Part 31

On the 4th April in the same year (1782) the erection of the fort at the north end of the town was commenced about one hundred yards to the north of the light-house. This battery consisted of a breast-work, having four angles, each of them about thirty feet wide. There was a guard house adjoining, about twenty feet long, and sixteen feet broad. Also a magazine, about six feet-square, which was paled round. This battery mounted four eighteen-pounders, and was intended to act with another battery, purposed shortly to be erected upon the Beach near the Ness.

A descent on this coast was so much apprehended about this time that a party of soldiers patrolled through Lowestoft every four hours during the night, in order, if necessary, to give an alarm.

And on the 23rd April following they began to erect the eastern battery upon the hill. It was surrounded by a ditch about fifteen feet wide and twelve deep, over which was a draw-bridge about four feet wide. The south-west angle measured eighty-three feet; the other angles ninety-six, eighty-three, fifty-eight, and twenty-nine feet. There was also a block-house erected, about fifteen feet square, the upper part of which was a guard house. The terrace round the inside of the ditch was four feet broad. The embrazures were eighteen feet wide and four feet high. The magazine was six feet square, and the glacis (which was next the sea) was fifty-three feet broad. This battery mounted six pieces of cannon, four thirty-two pounders, and two nine pounders; and was finished, as was also the north battery, on the 21st December, 1782, just time enough to fire (as it happened) for the general peace concluded the 20th January, 1783. On the 12th August, 1782, in honour of the Prince of Wales’s birthday, nine guns were fired from the south battery, four from the north, and four from the east battery; which was the first time of the cannon being exercised. The camp on East Heath also fired three volleys on the occasion.

The real cause, most probably, that hastened the finishing of these forts, was the information which Government had received of a descent intended to have been made on this coast.

In consequence of this intelligence, on the 23rd March, 1782, Captain Fisher, of the engineers, came to Lowestoft, and afterwards went to East Heath, near Mutford Bridge, and marked out the ground for an encampment.

On the 27th following, the Captain requested a meeting of the inhabitants of the town to know whether a sufficient number of men could be raised in order to work the guns at the batteries, provided that a party of the Royal Regiment of Artillery, then quartered in the town, should undertake to teach them their exercise. On the Captain offering this proposal, a subscription of upwards of £100 was immediately entered into by the principal inhabitants, with a design of carrying the proposal into execution, but not being sufficiently encouraged it came to nothing.

On the 29th March, Colonel Deibieg arrived at Lowestoft, and informed the inhabitants that Government had received undoubted information of an intended invasion shortly to be made at three different parts of the kingdom at the same time, namely at Torbay, Newcastle, and on the coast near Yarmouth; and therefore requested to be informed whether the town was able to furnish two hundred men to work the guns at the batteries. On this application a meeting was called of the inhabitants to take the same into consideration, when the answer was, that by reason of the great number of sailors belonging to the town being at that time employed in the navy, it was impossible to obtain the number of men required.

On June 23rd, Lord Townshend, Commander-in-chief of the camp at Warley common, and the coasts of Essex, Norfolk and Suffolk, came to Lowestoft, and surveyed the works carrying on there, and also the ground intended for the encampment on East Heath. On the 24th his Lordship, accompanied by his aide-de-camps, went to Oulton, and surveyed the dyke there, in order to discover whether that part of the river was fordable by the enemy in case of descent.

July 22nd, the 20 regiment of Light Dragoons, commanded by General Philipson, encamped on East Heath, at the bottom of Fidlers’ hill, near Kirkley bridge. And on September 10th, they were reviewed on the Heath by Lord Townshend, the Earl of Orford, General Tryon, and General Philipson.

September 11, eight pieces of cannon passed through Lowestoft for Benacre, to be placed there, along the coast to Harwich as signal guns.

September 25, General Conway, Commander-in-chief of his Majesty’s forces, arrived at Lowestoft; and being attended by Lord Townshend, General Tryon, General Morrison, and their Aide-de-Camps, surveyed the batteries in Lowestoft, and afterwards reviewed the regiment of Dragoons from East Heath; the regiment of foot and Cambridgeshire militia from Hopton; and the West Norfork militia from Castor, on Fritton Heath.

On the 28th September Captain Heigington’s company of the 10th Regiment of Foot came from Hopton Common, and encamped near the Battery at the north end of the town, to be in readiness, in case of necessity, to assist the artillery at the fort, commanded by Captain Marlow.

On the 14th October his Grace the Duke of Richmond, master of the ordnance, arrived at Lowestoft, accompanied by his son Lord George Lenox and surveyed the works.

In February, 1782, Lord North, Prime Minister, and all the other officers of State belonging to his administration, were under the necessity of resigning their respective employments on account of the American war. The many miseries which the nation was involved in, in consequence of this unhappy war, and the opposition which ministers met with in the House of Commons, as being the authors of these calamities, occasioned an entire new ministry to be formed. The Marquis of Rockingham was made Prime Minister; who, dying soon after was succeeded by the Earl of Shelburne; Admiral Kepple was appointed First Lord of the Admiralty, in the room of Earl of Sandwich; General Conway was made Commander-in-chief of His Majesty’s forces in the room of Lord Amherst; and the Duke of Richmond master of the Ordnance in the room of Lord Townsend. These circumstances are necessary to be remembered, as they account for the different noblemen and officers visiting the town in so short a space of time, in order to survey the works and review the troops.

Among the various methods made use of in order to alarm the coast on the approach of an enemy were the following: July 18, 1782, about ten at night General Tryon caused skyrockets to be let off at the several places of Caister, Gorleston Heights, Lowestoft East Battery, Pakefield, and Covehithe, intending thereby to communicate an alarm from Caister and Covehithe, the two most distant places, in the same manner as was practised by lighting up beacons. This method was found to answer exceedingly well, as intelligence could by these means be communicated from Caister to Covehithe in two minutes. September 5, another experiment was made use of by the General to convey an alarm in case the enemy should approach in the night near Lowestoft; which was to set fire to a stack of about fifty faggots of furze, upon a hill, in the bounds of Gunton, and to let off four large skyrockets, so as to be seen at Caister, Hopton camp, Somerly Hall, (the head quarters) and East Ness. September 16, another experiment made, was by firing a signal gun from the East Battery at Lowestoft; to set fire to a stack of furze in the Church lane, and let off some skyrockets. The same methods were made use of at Bawdsey Cliff, and at the several different stations between here and Caister (one of which was the foregoing at Lowestoft) when it was found that an alarm was conveyed in this manner from Bawdsey to Caister, fifty miles, in eleven minutes. September 17, an experiment by daylight was made in making a great smoke. This signal was answered from the camp at Hopton. Another signal was given from the East battery to East Ness, by flash of gun, September 25, an experiment was made to convey an alarm to Norwich from the coast, the camp on East Heath, and from the camp at Herringfleet, by firing skyrockets and cannon, which were answered by other rockets, and platoons of musketry upon Mousehold Heath, Norwich. After which, beacons of piles of wood, were set fire to on Herringfleet and Mousehold Heath. October 9th a similar experiment was made at seven o’clock in the evening. A chain of signals, by skyrockets and fire beacons, were displayed successively from Coxford lodge, near Houghton, Swanton Novers, near Melton Constable; the heights above Attlebridge; and Mousehold Heath, Norwich; to Herringfleet (near the head-quarters at Somerly). These several modes of conveying alarms, in case of an actual invasion, were the most practicable and speedy that could then be made use of in this part of the country.

November 11th, 1784, the camp upon Hopton common broke up, and the Cambridgeshire militia having joined the Light Infantry that had been encamped upon the common at Southwold, went into the winter quarters in Cambridgeshire. At the same time the camp also at Caister broke up, and went into winter quarters at Lynn. And on the 12th the camp upon East Heath broke up, when the troops, together with the 10th Regiment of Foot from Hopton, went into winter quarters at Yarmouth, Gorleston, and Lowestoft. The enemy had not once attempted to carry their intended descent into execution. As the war was terminated on the 20th January following, by a general peace, the fortifications which had been so lately erected in Lowestoft, at a great expense, were allowed to fall into decay.

On the 23rd July, 1785, at four o’clock in the afternoon, Major Money, of Crown Point, near Norwich, ascended from the public gardens in that city, in a car suspended from an air balloon. When arrived at a considerable height, he was not only carried above the clouds, but by a change in the current of air, was driven over Lowestoft, and forced many miles over the sea. About six o’clock, the Major with the balloon fell upon the water, where, after experiencing the most astonishing dangers with the greatest fortitude and presence of mind, he was taken up by a cutter between eleven and twelve o’clock that night, about eighteen miles to the east of Southwold; and the next morning landed safe at Lowestoft, to the great surprise and joy of his friends and the country in general.

SECTION X.

THE rise and progress of the herring fishery have been previously mentioned and further discussion would be superfluous, were it not to represent more clearly the attempts that were made by some new adventurers, who resided at Dunbar, Caithness, and other places in Scotland; at Liverpool, in the western part of England; and at the Isle of Man, in the Irish Channel; in order to deprive the town of the benefits arising from this antient fishery, and to monopolise them wholly to themselves.

The declining state of the herring fishery at Lowestoft was apparent about the year 1776, that the inhabitants began to entertain alarming apprehensions concerning it. This decline may be attributed to the new adventurers and the war with France and Spain.

The merchants at Lowestoft, in the year 1776, had formed a scheme for sending boats to the coast of Scotland, to fish for the large fat herrings which frequent those seas in great quantities, with the design of bringing them to Lowestoft, to be dried and cured, in the manner practised with herrings caught on the Lowestoft coast. By this means an intercourse was opened between the Lowestoft and Scotch people. In consequence whereof, inquiries were made respecting our mode of curing herrings, and the advantages which we received from the fishery; premiums were offered to our fishermen to entice them to repair to Scotland, during the herring season, to instruct those people in the methods of catching and drying the herrings; and persons were also sent from Scotland to Lowestoft to take dimensions of our fish-houses, their manner of construction, etc., and as they had obtained every information necessary for their purpose, fish-houses were immediately erected in Scotland, the fishery was established there and prosecuted with vigour, and Lowestoft was threatened with the annihilation of its antient branch of commerce, which had been its support for many centuries. The adventurers at Liverpool and the Isle of Man having at the same time formed a design of introducing the art of drying and curing herrings at those places, the same as in Scotland, the like methods were practised by them as were made use of by the Scotch. But all these designs of the Scotch, however alarming they might appear at first, were of short duration; for the heat of the weather during the fishing season, and the fat and oily quality of their herrings, rendered the fish difficult to cure, and unpleasant to the taste; and consequently their schemes were frustrated. But at Liverpool, and particularly at the Isle of Man, the case was very different. In these places the fishery continues a considerable part of the year, the herrings are taken in prodigious quantities at a small expense, and are not of that oily quality as those are which frequent the coast of Dunbar and Caithness, and consequently are capable of being better cured than those which are caught on the eastern coast of Scotland.

Nevertheless it was generally allowed that the western herrings, though preferable to those caught on the coast of Scotland, in that they were more capable of being properly cured, were yet greatly inferior in quality to those either of Lowestoft or Yarmouth. But notwithstanding the superior quality of the Lowestoft herrings, considerable orders were given for the western fish; and in consequence of the low price they could be afforded at, found a more speedy sale than those from Lowestoft, not only at all the markets in England, but at those also of the different Italian ports in the Levant. The diminution of the price of herrings, especially when accompanied with an increase of their size, were recommendations which had so great an influence with the generality of purchasers of that commodity, that they more than balanced the far superior qualities of richness of colour and excellency of flavour, which have always so remarkably distinguished the Lowestoft herrings above those from any other place.

This success of the western adventurers greatly alarmed the merchants at Lowestoft. The great quantity of fish which they caught, the proficiency they discovered in curing them, together with the greatest success they had met withal at market, exhibited but a melancholy prospect to the inhabitants of Lowestoft.

It was computed that in the year 1776, six thousand barrels of herrings were cured only at the Isle of Man; and in 1777 there were sent from the same place four thousand barrels to the London market only, exclusive of those that were sent to the other places. There were also sent to market that year twenty thousand barrels from Liverpool, and a considerable quantity from Scotland. These prodigious quantities of fish, offered also to the public at the reduced price which those merchants could afford them at (namely, Lowestoft herrings at £15 10s. per last, and herrings from Liverpool at £11 per last) so extremely distressed the Lowestoft merchants, that they were obliged to export the greater part of their herrings at Leghorn, and other ports in the Mediterranean on a venture. But even here also they found that ships from Liverpool, with herrings, had arrived there before them; and in consequence thereof were obliged to deposit their herrings in warehouses till the following year, when they were sold at a great loss. The Lowestoft merchants were also in the same predicament respecting the herrings that remained unsold at the London market; and therefore a meeting of merchants was held at Lowestoft, in order to consult about the most eligible methods of disposing of those herrings, and it was agreed to lodge them also in warehouses there till the succeeding year, which resolution was attended with the same misfortune as that respecting the herrings at the Italian ports to the great injury of the Lowestoft merchants.

Notwithstanding the great success which had hitherto attended these competitors with Lowestoft for the herring fishery, yet it was but of short continuance; for the large size of their herrings, and the fat and oily quality they possessed, though perhaps in a lesser degree than those caught on the coast of Scotland, were such great obstacles to their being properly cured, as could not be surmounted, and evidently proved that they were wholly unfit for exportation, and could only be sent to our English markets, and were not saleable even there, unless they were brought for immediate consumption; and consequently the herring fishery established at Liverpool and the Isle of Man experienced the same ill success as attended that at Dunbar and Caithness, that of being totally abolished, at least so far as respected the curing or making red herrings.

The attempts of these new adventurers have evidently demonstrated that the herrings caught on the eastern coast are the only ones that are capable of being properly cured for red herrings; the colour and flavour of these herrings are superior to those from any other place, and they retain their excellent qualities to a longer period and are preferable to any others either for a foreign or home consumption.

The second cause, which, about the year 1777, greatly retarded the success of the herring fishery at Lowestoft, as well as embarrassed the merchants was the war with France and Spain. By this event the intercourse which the English merchants had formerly maintained with the different ports in the Mediterranean was greatly interrupted, and particularly at the time when the siege of Gibraltar by the Spaniards was turned into a blockade. The usual methods formerly made use of by the merchants at Lowestoft in exporting herrings to the Italian and other ports in the Mediterranean, when we were engaged in a war with France or Spain, was, to convey them to those ports in foreign bottoms; particularly in ships from Holland; but the Dutch, at this time being suspected of carrying English property, were more narrowly watched than formerly as they passed the Straights of Gibraltar and consequently were in the most imminent danger of being captured. But in the year 1780 this difficulty was in a great measure, removed by the treaty of “The Armed Neutrality.” This treaty was entered into by most of the commercial powers on the Continent, in order to protect any ships belonging to those powers from the interruptions and depredations they had lately been exposed to, under the pretence of carrying warlike stores, etc. By this treaty foreign vessels were permitted to pass the Straights of Gibraltar without being searched, or suffering any other interruption, but unhappily for the Lowestoft merchants, they not being apprized of the treaty being ratified before the usual time of selling their herrings, and consequently were apprehensive of being liable to the same dangers and inconveniences they had before been exposed to, they at the beginning of the season, sold the greater part of the fish which they should catch this year to the fishmongers in London, whereby they sustained a very considerable loss.

The herring fishery at Lowestoft appears at this time to be established on the most lasting and permanent foundation; such as promises not only to be advantageous to the inhabitants, and beneficial to the public, but also, as a nursery for seamen, very useful to Government. In fact it is a wise policy of all great maritime powers to establish and encourage, as much as possible, fisheries of every denomination; they being not only of the greatest benefit to individuals, but of the utmost utility to every naval power; for not only the English, but also the Dutch, French, and other foreign nations, from the encouragement of their fisheries, have given evident demonstrations of the truth of this assertion. For this reason the British Legislature has always encouraged and protected its fisheries as much as possible; and the herring fishery has been particularly favoured, but in former reigns as well as the present, with signal instances of its indulgence and protection; as is manifest, not only from the many wise laws, interpositions and regulations of preceding kings, but also from the Act passed in the 26th year of his Majesty King George III., for granting a bounty on herrings, under certain restrictions therein mentioned.

SECTION XI.

THE Rev. Alfred Suckling, L.L.B., in his “History and Antiquities of the Hundreds of Blyth and part of Lothingland,” writes:—“There being no parsonage-house at Lowestoft, in consequence of the fire in 1606, the Rev. John Tanner, who died in 1759, left by his will £100 towards purchasing a residence for that at purpose: on condition, however, that his successors advanced another £100, and the purchase was made within a limited time. But Mr. Arrow, who succeeded Mr. Tanner, not complying with the terms of the will, the legacy became void; and Mr. Arrow, in 1762, purchased a very handsome and commodious house on his own account, towards the north end of the town, on the east side, in which he resided during the residue of his life. Mr. Arrow died in 1789, and was succeeded by the Rev. Robert Potter, upon whose institution, Dr. Bagot, the then Bishop of Norwich, and patron of this vicarage, revived the idea of purchasing a parsonage-house; and Mr. Potter and the inhabitants approving the measure, and Mr. Arrow’s house, then on sale, being thought a proper residence for the vicar, it was accordingly purchased for the purpose, in 1789, for the sum of £550. To accomplish the purchase, the trustees of certain charity lands in Lowestoft, the rents whereof are applicable for matters appertaining to the church, advanced £100; Dr. Bagot was pleased to give £20; and £430, the residue, was borrowed by the vicar, under the authority of the Act of Parliament to enable rectors and vicars to build or purchase parsonage-houses in those parishes where there are none. It was also thought desirable, that a garden, the property of the late Mr. Arrow, and not far distant from the house, should be purchased; the purchase-money for which was £120, but included in the £550 given. The deeds of conveyance executed on this occasion are in the possession of the vicar.”

In 1831, the Rev. F. Cunningham purchased part of a garden and right of way, which cost £77 7s. 3d., which he presented to the vicarage, and likewise put the vicarage-house into a thorough state of repair.