ABSTRACT
There used to be a parking bay in the shadow of the north wall of Caine Town Hall. We stopped there, in the first few days of 1976, to look at the instructions for finding the senior partner’s house. In fact, we found ourselves gaping at the huge and hugely unattractive building opposite. C & T Harris Co. Ltd, Bacon Curers [By Appointment] were, my wife and I would learn over lunch, the commercial enterprise, and the social hub, of Caine. A small butcher’s shop opened in 1770 had grown backwards and upwards for over 200 years. But we also became aware of the putrid smell and if Ilfracombe in January had seemed any more attractive we might have turned around there and then, abandoning our nth interview for a West Country general practice partnership. Fate being what it is we stayed, and got the job.
