Part 2

A Grammar and Free School in existence in Yarmouth, the “Parson of Haddiscoe” being appointed for a quarter of a year on trial. He was succeeded the same year by an “expert man;” and it was agreed that each of the four-and-twenties (Aldermen) should pay towards his living 18d., and each of the eight-and-forties (Common Councilmen) 8d. a-year over the stipends, upon the well-doing of the schoolmaster. From 1551 till 1757, twenty-eight gentlemen were appointed to the Mastership. In 1757 the school appears to have been closed, for we find the master quitting possession and resigning his office; and on Feb. 5th, 1773, the chamberlains were directed to do necessary repairs, and to let the school to Mr. Richard Eaton, the younger, for £4 a-year. The school was re-established in 1863.

1552.

Sir W. Wodehouse, Knt., and N. Frymage, Esq., returned to Parliament. Every inhabitant found smoking tobacco or overcome with drink in any tippling-house was apprehended.

1553.

Oct. 1st. Robert Eyre and Simon More were chosen Burgesses of the Parliament.

Drawbridge erected to connect Southtown with Great Yarmouth, in place of the one built in 1427, but which was carried away in 1570 by the tide.

Beer sold at 3s. 4d. per thirty-two gallons.

This year and two following, six Aldermen were returned to Parliament.

1554.

Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk, High Steward of the Borough.

Fifty vessels wrecked off Yarmouth within 24 hours.

A fire beacon placed on the top of the Castle, as the Haven was very dangerous.

1555.

No brewer allowed to brew in the town unless by the appointment of the Bailiffs.

Another attempt to form a Haven, a ship being sunk at the mouth to stem the tide. But this project was abandoned the following year, and it was stopped up with furze bundles in 1557.

The Hermitage on the west side of the Haven given to the town.

1557.

Dec. 1st. The town inundated. Men rowed up and down the streets in boats, and several ships were drawn over the Denes with windlasses.

1558 to 1567.

The ground on the south side of Town Hall was, in the time of Queen Elizabeth, called “The South Foreland,” or “Furlong’s End.” In 1568 the houses there standing were given by William Garton to the churchwardens for the use of the Church. In 1622 they were repaired, and in 1674 rebuilt. John Fastolf, the father of Sir John Fastolf, of Caister Castle, had a house in the “Foreland,” but whereabouts cannot now be discovered. These houses were re-fronted by the present owner in 1866.

Sir T. Wodehouse, Knt., and William Barker, Esq., returned to Parliament.

The Market Cross repaired.

1559.

May 26th. Queen Elizabeth granted a Charter for the better security, defence, and protection of the town.

1560.

Jan. 8th. The present (seventh) Haven commenced. Joyce Johnson, the eminent Dutch engineer, who superintended the construction, was paid 4s. a day. This Haven was cut near the spot of the one made in 1529. Nearly 1,000 persons, including women and children, were employed about the works, which were completed on March 4th to the satisfaction of the inhabitants. In 1566 the water broke through, and made its old channel towards Newton Cross.

First Jetty erected, having a crane at the end to facilitate the landing of goods from boats. Re-built in 1767.

1561.

Three town wells opened.

1562.

Thomas Timperley and William Grice, Esqs., were returned to Parliament; the latter was also returned in 1570 with William Barker, Esq.; in 1571 with John Bacon, Esq.; and in 1584 and 1585 with Thomas Damett, Esq.

Three small silver maces, belonging to the Corporation, made.

1563.

Herrings very scarce, and sold for £9 a last.

1567.

Piers built on both sides of the Haven’s mouth.

The London Privy Council lent the town of Yarmouth £1,000 without interest, for repairing the Haven, which was refunded by instalments of £100 a-year.

1569.

Three ships of war compelled to leave by the town guns.

Haven expenses for the year, £1,230 12s. 4d.

The Paston family sold Caister Castle to meet their embarrassments.

Herrings sold for £8 a last; a tun (4 hogshds.) of wine was also of the same value.

Part of the town wall fell through being overcharged.

1570.

Mr. Vincent Goodwin first preacher appointed at St. Nicholas’ Church.

Drawbridge carried away by high tide, and another constructed in 1785, at a cost of £403 15s. 9d., notwithstanding £225 had been expended the year previous in repairs.

1571.

Thatched roofs to houses forbidden, and wood was substituted.

1572.

Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, K.G., High Steward of the Borough.

Brewers ordered to brew with coals instead of wood.

Every ale-house licensed by the Bailiffs.

1573.

Regulations made to prevent goods lying on the Quay longer than necessary.

1574.

A Bill introduced to Parliament to enroll Yarmouth as a Cinque Port; but this was not properly carried out. In 1702 the Government of Yarmouth was settled under Anne in its proper and present form.

1575.

Feb. 10th. Mr. Harbrowne elected to Parliament in place of John Bacon, Esq., but only served one day, the latter being re-elected.

1576.

Edward Owner born. He represented the town in Parliament four times, and died August 13th, 1650.

A part of the Hospital, Market Place, converted into a House of Correction.

1577.

Burgh Water Frolic first spoken of, being a grand event, and patronized by the Mayor and Corporation.

1578.

Inhabitants prohibited from washing their clothes near the public wells.

Lord Burleigh and the Earl of Leicester paid Yarmouth a visit, and were entertained at the Priory. Queen Elizabeth was expected, and a silver cup, in the form of a ship, costing £16, made for presentation to her Majesty, but she reached no further than Norwich.

Scratby Sand became entirely dry land, and raised its head so much above high-water mark, that grass, &c., grew on it, and sea birds built their nests. It was called “Yarmouth Island,” and was a favourite resort in the summer season for Yarmouth people.

1579.

May to Sept. Great plague; 2,000 persons died, and the Grammar School shut up for six months. (See 1349 and 1550.)

1580.

August 2nd. Dinner provided for 43 gentlemen on a sandbank out at sea, called Scratby Sand. In 1582 it was swept away by a strong easterly wind and tide, much to the disappointment of Sir Edward Clare, Knt., who had made a claim to it. Valuable wreckage was often found there.

2,000 lasts (2,640,000 single fish) of herrings brought in on one tide.

1582.

Large fish, 17 yards long, the jaw 3¼ yards long, body 4½ yards thick, caught at Caister.

1583.

No one could be elected a Burgess in Parliament unless he was an Alderman.

1585.

The Privy Council requested the town to provide ships for the transport of 400 soldiers into the Low Countries. To raise funds, every Alderman advanced £5, and every Common Councilman £2 10s., the rest of the money being raised by assessment.

1586.

Pulpit erected at the west-end of St. Nicholas’ Church; removed in 1635. Another erected in the south-east comer of the south aisle, which was also removed in 1846.

Number of “tippling houses” in Yarmouth restricted to 16.

1588.

John Stubbs and Roger Drury, Esqs., elected to Parliament.

William Cecil, Lord Burleigh, K.G., High Steward of the Borough. In 1578 he visited Yarmouth in company with the Earl of Leicester.

Preparations to receive the Spanish Armada. The fortifications put into the best state of defence, a boom thrown across the Haven at the south gates, and a mound of earth raised higher than the walls, called the “South Mount,” on which was placed several pieces of ordnance. Another mound, the “New Mount,” was afterwards thrown up near St. George’s Chapel, and a warlike ship fitted out at the town’s expense to annoy the enemy at sea, and preparations made to lodge and provision a garrison of 1,000 men. The sum of £1,355 4s. 9d. was assessed on the County.

1589.

No victualler or innkeeper allowed to retail any “strange beer” under pain of forfeiture.

1591.

An ale-house or tavern could only be kept by a Freeman or the widow of a Freeman.

Two Yarmouth ships required to carry out 150 soldiers to Normandy.

1592.

T. Damett, Esq., again returned to Parliament with John Felton, Esq.

1593.

The fishing nets used by boat owners valued at £50,000.

1596.

John Felton, Esq., again returned to Parliament with Sir H. Hobart.

Elizabethan House on the Quay, built by Benjamin Cowper. It was sold to John Carter, a friend of Oliver Cromwell. The supporters of Cromwell frequently assembled in this house, and it is supposed that the death of Charles I. was here determined on. It was for many years previously to Feb. 26th, 1867, the residence and property of the late Charles J. Palmer, Esq., F.S.A.

Arthur Wilson born at Yarmouth. He published an account of the life and reign of James I, written with much freedom, and displaying a thorough knowledge of Court intrigues; but the liberties he took in exposing the propensities of that monarch and his son towards the Catholic cause, brought upon him the vehement censure of the friends of the Stuart family, who said that he had written from conjectures rather than from records, and that his work was more like a pasquinade than an authentic history. He was for many years an attendant on the Earl of Essex, and afterwards steward to the Earl of Warwick. He died in 1652.

1597.

Seven hundred vessels in the Haven at one time.

1598.

The number of Rows was seven score (140).

The south side of the Hospital School used as a House of Correction.

Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex, K.G., High Steward of the Borough.

1599.

Rev. Thomas Nash published the “Lenten Stuffe,” containing a poetical and satirical description of Yarmouth, &c., and a play in “Praise of a Red Herring.” He was born at Lowestoft in 1567, and died in 1600. He was called by Dr. Lodge “the true English Gifford or Aretino.” His name is mentioned by Michael Drayton, and also in the play, “_Return from Parnassus_.” (_Vide_ page 486, Pimperley’s “Encyclopædia of Literary and Typ. Anecdote.”)

One penny per swill by day and 1½d. at night were charged for carting herrings from the beach.

1599 to 1660.

Caister Castle deserted as a residence.

1600.

Sir Henry Hobart and T. Damett, Esq., again returned to Parliament; the latter, with John Wheeler, Esq., also returned on the accession of James I.

The Dutch Chapel, South Quay, built, and afterwards converted into a Theatre.

Every Alderman, or his deputy, with a constable, ordered to visit all ale-houses and taverns twice a week, and make inquiries respecting the customers.

1601.

The washing and rinsing of nets near the public wells forbidden.

The town required to provide and provision ships for transporting 600 soldiers to the Low Countries.

Charles Howard, Earl of Nottingham, K.G., Lord High Admiral of England, elected High Steward of the Borough.

1604.

A third Market Cross erected.

1607.

The three local rivers frozen over for 40 days.

1608.

James I. made Yarmouth a free Borough by charter, by the title of Bailiff, Aldermen, Burgesses, and Commonalty; which charter in 1683 (Charles II.) was surrendered to the King. (See July 22nd, 1684.)

1611.

Drapers, mercers, grocers, and haberdashers prohibited from having stalls in the market.

Herring Fair held. A great scarcity of herrings this year—a last of Windsor herrings being sold for £15 5s.

1612.

Great damage done to the Piers by a raging tide.

Aldermen who had held office as Bailiffs, compelled to wear scarlet gowns with tippets, under pain of a 40s. fine. (See 1541.)

1613.

The present Haven completed at a cost of £38,682, and from this date to 1770 inclusive, £215,644 had been expended about the Haven and Piers.

1614.

Sir Theophilus Finch and G. Hardware, Esq., returned to Parliament, but the former was succeeded soon after by Sir Henry Hobart.

One hundred jacobuses (a gold coin struck in the time of James I.) presented to King James I. by the town, as a mark of loyalty and affection.

1615.

At Corporate meetings no gentleman allowed to make uncomely and indecent speeches out of time and order, or create a disturbance when touching upon any public good, or even allowed to make a remark till the previous speaker had sat down, under penalty of fine or dismissal.

1616.

About 50 Yarmouth fishermen laid up their vessels, having no licenses for exportation.

1617.

License granted for the export of 600 lasts of herrings, which was annually renewed till 1624.

1618.

The Cage or Stock-house set up.

An ordinance made that all doors opening outwards into the Rows should be made to swing inwards, otherwise the constables would nail them up, and levy a fine of 5s. on the owners.

1619.

The last demand made by the Crown for furnishing vessels of war, until Charles I. resorted to that means of raising a revenue without the sanction of Parliament.

1620.

Dec. 21st. John Cowldham, J.P., four times a Bailiff, died, aged 84 years.

B. Cowper and Edward Owner, Esqs., free Burgesses, elected to Parliament.

1622.

“Tippling houses” had increased to 40, and were restricted to that number.

1623.

Benjamin Cowper, Esq., re-elected, with G. Hardware, Esq., to serve in Parliament.

1624.

Artillery yard on the site of present Unitarian Chapel.

1625.

Dec. 29th. Poor people were ordered not to marry unless sanctioned in writing by the Chief Alderman and Chief Constable.

Manship, who wrote the “History of Great Yarmouth,” died. He was Town Clerk in 1579.

Sir John Corbet and E. Owner, Esq., elected to Parliament; and in the same year Sir John was re-elected with Thomas Johnson, Esq.

Fish Market, on the site of the present, covered in and paved. Covering removed in 1844.

1626.

Robert Sydney, Earl of Leicester, K.G., High Steward of the Borough.

1626.

Nicholas Felton, Bishop of Ely, died. He was a native of Yarmouth, and one of the prelates employed by James I. in the new translation of the Bible.

1627.

Sir John Wentworth and Miles Corbet, Esq., elected to Parliament.

1628.

The town obtained leave to export 1,000 lasts of herrings, which continued till 1637, when £50 per annum was demanded by the Trinity for 10 years, and afterwards for 40 years.

1629.

Twelve hundred householders in Yarmouth.

Edward Sackville, Earl of Dorset, K.G., High Steward of the Borough.

1631.

Fishing with a trawl prohibited by proclamation.

£1 a quarter paid by the town to the Postmaster of Ipswich for carrying letters to and from Yarmouth for London.

1632.

Tobacco allowed only to be retailed in this town by one apothecary, six grocers, two hosiers, one merchant, and a chairmaker.

June 26th. Four Frenchmen executed for murdering Nicholas Harpley.

1633.

Aldermen’s wives compelled to wear velvet hats up to this date, when the ordinance was annulled.

1637.

Thirty-four brewing-houses in Yarmouth.

1639.

Miles Corbet, Esq., re-elected, with Edward Owner, Esq., as members of Parliament.

The East and West Flegg granted to the family of Cornwallis.

1642.

Oct. 12th. A ship, with 140 armed soldiers on board, through stress of weather, put into Yarmouth port; she was seized by the townsmen, and her crew and soldiers imprisoned on behalf of the Parliament.

1642.

Sept. Earl of Warwick, Lord High Admiral, visited Yarmouth, and was entertained by the Corporation.

Dec. 23rd. A rate of £1,200 assessed upon the inhabitants for the fortifications.

The town collected £136 for the relief of distressed subjects in Ireland.

1643.

Feb. Lord Grey of Werke required Yarmouth to send 80 dragoons to Cambridge.

1644.

The number of “tippling-houses” increased to 80, besides great inns and taverns; and in 1705 augmented to 120.

Letters between Yarmouth and London only passed once a week.

Twenty Iceland fishing barques belonging to Yarmouth merchants taken by pirates, only three escaping.

1645.

Additional fortifications made. Breastworks and platforms built at the seaside, and ordnance mounted on them.

The Earl of Lauderdale visited Yarmouth, and was sumptuously entertained at the town’s expense.

1648.

Sep. 9th. Lord Fairfax marched into Yarmouth, and the town was converted into a garrison.

Three men-of-war ships sent to convoy the fishers and guard the coast.

The Burgesses raised 600 foot and 50 horse soldiers, in lieu of having other forces marched into the town to do garrison duty.

1649.

Four Aldermen and 16 Common Councillors resigned office in the Corporation; 6 were afterwards reinstated.

1650.

The Puritans removed a fine old organ from St. Nicholas’ Church.

The Presbyterians made a doorway in the north wall of the Parish Church, and opened the north aisle of the chancel for public worship.

1651.

Up to this date prayer was always used before the commencement of public business.

1652.

Admiral Blake sent several ships to Yarmouth, which he had captured from the Dutch.

Dr. Thomes Soame died. He was the son of a fisherman at Yarmouth, but related to a wealthy family of the same name at Burnham. He lived in the reign of Charles I., and having entered holy orders he became minister of Staines in Middlesex, and Prebendary of Windsor. During the civil wars he was so zealously attached to Royalty that he sent all he had to the King, so that when the rebels came to plunder him he had nothing, for which he was imprisoned, first in Newgate, and afterwards in the Fleet Prison, where he died.

1653.

June 6th. Yarmouth sent 5 members to the “Little” Parliament summoned by Cromwell. Resigned Dec. 12th.

Aug. 29th. General Monk granted a warrant to free Yarmouth fishermen from being pressed into the service of the State.

Lord Henry, youngest son of Oliver Cromwell, High Steward of the Borough.

1653–4.

Norfolk sent ten members to Parliament.

1654.

Dec. 16th. Oliver Cromwell proclaimed in the Market Place Protector of the Commonwealth of the United Kingdom.

Colonel William Goffe and Thomas Dunne, Esq., were elected Burgesses to Parliament by 3 Aldermen and 26 Common Councilmen.

1656.

William Burton and C. G. Cock, Esqs., elected to Parliament.

1659.

W. Burton and C. G. Cock, Esqs., re-elected to Parliament.

Yarmouth people sent to Southwold 30 coombs of wheat and 10 coombs of rye for the sufferers from a fire which consumed the greater part of that town.

1660.

Edward Hyde, Earl of Clarendon, High Steward of the Borough.

A “Healing Parliament” called, and Sir J. Palgrave, Bart., and Miles Corbet, Esq., elected.

1661.

Sir William D’Oyley, Bart., and Sir W. Coventry, Bart., Secretary to the Admiralty, returned to Parliament.

1662.

Contention and bloodshed through concurrent jurisdiction ceased, when the Cinque Ports dissolved government with Yarmouth.

Dec. 10th. James Smith was fined £10 for saying of Sir Thomas Medowe, a Bailiff, “He is a fool, and I have killed a bull of 80s. that had better brains than Sir Thomas have.”

1664.

Jan. 22nd. Rev. John Brinsley, sen., lecturer in Yarmouth, died, aged 64.

Two thousand five hundred persons died of plague, including two ministers of St. Nicholas’ Church. (See 1349, 1550, and 1579.)

1665.

June 3rd. Great sea fight off Lowestoft, when the Dutch Admiral (Opdam) was defeated.

Every person receiving parish relief ordered to wear a pewter badge on the left arm, which was called “the badge of poverty.”

1667.

John Carter, twice Bailiff, and one of the Elders, died, aged 73.

Town farthings coined by the Overseers “for the use of the poor.” In 1673 they were cried down, and the town fined £90 for setting up a local mint. Lord Townshend petitioned the King on their behalf that he would pardon their offence.

1668.

Twenty-two thousand seven hundred and sixty chaldrons of coal imported.

1670.

An Act of Parliament passed appointing Haven Commissioners, viz., three for Norfolk, three for Suffolk, two for Norwich, and two for Yarmouth.

April 21st. Mitchell Mew, twice Bailiff, and once Mayor, died, aged 71 years.

1671.

Sep. 27th. Charles II. visited Yarmouth, accompanied by the Dukes of York, Monmouth, and Buckingham, and publicly entertained at a cost of £1,000.—The Corporation presented the King with four golden herrings and a chain, value £250. The King knighted three gentlemen of the Council.

1672.

May 28th. Duke of York, commander of the English fleet, defeated the Dutch fleet under De Ruyter, in Sole Bay, or Southwold Bay. The guns were heard at Yarmouth, and the sick and wounded afterwards brought here. Yarmouth sent presents of wine, sheep, lambs, lemons, fowls, and fish to the Duke of York, previous to the engagement.

1673.

April 8th. William Burton, sen., twice Bailiff of the town, died, aged 65 years.

Son of Sir William Paston created Baron Paston and Viscount Yarmouth; also created Earl of Yarmouth in 1679. In 1676 he was shot at and wounded while in his coach. He died in 1682.

1674.

Robert Paston, Viscount Yarmouth, chosen High Steward of the Borough.

The famous “Yarmouth Troll Cart” in use. At this date they were known by the name of “Yarmouth Coaches,” being more elegantly made, and let out to pleasure parties.

Bell factory supposed to have existed.

Haven expenses this year, £2,099 9s. 6d.

1677.

Grand celebration in Yarmouth on the marriage of William III., Prince of Orange, with Princess Mary.

Captain Booth executed in the town for stabbing a seaman.

The ground between the walls and the east side of the town, from the Market Place, along King Street to the Friars’ Lane, was sold for £2,265 17s. 6d., to sundry persons to build upon.

1678.

Bonfires, by order of the Corporation, made in the Market Place and other parts of the town, on the passing of the “Test Act” by both Houses of Parliament.

1679.

Sir W. Coventry, Knt., re-elected to Parliament, with Lord Huntingdon.

1680.

Richard Huntingdon and George England, Esqs., returned to Parliament.

1681.

Oct. 21st. Sir William Gooch, Bart., born at Yarmouth. Early in life he entered the army, and distinguished himself in the Rebellion of 1715. George I. made him Lieutenant-Governor of Virginia in 1727; and in 1740 he was appointed Colonel of an American Regiment, and assisted at the memorable siege of Carthagena. For his services he was promoted, being first made Brigadier and then Major-General, in which capacity, in 1747, he commanded in the expedition to Quebec. Died at Bath, Dec. 17th, 1751.

The whole body of Freemen claimed a right of electing members for the town, and accordingly chose Sir James Johnson, Knt., and George England, Esq. Before this, the Corporation had usually taken upon themselves this business, sometimes by a majority of the assembly, and sometimes by an inquest of six Aldermen and six Common Councilmen.

H.R.H. the Duke of York entertained to a sumptuous dinner in Yarmouth; afterwards embarked in the frigate “Gloucester,” but (May 6th) the vessel striking on the Leman and Ower sand, 12 leagues from Yarmouth, she filled with water, and the Duke escaped in a shallop, with Colonel Churchill, Earl of Aberdeen, Duke of Montrose, and a few other distinguished personages.

1683.

William Paston, Earl of Yarmouth, High Steward of the Borough.

Spire of St. Nicholas’ Church, being of wood and lead, set on fire by lightning. John Grice received from the Corporation a piece of plate, value £10, for extinguishing it.

1684.

April 26th. First Yarmouth Fair held.

May 7th. John Hall, Esq., died, aged 61 years. He was a merchant, Alderman by the old and new charters, and twice Bailiff of the town.