Part 10

Captain Allen, a few years after, greatly alarmed the town of Yarmouth with the apprehension of an immediate retaliation of the injuries which he and his associates had sustained; for on Sunday, January 13th, 1648–9, he came into Yarmouth roads in one of the prince’s ships, and threatened an immediate revenge on the town: but it appears, notwithstanding these threats, that his humanity conquered his resentment; for neither history, nor tradition informs us, that the town of Yarmouth ever received any injury from him.

The only manufactory carried on at Lowestoft is that of making porcelain, or china-ware; where the proprietors have brought this ingenious art to a great degree of perfection; and from the prospect it affords, promises to be attended with much success. The origin of this manufactory is as follows:—

In the year 1756, Hewlin Luson, Esq., of Gunton Hall, near Lowestoft, having discovered some fine clay, or earth, on his estate in that parish, sent a small quantity of it to one of the china manufactories near London, in view of discovering what kind of ware it was capable of producing; which, upon trial, proved to be somewhat finer than that called the Delft ware. Mr. Luson was so far encouraged by this success as to resolve upon making another experiment of the goodness of its quality upon his own premises; accordingly, he immediately procured some workmen from London, and erected upon his estate at Gunton, a kiln and furnace, and all the other apparatus necessary for the undertaking: but the manufacturers in London being apprised of his intentions, and of the excellent quality of the earth, and apprehending also, that if Mr. Luson succeeded, he might rival them in their manufactory, it induced them to exercise every art in their power to render his scheme abortive; and so far tampered with the workmen he had procured, that they spoiled the ware, and thereby frustrated Mr. Luson’s design.

But, notwithstanding this unhandsome treatment, the resolution of establishing a china manufactory at Lowestoft was not relinquished, but was revived again in the succeeding year by Messrs. Walker, Brown, Aldred, and Richman, who, having purchased some houses on the south side of the Bell lane, converted the same to the uses of the manufactory, by erecting a kiln and other conveniences necessary for the purpose: but, in carrying their designs into execution, they also were liable to the same inconveniences as the proprietor of the original undertaking at Gunton was; for being under the necessity of applying to the manufactories in London for workmen to conduct the business, this second attempt experienced the same misfortune as the former one, and very near totally ruined their designs; but the proprietors, happening to discover these practices of the workmen before it was too late, they took such precautions as rendered every future attempt of this nature wholly ineffectual, and have now established the factory upon such a permanent foundation as promises great success. They have now enlarged their original plan, and by purchasing several adjoining houses, and erecting additional buildings, have made every necessary alteration requisite for the various purposes of the manufactory. They employ a considerable number of workmen; and supply with ware many of the principal towns in the adjacent counties, and keep a warehouse in London to execute the orders they receive both from the city and the adjoining towns; and have brought the manufactory to such a degree of perfection as promises to be a credit to the town, useful to the inhabitants, and beneficial to themselves.

SECTION IV. THE CONTEST BETWEEN YARMOUTH AND LOWESTOFT RESPECTING KIRKLEY ROAD AND THE HERRING FISHERY.

IN order to discover the origin of those violent disputes and commotions which subsisted so long between Yarmouth and Lowestoft, respecting Kirkley road and the herring fishery, and to represent them in the clearest and most impartial manner, it may be necessary to advert to a preceding section, and to recapitulate from thence such circumstances as may tend to the better understanding the various transactions of the section we are now engaged in.

It was there observed, that in early ages, even before Yarmouth was founded, it is probable, that Lowestoft was the general rendezvous of both the northern and western fishers employed in the herring fishery; because, until the sand whereon Yarmouth was afterwards built appeared above the surface of the water and became firm land the fishermen that resorted to these coasts for herrings must necessarily have a place more southerly to assemble at. That as soon as the sand called Cerdick sand had made its appearance, (the Saxons came first; afterwards the portsmen), they found its situation so extremely convenient for drying of nets, and the other necessary occupations of a seafaring life, that they began soon after to erect temporary booths or tents there, as their several circumstances would admit as well for the accommodation of their persons as the security of their property. Soon after they had officers, called bailiffs, deputed by the barons of the cinque ports, to superintend the fishery for the space of forty days; afterwards they began to erect houses, and at last was founded the burgh called Great Yarmouth.

The burgesses of Yarmouth had a charter of liberties granted them by King John; and the barons of the cinque ports had also certain liberties at Yarmouth granted them by the same king or rather confirmed what they held before by prescriptive right only: but these several liberties interfering with each other gave rise to the most violent disputes and depredations upon each others’ property, which continued, with some intermissions, until the reign of queen Elizabeth, when a proposal for conciliating these differences was offered, by making Yarmouth a member of the cinque ports, but it failed of success: but in the year 1576 all matters in dispute being adjusted to their mutual satisfaction it was at the same time finally agreed, “That as every fishing vessel frequenting this fair in antient times paid four pence, as a toll or custom, to the bailiffs of the cinque ports; and that afterwards the said bailiffs accepted from the bailiffs, of Great Yarmouth, in lieu thereof, the annual sum of six pounds: Yet now, for the sake of restoring peace and tranquility, it was further agreed by the said bailiffs of the cinque ports to receive only three pounds ten shillings from the bailiffs of Yarmouth, in full satisfaction for the above-mentioned toll.” Thus their disputes being amicably adjusted, the contending parties preserved afterwards a more friendly intercourse with each other, which continued for some years, when the Yarmouth men refusing to pay the bailiffs of the cinque ports the above-stipulated sum of three pounds ten shillings any longer, the said bailiffs preferring peace to contention, and wishing to avoid any farther disputes, discontinued coming to the fair at Yarmouth in a public capacity any longer. {60}

The town of Yarmouth having now engrossed the whole of the herring fishery usually carried on near their own town to themselves, it became, in consequence thereof, the general rendezvous of all the vessels employed in buying and selling those fish, of whom they demanded a toll or custom; and having also obtained a charter, 46 Edward III for uniting Kirkley road to the port of Yarmouth, and for extending their liberties seven miles from the said port, were legally authorised to levy their customs upon all such herrings as were bought and sold in the above-mentioned road and within the said seven miles.

But the Yarmouth men, so far from being satisfied with the additional emoluments arising from these acquisitions, envolved themselves in fresh disputes with the men of Lowestoft, in the reign of Henry IV. respecting their customs, which were revived again in the reign of queen Elizabeth, (exclusive of the above-mentioned dispute with the portsmen in 1576), and again about the year 1659, when they attempted to extend their liberties beyond their legal bounds, and endeavoured to hinder the Lowestoft men from purchasing any herrings either at or near their own town, unless they paid the usual customs to Yarmouth; and grounded their claim on a pretence, that the grant of the 46th of Edward III. which extended their liberties seven leuks or miles from Yarmouth, was not to be measured from the key of Yarmouth, but from the mouth of the haven; and consequently would thereby wholly exclude the town of Lowestoft from buying herrings even in the roads belonging to their own town, unless they first submitted to pay such customs as should be claimed by the burgesses of Yarmouth. They also endeavoured farther to show, that that part of the sea called Kirkley road was opposite the parish of Kirkley, a town situated about a mile to the south of Lowestoft, notwithstanding the real name of that part of the sea is Pakefield bay; and that the seven leuks prescribed in their charter as the boundary of their liberties, were not miles but leagues.

These unreasonable and ill-grounded claims on the part of Yarmouth were productive of a most violent rupture between the two towns; they even proceeded so far (in order to defend what each of them thought to be their just and legal privileges) as to fit out armed vessels, in consequence of which many sharp engagements ensued, and much blood was shed on both sides. At last the respective parties, being weary of contention, agreed to lay the affair before the privy council, from whence it was referred to the judges, and lastly to a hearing before the house of lords where it was finally determined in favour of the town of Lowestoft, as will be more fully shewn in the subsequent part of this section.

The above circumstances being premised, I shall now proceed to make some inquiries concerning the several charters granted to Yarmouth respecting the herring fishery, how far the liberties contained in those charters extended; and particularly, whether the charter which annexed Kirkley road to Yarmouth haven tended to exclude the town of Lowestoft from the privilege, which it had enjoyed from time immemorial, of buying and selling herrings in the roads belonging to their own town.

I have observed before, that the great charter of liberties granted to the town of Yarmouth, was that granted by King John, in the 9th year of his reign. This king being distressed in fitting out a fleet of ships for the recovery of his Norman dominions, lately lost, indulged them with a charter, on condition, “that they should provide for him fifty-seven ships for forty days, at their own charge, as often as the wars he was engaged in should give him occasion to demand them.” {61a} By this charter Yarmouth was created a free burgh, and the burgesses thereof were invested with many immunities and privileges, to be held in fee-farm, paying to him and his heirs, an annual rent of £55 for ever; for payment thereof they were allowed only the customs arising out of the port; not being authorised to receive any custom of goods bought or sold in the market upon land at the time of the year. {61b}

In the reign of Henry III, when that prince exchanged the fee-farm of Yarmouth and Lothingland with John de Baliol, for other lands in Cheshire, which was very detrimental to the town of Yarmouth, on account that ships with victuals might unlade on Lothingland side, and particularly so, as fish was one of the principal articles from whence their greatest profits arose; and, therefore, they petitioned the King in the fortieth year of his reign, to grant them a new charter, whereby all merchandise and wares, as well fish as other commodities, should be sold at Yarmouth by the hands of the importers of them into the haven of Yarmouth, whether found in the ships or without, etc.; which charter was accordingly granted. But the Baliols (father and son) still continued to take tolls and customs belonging to the port of Yarmouth, notwithstanding its charters to the contrary, to the great prejudice of the burgesses, who were either unable or unwilling to contest the matter with so powerful an enemy as the King of Scots. But upon the said King renouncing his homage to Edward I, all his English estates became forfeited and, consequently, the said fee-farm of Yarmouth and Lothingland, reverted again to the British monarch. The town Yarmouth embraced this favourable opportunity of making an application to Edward I. for a confirmation of the privileges granted to them by the charter of Henry III, in which they were so fortunate as to succeed. Yet, notwithstanding this charter of Edward I, it appears, by sundry records, that their adversaries still persisted in their claims, and continued to take customs, contrary to the liberties of the burgesses. The above privileges were afterwards confirmed by Edward II, and also again by the 1st of Edward III; and in the 6th of Edward III. they were again confirmed by a special charter, after a long and tedious suit with the Earl of Richmond (the proprietor of the fee-farm of Lothingland, given to him by Edward I) about levying the customs, etc., in the haven of Yarmouth.

During these litigious disputes respecting the privileges of Yarmouth and the customs to be levied on vessels frequenting that port, the haven belonging to that town became so obstructed by sand-banks, formed at its entrance by the easterly winds, that the mouth of it extended to the south of Corton before it discharged itself into the ocean; and so many shelves were formed therein, especially between the 10th and 20th of Edward III., as rendered the navigation so very dangerous, that no ships of any considerable burthen could enter it with safety; and therefore the inhabitants of Yarmouth, in the 20th year of the reign of Edward III were under the necessity of petitioning that King, viz., for liberty to cut a new mouth to the haven nearer to Yarmouth, opposite to Corton, which petition was immediately granted. This haven at a considerable expense, continued the space of twenty-six years, viz., till the 46th of Edward III, when it again began to be obstructed with sand banks that no ships could enter therein, but were obliged to unlade their goods and merchandise in an adjoining place called Kirkley road.

It was a matter of much controversy, during this contest, to ascertain with certainty where the place called Kirkley road was situated. The Yarmouth men insisting that it was opposite the village of Kirkley, about a mile to the south of Lowestoft; and the Lowestoft men as strenuously asserting, that the real name of that part of the sea near Kirkley was Pakefield bay; that in consequence of the town of Kirkley having been formerly a town of considerable trade in the herring fishery, it gave to all the sea thereabouts, even as far as Yarmouth, the general name of Kirkley seas; part of which, namely, that which was situated a little to the south of where the haven’s mouth then was, was called Kirkley road, and was then annexed to Yarmouth haven.

In the old manuscript view of Lowestoft referred to in a former section (late in the possession of Thomas Martin, of Palgrave, in Suffolk) Kirkley road is placed between Lowestoft and Corton; and in the old map of the coast, given in Garianonum, the situation of Kirkley road is the same.

It was also alleged by the Yarmouth men, that the seven miles, the boundary of their liberties, granted by this new charter, was to be measured, not from the key, but from the haven’s mouth, which would exclude the town of Lowestoft from buying herrings, unless they paid the customs to Yarmouth; the Lowestoft men insisting, that the seven miles should be measured from the key at Yarmouth, and not from the haven’s mouth.

These declarations on the part of Lowestoft will receive further confirmation from the following extract from the town book, taken from Cawden:

About the year of our Lord 1100, about 500 years past, it pleased God to lay the first foundation of the east town of Yarmouth into firm land, even out of the main sea. Which place was then called and known by the name of Sardike sand, and Sardike shore; and in a short time it proved to be a fit and commodious place for a town to be built, meet for seafaring men to inhabit in. And by the permission of many noble kings in this land, his majesties progenitors, many did resort thither, and began to build the same, and to enclose it with a stone wall on the east side of the town (the haven being on the west side) inasmuch that within a short time the same grew populous.

And long before Yarmouth town was incorporated, the barons of the five ports did yearly hold a free fair in the three towns of Yarmouth (that is to say) Easton, Weston, and Southton, beginning the said fair on the feast of St. Michael and so continued forty days together.

And by the authority of the King, they did then use to make their repair thither on purpose for the governing of the said fair. And in those days was yearly sent from the brotherhood of the five ports, and the antient towns, nine or ten bailiffs who governed the fair. And it is to be noted, that long before any liberties were granted to Yarmouth, the towns of Lowestoft and Kirkley in the county of Suffolk, were built, and populously inhabited; and the then town of Kirkley being the greatest town of account, and the most antient upon the coast, and being a haven town, (the place now called Kirkley haven was the antient haven), before that Yarmouth was Yarmouth, and thereupon the whole fishing seas upon the confines of Suffolk and Norfolk, take the name of Kirkley seas.

And to this day the seas upon those coasts are called or known by the French fishermen coming there to fish, by the name of Kirkley seas. And long since, before Yarmouth was incorporated there was such trading and merchandising of herrings at Lowestoft, and the same was by the Yarmouth men so much envied that civil wars subsisted for a long time between them, with much bloodshed, until it pleased God to take the matter into his own hands, who ended the strife with such a great mortality of people, that there died of the plague in Yarmouth 7,000 persons, and then the wars ceased.

The dreadful pestilence here alluded to, first began in the northern parts of Asia in 1346; from whence it passed into Greece, from thence into Italy and France, and in the beginning of August 1348, broke out in Dorsetshire: many who were well in the morning died before noon. About the feast of All Saints it reached London, making dreadful destruction; and about Christmas, Yarmouth and the neighbouring parts felt its direful effects. It immediately spread itself over the nation, and raged so violently in 1348 and 1349, that there scarcely remained the tenth part of the people alive in most places.

His Majesty, Edward III. after being duly informed of the circumstance relative to the affair of the Kirkley road, was pleased, after an application of six years continuance, and after the greatest opposition being made thereto from Lowestoft and other neighbouring towns, who reaped great advantages from vessels discharging their goods in Kirkley road, and were hitherto exempted from paying the customs to Yarmouth, to unite the said road of Kirkley into the town and port of Yarmouth (Kirkley road united to Yarmouth haven, 46 Edward III), upon paying him and his successors one hundred shillings yearly; and to grant use to the burgesses full power to receive the like duties there as at Yarmouth for ever. {63}

It may be necessary here to inform the reader, that there are two remarkable circumstances in this charter; the one is, that Kirkley is there represented as a certain place in the high seas near the entrance of the haven of the town; the other that the seven leuks to which the liberties were then extended, are described as issuing from the town of Yarmouth, and not from the haven’s mouth. It is proper to mention these particulars because towards the end of this section it will appear that there was much altercation between Yarmouth and Lowestoft respecting the true situation of Kirkley road; and also, whether the seven leuks or miles were to be measured from the key, or from the haven’s mouth.

The form observed by government, previous to their granting this charter, was, first to issue a writ of _ad quod dampnum_, directed to the escheator of Norfolk and Suffolk; then followed a mandate to the sheriff; afterwards inquisitions were taken to examine the premises; and lastly the charter itself was granted. Subjoin are the writ, the mandate, the inquisitions, and the charter.

THE WRIT OF AD QUOD DAMPNUM.

Edward, by the grace of God, king of England and France, and lord of Ireland, to his beloved and faithful John de Rockewode, his escheator in the counties of Norfolk and Suffolk, Reginald de Eccles, and Edmund Gurnay, greeting. Know ye, that we have assigned you, and two of you, to enquire by the oath of good and lawful men of the counties aforesaid, as well within the liberties as without, by whom the truth of the matter may be better known, if it be to the damage or prejudice of us or others if we grant to our beloved the burgesses and good men of the town of Great Yarmouth, a certain place in the sea, near the entrance of the haven of the same town, called Kirkley road; so that after such our grant, that place to the said haven they may annex and unite, and if so annexed and united, to hold and to have of us and our heirs, as parcel of the same haven, together with the haven aforesaid, to them and their successors, burgesses of the same town, for relief of the town aforesaid, and for an aid of the farm which to us and our heirs, they are holden, for the same town and haven annually to pay, by the same services by which the town and haven aforesaid were before holden of us; and that all ships and boats to the same place of Kirkley road coming or to come, and from thence going or to go, may there as freely lade or unlade, and the customs and all other profits thereof receive and have, as before in the said port they have done, had and received, or have been used or ought to do, have and receive, without hindrance or impediment of us or our heirs, or others whomsoever for ever. And also if it be to the loss or prejudice of us or others, then to what loss, or what prejudice of others, and of whom, and in what manner, how and of whom the aforesaid place called Kirkley road is holden, and by what service, and in what manner, and how; and how much it is worth by the year in all issues and profits, according to the real value of the same; and how far distant from the entrance of the haven aforesaid; and who occupies or occupy that place, and receives and receive, the issues and profits thereof; by what right, title, how, and in what manner. And therefore we command you, that at certain days and places which you or two of you shall appoint for this business, you may make diligent enquiry, upon all and singular the premises in what manner soever; and it distinctly and openly make to us, into our chancery, under the seals of you, or two of you distinctly, and openly send without delay, and this writ.

For we have commanded our sheriff of the same counties, that at certain days and places which you shall make known to him, he cause to come before you, so many, and so good and lawful men of his bailiwick, as well within the liberties as without, by whom the truth of the matter in the premises may be better known and examined into.

THE MANDATE TO THE SHERIFF.