Tom Haines was the last official Town Crier for Market Lavington. We have met him before on these pages, probably on the same occasion as this rather sadly damaged photo was taken.

Town Crier, Tom Haines and Church Street, Market Lavington in 1935

Tom stands, in his town crier costume at Lamb Corner – the crossroads in the middle of the village.

This photo is actually really good for seeing some of the Church Street shops of the day. When we move to a location, we tend to think it has been frozen in time and has always been like it. Whilst the main road through Market Lavington has few changes as far as actual buildings are concerned their usage changes quite frequently. Let’s take a look at some of the 1935 shops on this photo.

But first, a complete change. The building behind Tom was demolished to improve visibility for traffic trying to turn into Parsonage Lane. There doesn’t look to have been much traffic about, although horses have left evidence of their passage. The wall above Tom has a road sign.

The B3098 for West Lavington and Westbury

Yes, even 75 years ago the road was the B3098 for West Lavington and Westbury.

Mr Hayball's shop

This shop belonged to Mr E Hayball. More recent residents will think of it as Peter Francis’s photographic shop or, more recently, Richard Hale’s shop. We have no idea what the VER  BUILDINGS sign was about.

Next door was Mr Bullocks shop.

Mr Bullock's shop

Again, more recent relatives might have known this as Vivo, Spar or Mr Dempsey’s shop. Mr Bullock also had one of the Easterton shops.

Next door, Mr Pike had one of the butcher’s shops in Market Lavington.

Mr Pike's butcher's shop

There we see G H Pike, Family Butcher and at West Lavington above this shop which seemed to have suffered damage in the 1970s and was  rebuilt but still has the same outline.

Beyond Mr Pike’s shop was Mr Merrett’s shop with its Shell petrol pump and advert board for Cleveland.

Mr Merrett had a cycle shop and then the first petrol pumps in the village

We hope you’ll agree that it was worth sharing this poor quality photo for it is full of historic interest. But of course, we’d love a better copy should anybody have one.