At number 7, Ham Street with his father and grandfather, Mr Brown rented 7 Ham Street and the yard from the Tollemaches but in 1948 when it all had to be sold Mr Brown had a mortgage on 7 Ham Street and the yard and a strip of land which was beside what was the Co-Op which had drains on it but he decided that he couldn’t afford the mortgage for that bit so that bit was sold to the Co-Op but ironically years later we needed that piece of land but that was when a house was being built. 

In 1948 he took over and owned it, Mr Brown died in 1971 and Bill took over and there was still a mortgage being paid on the yard and the house so we finished that off so that it was complete and Bill inherited the yard and his sister and himself inherited the house in Ham Street that was valued at £7,000 but because of the hassle that the Inland Revenue was giving us over Mr Brown being a funeral director and where was his business and all the paraphernalia that went with that and that we had to prove that he was just a funeral director and rented everything it took two years, in the meantime the value of the house went up from £7,000 and was sold for £14,000. 

The Inland Revenue came back and said we want some more money and we went and saw Mr Smith at Dixon Wards and he said no definitely not, that was the value when he died it doesn’t matter and he said you’re not getting any more money and the Inland Revenue shut up.  So it was sold for £14,000 and Bill and his sister had half each and Bill kept the yard.

We found that the strip of land that Mr Brown didn’t want back in 1948 had the drains which were necessary for selling the house but it was too late so when sold that piece of land that was a stonemason’s yard and all it had was electricity, no water, no gas and n odrains, so they had a bit of a problem with that.