left their and went to the town you know, and followed me up, extended recommendation I suppose, a lot of it.  I killed all my own stuff, brought it down at Taunton Market, that’s another thing, when you buy it down the market, that’s where it is now, at one time it used to be up by the Castle Hotel where the car park is now, that was the market.

 

And the meat market was where the electricity show rooms are; we used to go in there on Saturdays, early Saturdays. Oh there’d be about twenty of us I suppose, used to come from Wiveliscombe and Wellington, it was all over the place.  And um they brought in people with vegetables, plants and that and when the war started, 1940/'39, they requisitioned the market and we were turned out on the conditions that we had it back after the war, of course it was a forgone conclusion we had it back and, and the electric people took it on.  But they came from all up on the Blagdon Hill, and that would come down in fact we went oh, a radius of about ten miles I suppose, we were delivering all up round the hill, up to your knees in snow, when there was snow.  We always got to everybody, we never, never let anybody down, dug themselves out, you know.

Lecturer: Did you do your slaughtering in the village?

 

CD: In the village.

 

Lecturer: Yes I mean you bought the animals in the market?

 

CD: Yes.

 

Lecturer: In Taunton?

 

CD: No  I used to do it at Pitminster, we had a branch, an uncle, the brother of my dad, then had a slaughter house, but a small business and then eventually when he died and I took it over.  But um they used to um from the market I would have a man, with, he’d do it on his own, about two or three bullocks probably and about twenty to thirty sheep and he would drive those from the market, all up through the town right up to Pitminster which was four miles, sometimes you’d get some as wild as anything, and you were chasing them. And when he came back something else was gone you know. I used to go down to Williton, and Watchet, and Minehead and buy stock down there, that would come up by goods train, they’d get into the station about nine, ten o’clock at night and two of us then would have to go in drive these back.

Copyright Information
Copyright. This recording was made by students from Richard Huish College and their lecturer in 1982. Photograph ©CRO. For access to full interview please contact the Somerset Heritage Centre.