Pages from Pages from Volume II,chapt vi; Rows 77-80 UNPDF

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Row No. 77 , from Middlegate Street to Howard Street, was formerly

called the Three Feathers* Row t from an ancient public house or Inn. so named,

afterwards (in 1805) called the Coach and Horses. A small fragment of the old

cut-flint front next Middlegate street may still be traced. The Inn yard, long

called the Three Feathers ’ Yard, with some of the surrounding property was,

early in the present century, purchased by Samuel Larlham, hackneyrnan. At the

north-west corner there is a public house formerly called the Fountain,* and

now the Norfolk Tavern.

South of the premises last mentioned, and fronting Middlegate street,

stands a chapel lately erected by the Independents or Congregationalists from a

design by Mr. Bottle, f of which an engraving, by their permission, is here

given. It occupies the site of a square red-brick building erected in 1733, and

removed in 1869, which was known as the New Meeting 1 in contradistinction

to a chapel in the same street farther south, which was thenceforth called the

Old Meeting; and in order to understand the rise and spread of nonconformity

in Yarmouth, it is necessary to anticipate the history of the latter building.

Soon

* This was a favorite sign long after the reformation. Dean Davies says in his diary— "

2nd Dec, 1689—In the evening I went with Mr. Bransby, Capt. Robins, "and Dr. Cotton to

the Fountain, and spent four shillings which Mr. Crow sent by "mo for that purpose." And

again—" 18th Jan., 1690—After dinner I went to the coffee house, and meeting Capt.

Robins and Lieut. Ellys, we went with Alderman Stedman to the Fountain, and spent the

shilling which Mr. Crow sent by me to him," Whether the above house be the one

frequented by the Dean it is impossible now to say; but more probably a tavern so called in

the New Broad Row. Springs of water or fountains, so beneficial to mankind, have been

held in high esteem from the most ancient times. " "Where a spring arises," says Seneca,"

there let us build an altar." The Romans dedicated these temples to Arethusa; but the

Christians made St. Chad the general patron of wells and fountains; although those places

were frequently presided over by some local saint, as "St. Winifred's Well,'' and the

"Wishing Wells" at Walsingham. The Gospel of Christ has been compared to pure water

gushing from a rock and refreshing all who partake of it. By some the sign of the Fountain

is connected with the martyrdom of St. Paul. A translation of Horace's Fons

in Acta thus began:—

" Hail! noble Fountain in the Strand,

" Whence liberty flows through the land,

" With generous wine replete; and blest

"With many an honourable guest.

f This name is derived from the German buttel, a village.

1 There are some good illustrations of this building in RRH

GREAT YARMOUTH

35

after the accession of James I., the Book of Canons, sanctioned by the

king, was rigidly enforced by the bishops. Richard Maunsell, a minister,

and Thomas Lad, a merchant, both residing in Yarmouth, having been

accustomed to meet together, with Mr. Jackler their late minister, on the

Lord's day, to discuss the sermons which had been preached at the

Parish Church, were cited before the Chancellor of the Diocese at

Norwich, upon a charge of attending a conventicle. Lad was compelled

to answer questions which he was not allowed to see until he had taken

the oath. Having appeared twice before the Diocesan Chancellor; he was

carried before the High Commission Court at Lambeth, where he was

required to answer certain questions put to him by his judges. This he

refused to do without first having a sight of his former answer, for.

which offence he was committed, as was also Maunsell. After suffering

a year's imprisonment they obtained a writ of habeas corpus, and when

brought up were ably defended by Nicholas Fuller1, a learned bencher of

Gray's Inn, who denied the authority of the court to imprison the

subjects of the realm. He did not succeed in liberating the prisoners; but

got himself cast into gaol, where, after a close confinement for twelve

weary years, notwithstanding the intercession of his friends and his own

supplication, he languished and died in 1619, being then in his 77th

year.* In 1624 Thomas Cayme, who had gathered together a

congregation of anabaptists, was sent to gaol by the bailiffs. He was

enlarged by order of Sir James Leye, Chief Justice of England. Uryn, an

inhabitant, and Jefferson a merchant frequenting the town, followers of

Cayme, had been previously committed; and remained in gaol till 1620

when the town applied to have them removed. On the accession of

Charles I. the terror inspired by the Courts of Star

* A distinguished name in the annals of Puritanism is that of John Robinson. He was

a young clergyman holding a benefice in the neighbourhood of Yarmouth. The

promulgation of his principles brought upon him the interference of his ecclesiastical

superiors; he was cited before the Church Courts, and harassed with legal proceedings

until he seceded from episcopacy and retired into Lincolnshire, where he became the

pastor of a small flock of nonconformists, who in 1607, in order to avoid further

persecution, passed over into Holland. Abandoning the old world for the new they crossed

the Atlantic, and sought for civil and religious liberty in New England. They were the

P ILGRIM F ATHERS of history.

1 Palmer’s Addenda: Nicholas Fuller was buried in Thatcham Church, Berks., where

there is a Latin inscription to his memory thus translated:

Law, Peace, Religion, People, mourn thy loss,

O pious Fuller, with one common voice,

Renowned for Fame, Truth, Knowledge, Justice, Love,

Now rais’d by Christ, Hope, Virtue, far above.

Below, thy services mankind enjoy;

Above, thy company the saints employ;

Thy body earth contains, and Heaven thy soul,

And Christ, a sheep has added to the fold.

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Chamber and High Commission, was increased. In 1628 the names of

sixty-one separatists in Yarmouth were delivered to the Privy Council

by Laud, who reported that they were daily increasing, some coming

ten miles out of the country to attend the conventicles in the town. By

a report to the Privy Council in 1630 they are described as (with one

exception) very poor people; and several were committed to gaol where

they lived "on the basket."* In 1633 Hugh Peters, being then at

Rotterdam, wrote a letter to Mr. Phillips at Wrentham in which he

refers to Ward, a noted puritan. It was intercepted and delivered

to Bishop Corbet, who after taking a copy, which he sent to Laud,

forwarded the original to Phillips by a sailor boy, hoping to intercept his

answer, but, says the bishop, "the Right Reverend Phillips

was too crafty."

" The urging of popish ceremonies and divers innovated injunctions

in the worship and service of God by Bishop Wren, the suspending and

silencing of divers godly ministers, and the persecuting of godly men

and women, caused, says an entry in the church book kept by the

independents, divers of the godly in Yarmouth and other places to pass

over into Holland to enjoy the liberty of their conscience in God's

worship; and to free themselves from human inventions." The position

of Yarmouth afforded peculiar facilities for the escape of the persecuted

to the opposite shores of Holland, where William Bridge 1 became their

first pastor. This remarkable man and eloquent preacher was born, in

Cambridgeshire, and educated for the church. He was entered at

Emmanuel College in 1616, when sixteen years of age, and graduated as

M.A. in 1626. He obtained a lectureship at Colchester, which he

resigned for one at Norwich; receiving there a salary from the

corporation. In 1636 he became Rector of St. Peter's per Hungate; but

having refused to read the "Book of Sports," and his doctrine becoming

inconsistent (as was considered) with that of the Church of England, he

was silenced by Bishop Wren, and excommunicated. He remained at

Norwich until he found that the bishop had obtained a writ de capiendo

for his apprehension, and then, with several of his brethren,

*Meaning thereby voluntary contributions, by benevolent persons, of victuals put

into a basket kept for that purpose for the use of prisoners.

1 Palmer’s Addenda: Bridge – Archbishop Laud was accustomed to send to the King

an annual account of the state of his provence, and we find that in 1635 he reported

that the Norwich Diocese was “much out of order”; and in 1637 he informed his

majesty that at Yarmouth there had been for many years “great division”. But that

one Mr. Bridge, rather than conform, had gone to Holland. To this, Charles I added

this note – C. R. Let him goe. We are well Ridd of him. Bridge however was not to

be so set aside, but returned to Yarmouth with renewed vigour and was a deep thorn

in the side of the Episcopacy.

GREAT YARMOUTH

37

He came to Yarmouth and took ship for Rotterdam, where he renounced

episcopal ordination, and became the pastor of the English exiles.*

When the "glad tydings" reached them of a "hopeful Parliament" having

been called in England (as they styled the Long Parliament), and that

they would have "liberty to serve God in that way which they conceived

was most suitable to the precepts of the gospel," they prepared to return

to England, and on their arrival went back to their former habitations in

Yarmouth, and elsewhere. Bridge was invited to return, and to become

their first pastor in East Anglia. f The brethren, were however few in

number and much scattered, so that although they conceived it to be

their "indispensable duty to gather into a church," they met with many

hindrances; but at last after numerous meetings and

* A sect of Brownists had established themselves in Rotterdam early as 1610. They

took their name from their founder, Robert Brown, who had been Chaplain to the Duke of

Norfolk. He commenced by preaching to a Dutch congregation at Norwich, and his

followers, about the year 1580, formed a congregation which attracted the notice of Queen

Elizabeth and her bishops. Brown, to escape persecution, sought refuge at Middleburgh in

Zealand. In point of doctrine, the Brownists did not differ from the Church of England;

but they maintained that the form of government in the church ought to be purely

democratic, the jurisdiction of each church or society of christians being confined to the

limits of such, society; and their fundamental principle was that each congregation should

be independent, and free to act and govern itself without any external control.

t Associated with Bridge was John Ward, who on his return to England was called to

Colchester, where he gathered together a number of independents in church

fellowship. In a broad sheet printed in 1641, when Wren ceased to domineere,"

which is preserved in the British Museum, there are some curious verses addressed to

Archbishop Laud, in which among others Bishop Wren is mentioned.

" My little Lord, me thinks 'tis strange

"That you should suffer such a change

" In such a little space.

* * * ***

"The little Wren that soar'd sohigh,

" Thought on his wings away to fly

"Like Finch, I know not whither:

" But now the subtle whirly Wind-

"debank hath left that bird behind,

" You two must flock together."

The articles of impeachment against Wren are set forth in the curious

journal of Nehemiah Wallington, and are printed in his Historical

Notices, i. p. 154.

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deliberations they agreed "where most liberty was like to be, there the

church should reside," and ultimately Yarmouth was considered "the

safest and most convenient place," and thereupon ten of their number,

namely, Christopher Stygold, John Eyre, John Heverington, Daniel

Bradford, James Gidney, William Staffie, Samuel Alexander, John

Balderstone, Francis Olley, and William Official, with William Bridge

at their head, began "to built an house for God's service," and Bridge,

having been called to the pastoral office, was on the 10th of September,

1643," being the Lord's day, ordained thereto, and afterwards admin-

istered the Sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's Supper." This was a

proceeding not yet sanctioned by law; and a petition was drawn up and

carried about the town for signatures, praying Parliament to allow

congregational assemblies in a church way; but when this came to the

knowledge of the corporation, in which body the presbyterians

predominated, they ordered the petition to be called in, and not suffered

to go abroad without their approbation. Bridge was soon afterwards

called to London to attend the celebrated assembly of divines, and it

having "pleased God that Mr. John Oxenbridge* should come to

Yarmouth," the latter joined the church, and was received as an assistant

in the ministry, f In the assembly of divines there was a

* This able, pious, and disinterested divine was descended from an old puritan

Sussex family. He was born at Daventry in 1608, and both Oxford and Cambridge

contributed to his liberal education. In 1641 be commenced preaching "very

enthusiastically, travelling to and fro" before he settled down in Yarmouth. "Wood says

that Oxenbridge's wife preached in the house "among her gossips and others," and that her

husband "loved commonly to have her opinion upon a text before he preached it, she

being a scholar beyond what is usual, in her sex, and of a masculine judgment in the

profound points of theology.'' Oxenbridge became a fellow of Eton, but was ejected at the

restoration, and silenced by the Act of Conformity. He then went to the West Indies, and

thence to New England, where, says Cotton Mather, “he continued ‘till his last remove,

which was to the City of God” in 1669. In his will he mentions having "stood before the

face of the Lord in the ministry of the gospel at Great Yarmouth and other places."

f The officers of an independent congregation were the pastor, the ruling elder,

teacher or assistant minister, the elders, and the deacons. The first two instructed the

people, the elders took charge of the discipline, and the deacons of the temporalities;

Deaconesses were also sometimes chosen. The first in Yarmouth were Alice Burgess and

Johanna Ames, appointed in 1650.

GREAT YARMOUTH

39

majority of presbyterians who viewed with jealousy the growth of the

independents; and in 1644 the latter received a check in the shape of a notice

forbidding "the further gathering of churches and admitting to church

fellowship," whereupon the Yarmouth congregation agreed "to desist from

further admissions except those persons who were already propounded." But

they were not to be restrained; for in the following year Bridge came to

Yarmouth, and resisted an effort then made to “remove the church” to Norwich;

and ultimately "the "brethren of Norwich united in church fellowship among

themselves, " and had their admissions from this church in order to build one at

Norwich."* A request was then made to the corporation that Oxenbridge might

be allowed to preach at the Parish Church; and this was conceded, provided he

ended his discourse by half-past eight o'clock in the morning. They at the same

time resolved not to permit the public exercise of religion in private houses

contrary to law, nor "the erection of particular churches in the town," and they

required the bailiffs and justices to suppress the same. Oxenbridge preached in

the Parish Church every Sunday before the ordinary service for several months*

He then left and went into Yorkshire ; and the corporation presented him with

£15. In the following year Edward Owner, the then leader of the presbyterians,

was "greatly displeased" at a separate church having been set up; and he and

Whitfield, the presbyterian minister, came to Bridge and remonstrated with him;

and it was then arranged that the independents should "refrain from admitting

any more to church fellowship.'' This restriction was a burthen which they could

not long bear, for the independents were rapidly gaining strength both in the

kingdom and the borough, and in the following year (1646) they gave the

corporation notice that they could forbear no longer and began to admit to

church fellowship all who would come to them. For this purpose persons

travelled as many as fourteen miles; and being put to great distress for want of a

lodging, such brethren as were able agreed to receive them into their houses.

Cromwell having now obtained the chief power in the state, and his followers

having become the ruling party in the borough, the

* Their descendants or successors founded the Octagon Chapel at Norwich.

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independents claimed to have a part of the Parish Church set apart for their

service,, and accordingly the chancel was separated from the nave and transepts

by " main walls," and was fitted up for their accommodation, an entrance being

made through the tomb of Robert Crowmer in the north chancel aisle, as has

already been mentioned vol i. p. 205. In 1549 Miles Corbet, the Recorder and

Member for the Borough, who had shortly before sat in judgment on his king

and had signed the warrant for his execution, was admitted into church

fellowship with the independents.* In the same year Bridge was sent for to

preach before the Council of State, which he did with so much success that he

was offered the appointment of permanent preacher with a salary of £200 a year,

but he declined to separate himself from his Yarmouth friends. Mr. Habergham

and Mr. Tillinghast each received a call as assistant to Bridge; but after long

negotiations they severally relinquished their claims, and Mr. Job Tokie was

unanimously appointed. f The independents were not unmindful of political

events. In 1651 they appointed "a public day of fasting and humiliation for the

army in Scotland;" and in 1652 they agreed "to seek God for the navy at sea." In

1652 James King and Robert Ottey, or Ottee, "two young men of useful

endowments," members of the Yarmouth congregation were, upon invitation,

permitted to "goe up to Beccles" and there assist in the formation of an

independent church. J

:

f He was born at St. Ives in Huntingdonshire, graduated at Emmanuel College,

Cambridge, became chaplain to Lady Westmoreland and tutor to her two sons (by her

first marriage), Lord Townshend and Sir Horatio Townshend. He first preached at St.

Martin's Vintry, London; and afterwards at St. Alton's in Hertfordshire. In 1665 "driven

thence by severe persecution" he removed to London, and lived in Bunhill Fields till

1670, when he died, aged 64.

j They occupied the position of "teachers;" and ultimately Mr. Ottey became pastor,

and after filling that office for thirty years, died in 1689. Ottey was a native of Yarmouth,

where his father carried on the business of a bodice maker. He was educated at the

Grammar School; and on leaving school was employed in his father's business for several

years. Prompted by serious impressions, he attended private meetings for religious

exercises; and ultimately, acting under the advice both, of Bridge and Brinsley, he

devoted himself to the duties of the ministry. Rix's J East Anglian Nonconformity, p. 121.

* At a later period the church hook contains the following brief hut significant

entry —1662, April 19.— Mr. Miles Corbet supped at London. (See vol. i. p. 39.)

GREAT YARMOUTH

41

In 1653 Bridge was associated with Brinsley as "assistants to the

Commissioners of Norfolk and Norwich for the ejection of ignorant and

insufficient ministers, or, in other words, of those who differed from, the

prevailing opinions; and thus matters were carried as far on the one side as they

had been on the other by Bishop Wren. When the independents obtained the

ascendency, strenuous endeavours were made by them to eject Brinsley

altogether; but Bridge stood up for him, and used all his influence to continue

him peaceably in his place,* and these two men, much to their honor, worked

harmoniously in a common cause for many years. The independents were not

however without molestation from other sects; for we are informed, by the

Abstract already quoted, that Thomas Bond, a member of the society of friends,

in 1655 "went into the independent meeting house in Great Yarmouth, and after

their teacher had done, spake to the people, till one of their elders, called a

deacon, violently thrust him down over a high seat to the endangering of his life,

and then hal'd him out into the yard, where he would have spoken to the people,

but was there taken and "sent to prison, where he lay among felons; and the

gaoler would seldom suffer any friend to visit or relieve him." In 1656, says the

church book of the independents, a day of humiliation was set apart wherein to

humble our souls before the Lord, both in regard of the breaches and divisions

of other churches, with the fears of our own, and also for the condition of the

town in regard to the "dangers of the seas;" and in the following year a fast was

kept in regard of the changes in the nation, and also in regard of ourselves, that

we may be established in these erroneous times." In 1658 the Lord having

caused a great change of providence to pass upon this nation in taking away the

late Lord Protector, the church appointed the 9th of September to be spent

seeking the Lord for the settlement of the nation, and for humbling ourselves

before the Lord for our sins, as they had a hand in the same."* In this year the

separatists joined themselves to the independents. In June, 1659, a letter was

received from the council at Wallingford house, desiring

This and most of his foregoing extracts are taken from an original M.S.

" Church Booke" of the independents, remaining in the possession of Mrs. G. D. Palmer.

VOL. II.

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advice as to settling the nation," to which, an answer was wisely

returned that the church in Yarmouth "did not choose to meddle in civil

matters." At the restoration, episcopacy was re-established. Bridge and

his congregation were ejected from the Parish Church; but more than

two hundred years elapsed before the "main walls," which they had

erected, were pulled down, and that edifice once more thrown open from

end to end.* The records of the independents state that on the 18th of

November, 1661, "the keys of the meeting house were sent for by the

bailiffs, and delivered up to the dean and Sir Thomas Medowe, and the

vestry door nailed up."

The nonconformists although suppressed by the high hand of power

were not-extinguished; and their proceedings were watched with much

anxiety by the ministers of Charles II. In 1660 Col. Blagge was ordered

to disband Lord Cleveland's regiment then at Yarmouth, which was to

be reformed with new officers, and employed to guard the town, "as the

anabaptists were trying to foment differences between the

"episcopalians and the presbyterians." (State Papers, p. 309.) In the

following year Capt. William Pestell, writing from Yarmouth to

Secretary Nicholas, says that he will do his duty in giving intelligence,

* Bridge removed to Stepney, where he died in 1670. He was a good scholar, an able

preacher, a luminous unfolder of the Scriptures, and a profound disputant. He had a well-

furnished library. He rose, it is said, at four o'clock in the morning both winter and

summer, and continued his studies until eleven o'clock. An original portrait of Bridge was

in the possession of Ives the antiquary, who presented a copy to this chapel in 1774 where

it is still preserved. The original portrait (of which there is an engraving) was, it is

believed, for many years in Gunton Old Hall. The physiognomy is that of a studious and

amiable man, with a lofty-forehead and expressive features, set off by a neatly-trimmed

beard and moustache. The editor is indebted to Mr. S. Wilton Rix of Beccles for the

annexed portrait. Bridge was twice married. His second wife was Margaret, widow of

John Arnold, E SQ .. She died in 1675, aged 76, and lies buried in the chancel of St.

Nicholas' Church, where she is described as "lately the wife of the reverend and famous

William Bridge, Minister of the Gospel and Pastor of the Congregational Church in

Yarmouth," and her epitaph concludes with —

" Her soule in glory, and her body staies, the time till Christ to union it doth raise."

Bridge published The truth of the times vindicated; whereby the lawfulness of

Parliamentary proceedings in taking up of arms is justified, A complete edition of his

works was reprinted in 1845, in five vols. 8vo.

GREAT YARMOUTH

43

"though in much, discouragement." He reports that "Fifth-monarchy

men were strongly at work at Yarmouth and elsewhere, and that

preachers went from county to county blowing the flames of rebellion.''

In 1663 two hundred nonconformists in Yarmouth were prosecuted in

the Commissary Court for not taking the sacrament.*

Although the King appeared to be firmly seated on the throne,

great fears were entertained that plots were hatching among the

republicans; and Yarmouth was considered a likely place for their

development, the ringleaders being principally in Holland. Spies were

employed to keep the Government informed of what was going on, and

their secret reports may be found among the State Papers. In

September, 1663, they report from Rotterdam that "Lawrance, the

minister," f had sailed for Yarmouth to promote a conspiracy then going

on, saying that within a month "the people of God would live;" that

Desborough was at Amheim ; and that arms were being sent over from

Holland; and advises the apprehension of Lawrance on his landing. In

November they report that all things were ready for an insurrection in

the north, "the Scottish ministers praying a blessing on this attempt

against usurpation, covenant breaking, and idolatry," and the spies re-

commend the capture of the conspirators should they come to Yarmouth;

''where are many independents" say they. Believing as the fact was that

preaching had been a powerful weapon in disestablishing the church,

many of the clergy still deprecated it. On 11th August, 1667, Dr. Crofts,

Dean of Norwich, preached a sermon at Yarmouth in which he showed

how the pulpit had been abused and preaching idolized; and told the

congregation "it would not be amiss if preaching were laid aside for some

time," whereupon many from all parts of the church went out, and the

people exclaimed against him "in a most shameful manner," says Bower . J

* Those matters were duly reported to Government by their agents, one of whom in

October of the same year informs the Secretary of State that no nonconformists had been

indicted at the previous sessions j and sent him a present of ling and pickled herrings.

f Lawrance who had been a preacher at Yarmouth, was supposed to have been sent to

Holland " about a design to take place in December," and to be then returning with the

reply.

t John Crofts., appointed dean by Charles II. at the restoration, was a son of

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A number of Independents still held together; and in 1671 "William Sheldrake, who

had been ejected from the Rectory of Reepham in 1662, was ordained pastor; but they

were compelled to meet at private houses and often at very unseasonable hours, for the

Conventicle Act of 1664 prohibited more than four persons, besides the household,

attending any private religious meeting; and the Five-mile Act of 1665 made it unlawful for

any nonconformist minister to come within that distance of the borough.* Persecution is

however always unavailing, the independents still clung together, and in 1673 they were

sufficiently strong in numbers and resolution to erect a meeting house upon the site where

the present chapel stands. It was a square building of intense ugliness. In 1687 Sheldrake

was succeeded by Mr. James Hannot, who had been admitted into church membership in

1679; and was ordained by Mr. Finch of Norwich, and Mr. Say of Guestwick; Mr. John

Albertson, an elder of the church, assisting in the ceremony by the imposition of hands.

After his ejection Sheldrake applied himself in trade, and displayed, it is said, great

capacity; and died in 1690. He was, says Calaray, " a very authorative and yet a very

agreeable acceptable preacher. f " The king's declaration of 1687 allowed thorn greater free-

dom of worship; and it is recorded that Hannot preached "both parts of the day to a great

auditory." On the 20th of May in that year they "kept a fast," and agreed to an address to

the king, which, on the 6 th of June following, was taken up by Hannot and Albertson t ,

who pre-

Sir Henry Crofts of Tatingston in Suffolk, and brother of "William Lord Crofts. He bore

three bulls' heads couped sa., a crescent in chief for difference,

* These acts remained on the statute book until 1812, when Lord Liverpool proposed

their repeal; which, said Mr. Win. Smith, then member for Norwich, was "the most

complete Act of Toleration which had ever been passed in this country."

f The Rev. Robert Watson, Rector of Bodham in Norfolk, one of the ejected

ministers, preached here a wedding sermon from Luke xiv. 20, which he published under

the title of The School of the Untaught Bridegroom, and dedicated it to the people of

Yarmouth."

t The latter served the office of bailiff in 1655, and died in 1603, aged 71. John

Albertson, his son it is presumed, was mayor in 1688. The name is now extinct , the

government agent, writing in 1667 complains that there were then frequent conventicles,

and no care taken to suppress them; "nor can there be," says the indignant; informer, "as

the wife of one of the bailiffs is constantly among them.

GREAT YARMOUTH

45

sented it on the l0th of June at Windsor Castle, where they were well

received.* Hannot had as assistants, Mr. John King, who was dismissed

in 1889, and Mr. Samuel Wright f . In 1704 Hannot was taken ill whilst

at meeting, and was conveyed to his house in Friars' Lane (south-west

corner), where he soon afterwards died t . His place was supplied by

Wright, assisted by Mr. Samuel Say.§

" Two hundred lately met at Albertson's within two door a of Bailiff Thaxter, who, when

informed of it said he would send for his partner and consider about it, but they

considered so long that, when they began to act, the birds were flown." (State Papers.)

A family named Albertson settled in America.

* It is recorded that in this year shutters were provided for the upper windows, and

an order made " that the meeting house be made clean, which was accordingly done by

many of our maid servants freely." M.S. Church book.

f Wright was admitted a member of the Congregational Church in 1690, and took a

part in the labours of the pulpit, but not in those of the pastorate. He preached a funeral

sermon, on the death of Hannot. He became pastor to a congregation at Wrentham in

1709, and afterwards to one at Southwold; but worn out with his labours be returned to

Yarmouth, where he died in 1781, aged 63, and lies buried in St. Nicholas' Church.

Elizabeth, his widow, died in 1753, aged 83. Samuel Wright, their grandson, died in 1781,

aged 58. Elizabeth Clifton, their daughter, died in 1802, aged 95.

t He left a son, James Hannot, who succeeded to considerable property in Friars'

Lane, and died in 1754, aged 65; and a daughter, Mary, who married John Ives, Esq., and

was the mother of the antiquary, Mary, the pastor's widow, lived in a house belonging to

her at the north-west corner of Row No. 88, Middlegate Street, which she devised to

William Killett of Hackney, Middlesex, only son of her sister.

§ The Rev. Giles Say, Minister of St. Michael's, Southampton, was ejected under the

Act of Uniformity in 1662, and became pastor of a dissenting congregation at Guestwick in

Norfolk, where he died in 1692. Samuel, his second son, was educated at Mr. Rowe's

academy in London, where he was a fellow student with Isaac Watts, and Josiah Hort

afterwards Archbishop of Tuam. He became a dissenting minister at Andover; and thence

came to Yarmouth, and not only preached here but also at Lowestoft, where after a few

years he settled, but ultimately succeeded "Dr. Edmund Calamy in the pastorship of the

Church of Protestant Dissenters at Westminster, where he died in 1743, aged 68. He is

described as a "very ingenious and sensible" man, of great candour and good breeding, of

an open countenance and benevolent" disposition—well versed in astronomy and natural

philosophy, with a taste for "music and poetry, a good critic, and, master of the classics."

He was the author of The Harmony, Variety, and Powers of Numbers; and some of his

poems, essays, and sermons have been, printed. (See Gent. Mag. for 1780, and Hughes'

Letters vol. i. & iv.) There is an engraved portrait of him. Sarah, his daughter and heir,

married the Rev. Isaac Toms, dissenting minister at Hadleigh, who died in 1801, aged 91.

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In 1706 Mr. Eleazar Birch, who came from Lancashire, was chosen minister;

and on Wright's removal, the former was assisted by Mr. Adam Smith. In 1710

Birch and Smith were both dismissed, "there being danger from their quarrels of

dividing the congregation." Birch returned to Lancashire, and his descendants

became eminent manufacturers at Manchester. Smith, it is said, “died of a

broken heart upon his journey home ward.” In 1711 Mr. John Brooke was

appointed. He was born in or near Yarmouth. In 1719 he removed to Norwich,

and in 1733 to York where he died. He was assisted by Mr. Tookie, son of the

former pastor, who died in 1724. Brooke was succeeded by Mr. Peter Goodwin,

who was removed to London in 1730. He was assisted after Mr. Tookie's death

by Mr. Vazeland, and after his death by Mr. Richard Frost, who was destined to

play a most important part in the history of this religious body. Frost was born at

Norwich, where his father, Richard Frost, "a man of great spirituality and

heavenly conversation," was a manufacturer. The son was placed in the Free

School at Norwich, then under the mastership of the Rev. Mr. Pate, with the

object of obtaining a classical education, but the spirit of the times in the latter

end of Queen. Anne's reign being very unfavorable to religious liberty, he

relinquished his studies and betook himself to trade. Upon the accession of

George I. and the fair prospect of returning liberty, he recommenced his studies

under Dr. Ridgley of London, and afterwards entered himself a student at

Utrecht. Thence he removed to Leyden where he completed his education, and

first preached in 1726 to a congregation at Bradfield, and thence came to

Yarmouth. In 1728 Mr. Ralph Milner* "came to be an assistant to Mr. Frost,"

says Ives, sen., in his journal, and dissentions soon sprung up which led to a

separation of the congregation. Milner who was born at Ravenstondale in

Westmoreland, had been for some time chaplain and private tutor in the family

of Lord Barrington, and was settled afterwards at Wantage in Berkshire. " He

was liked very well," says Ives in his journal; but in less than a month we find

this entry—" Mr. Frost and Mr. Milner doe not agree together;" and in the

beginning of the

* This name is from the Scandinavian Moilner, a bruiser, or one who hurled the

hammer used as an instrument of war. Frithiof ‘s Saga.

GREAT YARMOUTH

47

following year "Mr. Frost would not consent that Mr. Milner should be upper

pastor,"' he being the last comer, "which made great uneasiness among the

congregation;" and in May, 1729, they became "very much divided, some for

Mr. Frost being head pastor, and others for Mr. Milner." The latter prevailed;

and on the 17th of June in that year he was "made head pastor of the meeting."

A separation of the congregation then took place,* Mr. Frost and his followers

left the old meeting house, and purchased of Mr. Barry Love a fish house and

garden on the east side of Middlegate farther north, and soon afterwards erected

thereon a new meeting house, which, was finished in 1732. It was a heavy,

square, ugly, red-brick building, in the style which then prevailed for dissenting

chapels. The new meeting house having been finished, the next thing to do was

to ordain Mr. Frost, "but Mr. Milner's friends kept possession of the old meeting

house and they would not let him be ordained in that," so he had to go to Filby

for the purpose. Frost, who is described on his tombstone in St. Nicholas'

churchyard as "eminent for learning, piety, and assiduity,"! resigned his

pastorate in 1758, and died in 1778, aged 77; on which occasion a sermon was

preached by the Rev. Thomas Howe, eventually his successor, on The

Providence of God, vindicated in the sufferings of good men, which was printed

"at the united request of the church and the family of the deceased." Richard

Amnar was appointed in 1762, and resigned in 1764. He was succeeded by

Howe, who was appointed in 1767, and died in 1784, aged 51. t He was

followed in 1785 by Samuel Keely,

* The united body were in possession of £1,200 in money, a flagon, two tankards,

and thirteen silver cups, all of which were divided between the separating parties.

f He was much esteemed by his congregation. In 1761 Bartholomew Bulderaton of

Norwich left him a legacy of £300, and £100 for the use of the chapel. Thomas Smyth of

Yarmouth gave £200 "towards the ministry of the meeting house whereof Mr. Richard

Frost is pastor." Frost printed several of his sermons and also a little work entitled The

Seaman's Manual He resided at No. 12, Queen Street.

t His descendants are believed to he living at Eltham Court, Kent. He was born,

probably, at Northampton, where he was educated under Dr. Doddridge. During his

boyhood his father was one of the deacons there, and afterwards a man of some eminence

among the nonconformists of Norwich. On the 4th of February 1780, "being a day

appointed for a general fast," he preached a sermon, which was afterwards printed.

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THE PERLUSTRATION OF

who was removed in 1793. In the nest year the Rev, Phineas Ph è n è , late a

student at Homerton, was publicly set apart to the pastoral office over the

independent congregation at Great Yarmouth." It was in this wise: the Rev. Mr.

Driver of Wakefield engaged in prayer and reading the scriptures; the Rev. Mr.

Booking of Denton then proposed certain questions to which Ph è n è gave replies,

repeated a confession of faith, and prayed ordination; Mr. Garter of Mattishall

then delivered the charge from i Peter v. 2, 3, 4; Mr. Atkinson of Ipswich

engaged in general prayer; and Mr. Lowell of Woodbridge preached from i

Thessalonians iii. 8; the whole concluding with prayer and benediction. Ph è n è

resigned his charge in 1800,* and was succeeded by the Rev. William Walford,

who held the pastorate for the next fourteen years. He was born, as he informs

us in his Autobiography f at Bath in 1773 of parents who were members of the

Church of England, and when twelve years of age was, contrary to his own

desire, taken from school at Nantwich in Cheshire, and apprenticed to an

engraver at Birmingham. At the expiration of a seven years' service he

determined to relinquish all idea of business, and to pursue the studies necessary

to qualify him for the assumption of the christian ministry. After some hesitation

he rejected an opportunity which presented itself of becoming a clergyman, and

soon afterwards attached himself to the Congregational Church, in communion

with which he remained to the end of his clays. He obtained admission to

Homerton College, of the defective course of instruction in which at that time

ho gives an account; and, after remaining there four years, accepted an invitation

to take charge of a small congregation at Stowmarket, of which William

Godwin, the novelist, was at that time pastor. Two years afterwards he came to

Yarmouth as a probationer for the pastoral office. The town, he says, "was then

full of business and activity," occasioned by the presence of the large fleets that

continued for some years to assemble in the roads. Many large fortunes were

made during the war; and the general opulence of the inhabitants was

* he subsequently resided at Browston Hall. Nicholas Ph è n è , who had been a

student at Hoxton, became pastor at Beccles in 1758, and died at Bradford in 1773.

f Published in 1851 by the Rev. John Stoughton.

GREAT YARMOUTH

49

greatly increased. The congregation to which I went," says Walford,

"shared in the prosperity that was diffused, and was by far the

wealthiest in that part of England." After a few months he was

unanimously requested to assume the pastoral superintendence, and

"the new relation was publicly solemnized by a religious service, at

which the principal ministers of Norfolk and Suffolk attended, and

gave the benefit of their counsel and prayers," which, instead of

"ordination," he preferred to call "a public recognition of an appointment already

determined upon in private." Soon after taking up

his abode in Yarmouth, Walford married. He does not give us the

maiden name of his wife, but the union lasted, much to his comfort,

for upwards of fifty years. A closer acquaintance with his congregation

did not, he informs us, increase his esteem for them; and he complains that the

"general character of the inhabitants was very little

elevated by education; nearly all being immersed in the pursuit of

wealth, or of what passed under the denomination of pleasure." He

was not however unsuccessful in, nor indeed altogether dissatisfied with,

his ministry; and he mentions as an incident of a favorable but unusual

character, the return of another congregation, called the Market Meeting,

which had some years previously separated. He established an additional

Sunday evening service at which he delivered a course of lectures

afterwards published. One of his discourses, he says, made such a deep

impression upon Sarah Martin (see vol i. p. 315), as to induce her to

become a member of the Congregational Chapel so long as Walford

remained minister; and on his subsequent visits to Yarmouth, he was

gratified to find that she entertained an affectionate remembrance of

him. Induced by the severity of an insidious mental malady, and by

the fact that the "liberality of the congregation did not equal their

opulence," for he received only £200 a year raised by subscription, he

relinquished his pastoral office in 1813, and was appointed classical

tutor and Hebrew teacher at Homer ton College, which office he filled for

seventeen years, when the return with increased severity of the malady

which had hastened his departure from Yarmouth, aggravated by the

grief occasioned by the loss of an only daughter, compelled him to

relinquish it. In his autobiography Walford gives a minute and very

V OL . II.

50

THE PERLUSTRATION OF

painful account of his subsequent mental sufferings, upon his recovery from

which he settled at Oxbridge, where for a time he had the charge of a small

congregation, and devoted himself to literary pursuits. He took an active part in

promoting the building of New College, into which the separate establishments

of Homerton and Highbury were consolidated; he became one of the council of

New College; and in 1838 was appointed one of the four trustees under

Coward's trust. He died in 1850, and was buried in Hillingdon churchyard.*

Before he left Yarmouth it was a matter of satisfaction to Walford that he had it

in his power to secure, as his successor, his friend the Rev. Alexander Creak,

who, a few year a younger than himself, had been a student at Homerton, and

subsequently minister of the Congregational Chapel at Burnham in Norfolk. Mr.

Creak was much esteemed as a man of piety, probity, and devotedness; and his

influence extended far beyond the scene of his own labours. He died in 1848,

There is an engraved portrait of him by Parker, f The Rev. James Stuart Russell,

who had previously assisted Mr. Creak, was appointed pastor in 1843; and

remained until 1857 when he removed to Edmonton, and subsequently became

minister of the King Street Chapel, Bayswater, erected in 1855. He was

succeeded at Yarmouth by the Rev. Stephen St. Neots Dobson, B.A., who had

been associated with Mr. Russell in 1855. He removed to Manchester in 1867,

and was succeeded by the Rev. William Tritton, who was educated at Hackney

College, and had been minister at Cambridge. In 1859 the Rev. William

Griffiths, M.A., of London University, was associated with Mr. Tritton as joint

pastor of the Middlegate Street and King Street congregations.

* He published The Manner of Prayer ; a new translation The Book of Psalms; and

Curae Romanae:, a revised translation of the Epistle to the Romans. It was his

practice to deliver an annual discourse at the commencement of the herring fishery.

That which he preached in 1790 (Psalm, xxxiii. v. vii.) was printed, entitled 'The

Ocean; display a of Divide Perfections in it, and the moral instructions to be derived from

it’. He also issued proposals for printing Discourses from practical Subjects.

f On the day of his funeral a sermon was preached to his congregation by the R EV .

John Alexander, of Prince's Street Chapel, Norwich, which was printed in the following

year, accompanied by a brief memoir.

GREAT YARMOUTH

51

South of the Congregational Chapel is a school erected upon the site of

a dwelling house and shop which in 1769 was given to the

congregationialists by John Eddridge, for the better maintenance and

support of the pastor.

Row No. 78, from Middlegate Street to King Street, called Pot-in-hand

Row, from a public house at the east end fronting King Street, now the

property of Messrs. Steward, Patteson, and Co., who, in 1866, took

down the old house and erected the present structure.

Row No. 79, from Howard Street to King Street. At the south-

west corner is a public house formerly called the Three Pigeons,* after-

wards the Lobster, and now the Jolly Maltsters. f Near the Lobster, there

was in 1784 a house in so dilapidated a state as to be dangerous to

passengers, and the corporation ordered it to be taken down.

Row No. 80, from Middlegate Street to King Street. The ground

between this Row and Row No. 82, fronting King Street, is occupied by

a large Elizabethan house, now divided into two occupations with

modern shops on the ground floor. The front was originally adorned

with moulded bricks forming festoons of fruit and flowers; all vestiges

of which have long been obliterated. The rooms were panelled with

wainscot, having massive wooden chimney pieces reaching from floor to

ceiling. The oaken staircase with its broad and fleet steps and heavy

balustrade was peculiarly characteristic. t This house was erected by

George Hardware., Esq.,§ who purchased the site in 1604. He was

bailiff in 1612 and 1621, and represented the town in Parliament in

1614 and 1623. On the first occasion he presented James I.

* This is an ancient sign, now seldom, met with, supposed to mean the three pigeons

or doves which Noah sent successively out of the ark. The original Hebrew word is

Yon&h; arid there is nothing in the passage referred to in the Bible to know that Noah

thrice sent out the same pigeon. " The Three Pigeons expect me down every moment,"

says Tony Lumkin in She stoops to conquer.

f A combination of. three was frequent in signs. The Manners' Tavern at the north-

east corner of Row No. 61 used to be called the Three Jolly Mariners.

t The annexed plate is from a drawing by Mrs. Bowyer Vaux.

§ He bore az., a chev. betw. three dexter hands arg.