From an interview with Sid I. Brown in 2007
I was born in 1920, opposite the Trust House down there. I lived on the right-hand side when you went down Barkway. The long row of cottages before the almshouses is where my grandfather lived. He was in the end one there, and my mother lived there in her young days.
Past there is the thatched house, which was two houses but is now one. Then an alleyway, and a big house – Ashgrove. I was born in the one on the right (No. 130 – one half). Father lived on the opposite side of the road. There were three houses, and Pa lived in the middle one (No. 95). There are all new houses there now.
Lots of differences in Barkway in my early days – everybody knew everybody. My brother worked down Rushingwells. Father worked at Oak Farm, opposite Church Lane. He was horse keeper for 40 years. He worked for the people in Barkway House, which is where I started.
Horses were kept up the back at Oak Farm – large barns and stables there, and a big corn barn. He looked after six horses: four were kept in stables at the back, and another two in a small shed further on.
Grandfather it was who came to Barkway. They lived in a village near Haverhill in Essex (Balsham). He walked to Barkway after an engine driver’s job. He got the job, working for Bowman at Manor Farm. Father was born in 1880, and he went off to the First World War. He fought on the Somme, and at Jeepers – if that’s how you pronounce it.
I started work in 1932, and went with a binder – used to move the corn where the horses turned round. You couldn’t walk on the sheaves, because you didn’t get so much corn then. I used to help in the harvest field and run shot on a hay cart. We used to make a lot of hay because we kept a lot of bullocks up Top Yard (entry to Top Yard opposite the big milestone) – 50 or 60 bullocks there. Nice cattle they were – Scottish and black.
There’s a big yard in behind Oak Farm where all the new flats are now. I learnt to drive in there. We had a 1917 International tractor. I learnt to drive that when I was 16.