Pages from Palmer, Volume 3- part III, chapter 1 b, Gorleston UNPDF

GREAT YARMOUTH

361

increased in Gorleston, and substantial chapels have been erected by the

numerous sects into which Methodism has become divided. Other non-

conformist bodies have also gathered congregations and built chapels in

Gorleston.*

T HE Town House, Guild Hall, or Court House, is said to have stood

in Baker Street. A court called "The Chiefers' Court" was held yearly.

Also the Leet Court, which comprised the towns and parishes of

Lowestoft, Gorton, Gunton, Hopton, and Gorleston. These courts were

kept at Shrovetide and in the first week of Lent. Gorleston never had a

Municipal Corporation.

No apprentices to freemen of Yarmouth residing at Gorleston

became free of the borough by reason of such service; as would have

been the case had their masters resided in South town.

On the south side of Baker Street was an old tavern called the

White Horse, and the adjoining yard is still called White Horse Yard,

A curious-timbered house stood, at the south-east corner of Baker

Street, which was taken down in 1710. It was a spacious building of the

time of Henry VIII. The entrance from the street was by a low archway.

A portion of the great chamber remained to the last, nearly in its

original state, having a large chimney piece adorned with carvings, a

variety of devices, and armorial bearings, as stated by Randall.

At the north-east corner of Baiter Street, was a house in which re-

sided (as it is said) Dr. John Pell, an able mathematician employed by

Oliver Cromwell as Envoy to the Swiss Cantons. He died in London in

1685. Pell is a name which has been of long continuance in Gorleston.

At the south-east corner of Baker Street, a road turning to the south

skirts the high land, having to the left the marshes which lie between it

and the river. A little to the right, standing away from the road, is a red-

brick house built in 1722, as appears by the date on the gable, long

known as the Globe Tavern, but originally the residence of

* In 1858 the Rev. Joseph Pike, Congregationalist Minister, died when in his pulpit,

aged 48, much respected.

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THE PERLUSTRATION OF

the K ILLETTS , a family at one time holding considerable possessions

and of much influence in Gorleston and Yarmouth.*

In 1643 the trained hands, under the command of Sir John

Wentworth of Somerleyton, were ordered to assemble once a week, at

eight o'clock in the morning, " at the house of William Killett, the elder,

at Gorleston, with their arms complete, there to be exercised, &c. Every

man to bring with him powder, match, and bullets." This William Killett

purchased the site of the above-mentioned house with some surrounding

property in 1620, and established a brewery which flourished for more

than two centuries. f He died in 1655, leaving a son, William Killett,

who died in 1665; and was succeeded by a son, William Killett, who

died in 1732, leaving two sons, Jeffery and Samuel. Jeffery Killett

married Eleanor, daughter of James Dawney and heir to her brother,

James Dawney, who died in 1710. They had a son, Jeffery Killett, who

married Elizabeth, daughter of John Fowler, Esq., of Pakefield,§ when

the above-mentioned house was brought into settlement. He died in

1754 possessed of landed property in Gorleston and the adjoining

parishes, and left three daughters his co-heirs, of whom Mary died

unmarried in 1773, Elizabeth married William Thompson Motts, and

Margaret married Charles Chandler. They sold the property to Mr. John

Bell, by whose descendants the business of the brewery was conducted

for many years. Samuel Killett had a house on the east side of High

Street, now converted into a public house called

* One of the earliest names in the steward's books for the Manor of Bacons, which

commence in ths 16th. century, is that of Killett. There are numerous sepulchral slabs

with inscriptions to their memory in Gorleston Church; especially one to Margaret,

daughter of Jeffery Killett of Gorleston, and wife of Jeffery Killett of Halesworth, who

died in 1793, in her 90th year.

f These trainings, interrupting as they did the peaceful occupations of the country

people, became so distasteful that attendance could only be obtained by the threat of "a

troop of horse," and the men were told to expect "further punishment;" which came in the

shape of being sent to the Gaol at Blythborough for desertion.

t Richard Elliott of Long Stratton, Norfolk, was married at Yarmouth in l656 to

Margaret Killett of Gorleston.

§. The Fowlers were settled at Pakefield for many generations; and had also property at

Corton. John Fowler, Esq., of Corton, died in 1830, aged 60. (See vol. ii. p. 119.)

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363

the Red Lion; and John Killett resided at a detached house at the south end of

Fen Street facing the Beccles Road. John Killett of Gorleston, when in

command of a merchant vessel in 1773, was knocked overboard by the boom of

his ship when off the Scilly Islands and drowned.

S AMUEL K ILLETT , son of William Killett of Yarmouth by Lydia his wife, filled

the office of mayor in 1746; and at his inauguration dinner entertained the Earl

of Buckinghamshire, then Lord Lieutenant of Norfolk. He had previously in the

same year presented the corporation with a, silver oar doubly gilt, about four

feet in length, as a symbol of their admiralty jurisdiction. On the blade are the

royal arms, the arms of the admiralty of England, the arms of the borough, and

the arms of Killett— or., on a mount vert, a boar passant sa., collared and

chained ; and on the handle of the oar is inscribed Ex dono Sudis Killett, armiger

1746 (see Manship, p.362). He became Collector of

Customs at Yarmouth, and was removed thence to Exeter,

where he died in 1766.* By his will he devised his estates

at Bradwell, f Belton, and Gorleston to William, his only

son, who died at Great Yarmouth in 1824, aged 88, and was

buried at Kenninghall, where his son, the Rev. Wm.

* The following epitaph was placed on his

tomb:—

" Mortal to who e'er thou art that passes by,

" And on this tomb shall chance to cast an eye;

" O stop! and read — there rests beneath this stone,

" A man as worth; as this world has known !

" Belov'd by all who on him did depend,

" The kindest husband, father, master, friend;

"Humane to all, while to his country just,

" True to his king, and faithful to his trust;

"N or did he e'er his legal power abuse,

" By vile extortion, or by sordid views;

"But tho' at the receipt of customs plac'd,

" Clear was his fame, by no mean act disgraced. "

f A house on the Bradwell estate was anciently known as "Fastolfe's." Samuel

Killett held the Rectory of Bradwell from 1733 to 1767, having been presented by a

patron of the same name; and there are memorials in Bradwell Church to two Captains

Richard Killett, father and son, who died respectively in 1761 and 1762. ( T. S., p. 130 ;

Suckling's Suffolk, i., p. 327.) A house in Yarmouth and another at Gorleston belonging to

the Killetts were sold by auction in 1772. Jeffery Killett of Yarmouth, mentioned in the

will of Samuel Killett, died at Bath in 1795.

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THE PERLUSTRATION OF

Killett, was vicar. The latter died in 1846, aged 75; and Mary Elliott, his

sister, died at Yarmouth, in 1850, aged 79, and with her the family there

became extinct . A monument to the memory of the Killetts in

Kenninghall Church bears a shield of their arms with sixteen quarterings.

Further south are the house and grounds of Garwood Burton

Palmer, Esq.. The house was erected by Capt Cobb, R.N.,* and was

afterwards occupied by Lieut. Edmund Bennett, R.N., who had lost an

arm in action. f Nearly opposite, and under the brow of the hill, is a house

which was long the property and residence of John Sayers Bell, Esq.

All the lands between this house and the river, as also the slopes of

the hills north and south and the adjacent low grounds, were waste lands

of the parish, and were the subject of an Enclosure Act passed in 1813,

which however useful in some respects sadly destroyed the picturesque

appearance of Gorleston.

Mr. J. S. Bell married Charlotte Frances, daughter of Paul Smith,

Esq., of London, by Grace his wife, daughter of the Rev. John

Lodington, M.A., Fellow of King's College, Cambridge, and Rector of

Haddiscoe and Toft Monks, t to which livings he was presented in 1751

by his college.

Capt. Manby in his Reminiscences states that upon one occasion

when he was upset in an "unimmersible" boat which he had invented.

Mr. J. S. Bell of Gorleston by his gallant and generous conduct in

plunging in and swimming to assist me obtained the applause of all,

and was not unrewarded; for his gallantry won him the heart of an

amiable lady who was present, and who ultimately bestowed her hand

* It has often happened that naval officers have lived until they had the near prospect

of, but died without attaining the much-coveted rank of admiral. Capt. Cobb however was

actually made an admiral after his death, "my lords," at the time of the promotion, being

unacquainted with that fact.

f He married Miss Haw in 1801, and died in 1817, aged 43, leaving Elizabeth his

widow, who died in 1822, aged 58, and an only daughter, who married David Hogarth,

Post Master of Great Yarmouth.

t See vol. i., p. 183, where the name is mis-printed "Doddington." He was the

Author of Select Fables of Æ sop. 1762. Marmaduke Lodington, a Fellow of Lincoln's

College, Oxford, was in 1600 condemned to make an oration in the Chapel Vituperium

ebrietatis, from which we may gather the nature of his offence; and he soon after resigned

his fellowship.

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365

"on so good and deserving a man." — p. 40.* He died in 1851, aged 68.

He bore arg., on a chev. eng. or., three talbots' heads erased gu., as many

trefoils slipped vert.; and for a crest, a talbot's head erased gu., being

the arms of the Bells of Suffolk; impaling or., a chev. betw. three cross

bows gu., for Smith.

After a junction with New England Lane the road runs up the edge

of the cliff which here rises considerably. It was called Battery Hill,

because at its summit was a platform of guns placed there during the

last war with France, but dismantled at the peace. It was vulgarly called

Pilfer Hill ;f but more recently Prospect Hill, as some of the houses

command extensive sea views. Towards the south end and

* Mr. J. S. Bell, left three sons, Mr. Penrice Bell of Cheltenham, Mr. Edward W.

Bell, and the Rev. George R. Bell of Great Snoring, Norfolk.

f It was also culled still more ominously Deadman's Hill. In the early part of the

present century there was n. story current (teste me ipso) that some Gorleston boatmen

had been concerned in the murder of a rich Jew, and that they had possessed themselves

of his treasure. In 1826 there was published The Confession ; being Extracts from a Series

of'Letters from a Clergyman in New South Wales, containing the narrative of a convict

who stated that he was a Spaniard by birth; but having been cast by shipwreck on the

Norfolk coast, he joined a company of boatmen at Gorleston. One day, in compliance

with a signal from a vessel, they went off to her and found she wanted to land a

passenger. A few got into the boat, into which was lowered a large and heavy chest,

respecting the safety of which the Jew appeared most anxious. Their cupidity was excited;

and the man at the helm having ran the boat along the seaward side of the Scroby Sand,

suddenly struck the Jew a death blow with the tiller as he sat before him. The box was

then broken open and its contents (chiefly gold) divided among the boatmen. The usual

result of ill-gotten gains followed. None of the boatmen prospered; and the narrator

having been convicted of a robbery, was transported; and being then under sentence of

death for murder made a free confession. The crew of the boat, as the story went, all

became suddenly rich without any visible cause, and built themselves on this hill houses

which were envied by their poorer neighbours, but the latter made the lives of the men

unhappy by their insinuations, especially when "in their cups." The tradition, is that the

men brought the chest on shore and buried it in the sand south of the pier, but fearing that

a high tide might wash away the sand and discover it, they during the night dug it up

again and broke it in pieces. The chest is said to have contained some rich laces, which,

after a, time adorned the females of the men's families, and served to excite envy and

confirm suspicions. The last survivor of the suspected perpetrators of this tragedy died a

few years ago but "made no sign." There is in the west part of Gorleston, bordering on

Bradwell, a road called Jew's Lane 1 , but it appears to have been so called long before the

above occurrence.

1 In September 2007, I photographed the excavation of the former petrol station at

this site, for a new housing development. The excavation showed undisturbed glacial

sand, of a mix similar to that pulled up by screw piling at South market Road, a few days

earlier. (See RRH)

366

THE PERLUSTRATION OF

upon the highest elevation Sir Thomas Beevor, Bart., the late Colonel Harvey of

Thorpe, and other gentlemen, had residences. It was from this hill that J. M. W.

Turner made his drawing of Yarmouth, which has been engraved in his

Picturesque Views*

At a house on Prospect Mill resided for many years Mr. Brightin Silvers,

in the service of the customs, who was distinguished for his active and

successful exertions in saving the lives of shipwrecked mariners. He died in

1871, aged 96. f

In 1865 a new road or street was constructed from High Street to Church

Lane, across the land whereon the Conventual Church of the Augustines had

stood, leaving the exact site of such church a little to the south. It appears by the

map of the Astley estates in Gorleston, already mentioned, that such site with

the ruins then existing and the precincts of the same, comprising about four

acres of land, were at the time such map was made in the possession of Sir

Jacob Astley, who, as has been mentioned, died in 1762.

When the Rev. Thomas Browne, D.D., was Vicar of Gorleston he erected

at the south-west portion of this land, adjoining Church Lane, a dwelling house

in which he resided until his death in 1832, and devising it to his widow, Mrs.

Browne continued to occupy the same until her decease in 1844. s.p., when it

devolved, with the rest of the Astley property in Gorleston, including the site

and precincts of the Conventual Church, upon her heir-at-law, Jacob, Lord

Hastings, who sold the whole to the Rev. Henry Baltiscombe of Cambridge.

Of him

* Gorleston and Yarmouth have afforded many subjects of which our painters

have availed themselves. Among others may be mentioned Gorleston Pilots by

Dominy, sometime Drawing Master at the Yarmouth School of Art; the Haven & Mouth,

Gorleston, Morning after a storm by J. Calcott; On Yarmouth Beach in early morning

and the Surf boat by R. Dudley; Corn field on Marshes near Yarmouth by G. Stewart.

f He was the son of Timothy Silvers by Mary Anne his wife, only surviving

child of Brightin. Thirkettle by Margaret Sayer his wife. Timothy Silvers died a

prisoner of war at Leiseux in Normandy in 1795. Brightin Silvers had a son, Tolver

Silvers, who in 1831 perished by shipwreck on Skerries Island, coast of Ireland,

aged 47 years, and was buried with all his crew in the Churchyard of Home Patrick,

where there is a monument to his memory. Brightin Silvers had in his possession

portraits of his maternal great-grandfather and great-grandmother, Robert and Mary

Anne Thirkettle. See vol. i., p. 177; and vol. ii., p. 231.

THE PERLUSTRATION OF 367

this house, then termed Gorleston Lodge, was purchased by John

Brown, Esq., of Great Yarmouth, then managing partner in the house of

Grout and Co., silk manufacturers, who made it his residence for many

years. He died at Brighton in 1874, in his 78th year, having previously

sold this house and grounds, which in 1866 were conveyed to E DWARD

P ITT Y OUELL , Esq., the present owner, who filled the office of mayor in

1866, and who is probably the only Mayor of Yarmouth who ever

resided at Gorleston during his mayoralty. He is the only son of the late

Edward Youell, Esq., who died in 1870, in his 90th year.* The latter

was for many years (as his son now is) a partner in the banking house of

Sir E. K Lacon, Bart., Lacons, Youell, and Co. The Rev. Henry Yowell

was in 1654 presented to the Vicarage of Lowestoft on the presentation

of the Bishop of Norwich. f In 1660 he headed a petition "to his highness

Prince Rupert, and his grace the Lord Duke of Albemarle, his majesty's

generals at sea, riding in Southwold Bay," stating that the countrymen

required for the herring boats were "exceedingly discouraged by reason

of the French and Dutch freebooters that daily infest these parts in the

absence of the "fleet," and the memoralists requested to be furnished

with "four nimble sailing vessels for their guard," that the men might

not be "left as a prey to their enemyes" while endeavouring to obtain

subsistence for themselves and families. t He died in 1676, and was

buried within the vestry of the Parish Church of Lowestoft,§ leaving a

son, George Yowell of Yarmouth, || and a common councilman named

in the charter

* John Youell, for many years cashier in the same bank, died in 1863, aged 89.

f Suckling's Suffolk, vol. ii., p. 108. Henry Youell was Rector of Gunton, Suffolk,

between 1639 and 1677; and Edward Youell wag Rector of Ashby with Hellington and

Rector of Carlton with Claxton in Norfolk. The latter died in 1701.

t William Youell in his diary records that in 1775 he "went to Lowestoft and got

shaved at Mr. Gillingwater's, where I saw a petition signed by my grandfather's

grandfather, Henry Youell, Vicar of Lowestoft, to Prince Rupert."

§ The vicar had a daughter who married Sir Edmund Reeve of Stratton, Norfolk,

Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, who died in 1647. The family of the latter were

the possessors of Oulton High House, which had been the property of the Fastolfes and

afterwards of the Hobarts. (See ante, p. 148.) Reeve bore az., a chev. between three pair

of wings conjoined and elevated or.

|| William Yowell of Yarmouth was in 1666 married to Sarah Atkins. Parish

Register.

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THE PERLUSTRATION OF

of Charles II., who is said to have been known to the Duke of Monmouth, and to

have been a physisian in his forces. Edward, his son, settled at Oulton in Suffolk,

where he married Sarah, daughter of Robert Titlowe* of Carlton, Suffolk, in

1710, and died in 1762, aged 77. John, their son, married in 1741 Sarah,

daughter of William Howes of Great Yarmouth, and resided at Oulton, where he

died 11th of December, 1790, but was buried at St. Swithin's, Norwich. He and

his father established at Oulton a considerable business in the corn trade. f

William, son of John and Sarah Youell, was born at Oulton, and was apprenticed

to Charles le Grys, Esq., an eminent corn merchant in Yarmouth, already

mentioned. He married (31st August, 1766) Margaret, daughter of John

Witchingham of Great Yarmouth, who died in 1782, by Clementina his wife, and

after an active business life in the corn trade, died at Oulton in 1821, aged 75. J

He was the father of Edward Youell, Esq., aiready mentioned, who married

Maria Susanna, daughter of Richard Pitt, Esq., one of the sons of Thomas Pitt,

Esq., mayor in 1776. (See vol. ii., p, 365.)

On the south side of the before-mentioned new road, now called Priory Street, a

Drill Hall has recently been erected, from a design by Mr. H. D. Arnott, for the

accommodation of the Gorleston Volunteers.§ It is also used as a Town Hall and

fitted for public entertainments, and was opened by the mayor on the 18th of

January, 1875. This hall is 60 feet long by 40 feet in width, and has a timbered

ceiling. In digging the foundation a number of skeletons were found.

A lane leading from the Parish Church towards the south-west, passes a modern

house called Shrubland Cottage, now occupied by Mr.

* Some property at Oulton near the church, called "Corbett's," was acquired hy the Youells under

the will of this Robert Titlowe, the entail of which was barred in 1781. Youell's Diary.

f On an old house at Oulton, long occupied by the Youells, there was a shield of arms—on a

chev. betw. three bears' heads couped and muzzled, three birds rising; with, the date 1650 and

the letters I W A

t He kept a diary extending over fifty years in his pocket books (which are still preserved),

where, besides a minute record of the weather and the price of corn, he mentions events of

local interest.

§ The Gorleston Company of the Great Yarmouth Volunteer Rifle Corps was formed in 1860,

under Captain Wm. P. P. Matthews.

i

GREAT YARMOUTH

369

Bendy, which half a century ago was tenanted by Rear-Admiral Sir

Eaton Travers, K.H, (then Capt. Travers); and afterwards by William

Danby Palmer, Esq., who purchased the adjoining estate.* Some lands

near were called Rome Rents, from a former payment having been

made, as is supposed, to the Holy See. f In this neighbourhood was

"Crabland Hall," which tradition says was "a pleasure house for the

Priors of St. Bartholomew in Smithfield," and occupied by them when

they visited Gorleston. Near here is Lamper's Lane.

The C HURCH F ARM at Gorleston was also a possession of the

Bedingfield family, and passed precisely in the same manner as the

impropriate tithes and. the advowson, to the Astleys in 1744. The house

stood at some distance south of the church, and adjoined the Lowestoft

Road. It was at that time in the occupation of Mr. John Beart, who

continued tenant to the Astleys, and died in 1761, aged 64. t This farm

house was sometimes called the parsonage, from having probably been

at some time occupied by the vicar. Little or nothing of the original

structure now remains, but in making some repairs in 1847 some very

ancient bricks, usually called "King John's bricks," were discovered:

and being very

* Second son of Samuel Palmer, Esq. (youngest son of W. D. Palmer of Great

Yarmouth), born at Loddon Hall in 1812, and educated at Trinity College, Cambridge. He

married Harriet, third daughter of Thomas Burton, Esq. (see vol. ii., p. 393). He was a

Magistrate for the County of Suffolk and Borough of Great Yarmouth, and died in 1858,

aged 46.

f A piece of land in this vicinity (No. 729) is called the Devil's Acre.

| There is a short pedigree of the B carts of Suffolk in the Jermyn Collection in

the British Museum, v. i., p. 220. They "bore gyronny of eight gu. and or., on a chief

of the first a close helmet or. A family of the name held property at Gorleston at an

early period; for in 1699 Henry Beart conveyed some lands there to Nathaniel

Jennys, and the deed is witnessed by Elizabeth Palmer. John Beart, "Pastor of a

Church of Christ at Bury St. Edmund's," published, in 1717 a Vindication of the

Eternal Law and Everlasting Gospel; also Divine Breathings or Spiritual Meditations.

James Beart was admitted a Yarmouth freeman by apprenticeship in 1736, and probably

therefore earns from the country. James Beart was a freeman of Yarmouth,

and voted at the general election in 1754 in the Walpole and Townshend interest.

He appears to have settled in London; and James Beart of London, voted in 1777,

after which the name disappears from the burgess roll. Henry Beart, who died in

1785, aged 70, was buried in Yarmouth Churchyard; as was Mary his widow, who

died in 1799, aged 86. At Wedney, in the Isle of Ely, died in 1788 "William Beart,

aged 56, a considerable farmer and grazier, possessed of a handsome fortune."

370 THE PERLUSTRATION OF

hard were again used. After the death of the above-named John Beart,

the Church Farm was occupied in succession by Charles Beart and

Charles Willes Beart, his son, and grandson, embracing in the three

tenancies a period of more than a century. Charles Beart, the son of the

above-named John Beart, was born in 1735, and married his cousin

Anne, daughter of Richard Beart. He was a farmer and merchant, and

filled the office of High Constable for the Hundred of Lothingland.*

While tenant to the Rev. John Astley of Thornage he lived on terms of

great social intercourse with his landlord, as was not unusual in those

days, they paying each other an annual visit. "When at Thornage

Rectory for the last time in 1804, sitting at supper, Mr. Beart apparently

stooped down to pick something from the floor, but in a few minutes, to

the horror of those who were at table with him, it was found that he was

dead of apoplexy 1 . He was in his 70th year. Elizabeth his widow

* The office of Chief Constable for Lothingland was in ancient times an office, of

some importance. It was reported to Government in 1584 (Domestic State Papers in the

reign of Queen Elizabeth) that John Jernegan of Belton, soon after he was made a justice,

displaced and vexed a chief constable named John Arnold, a man of good deserte, allowed

and contended by all other justices, and placed in the same island " by the consent of more

than thirty justices at one great assemblie aboute speciell service of her majestie, and by

the liking and good allowance of the late lord keeper." In 1753 John Beart filled the office

of churchwarden, as did his son and grandson on subsequent occasions,

f Mr. Astley and his tenant, besides an interchange of visits, kept np a

correspondence in which many of the events of the day were freely commented upon.

"Should the peer of Gunton," says Mr. Astley in a letter to his tenant, "be disposed to

purchase Mr. Hogan's estate at Hunworth, I hope you will require a good price." The

nobleman alluded to was Sir Harbord Harbord, Bart., advanced to the peerage in 1786 by

the title of Baron Suffield of Suffield in the County of Norfolk. He married Mary,

daughter and co-heiress of Sir Ralph Assheton, Bart., and died in 1810.

t He was much esteemed by his friends, one of whom composed the following

verses to his memory:—

" Yes— he —is gone—whose manly upright heart

" Ne'er felt a pulse of low deceit or guile;

" Who never caused another's heart to smart,

" Or lent his ear to flattery's cunning wile.

" Firm was his friendship—more than man can tell;

" Kind were his motives —sacred was his trust;

" Now summon'd by a solemn sudden knell,

" He rests his head beside parental dust.

" I saw him borne upon the sable bier,

" And saw him sleeping on the bed of death ; "

1 A stroke.

GREAT YARMOUTH

371

died in 1811, aged 65. He was succeeded in the occupation, of the

Church Farm by his eldest son, the above-named Charles Willes Beart,*

who in 1794 married Helen, youngest daughter of James Hayward, then

deceased (see vol. i., p. 275), by whom he had five sons and four

daughters. On relinquishing the Church Farm, after Dr. Browne came

into residence, he settled in Yarmouth as a wine merchant, and died

there in 1834, aged 64. (See vol. i. p. 402.)

There were two other sons of Charles Beart and Anne his wife,

namely, John, already mentioned (vol. i., p. 310), f and Jehoshaphat,

who married Anna Maria Evans, the only child of Francis Hogan, J and

"I saw the universal village tear,

n

" Oft shall I pause, and muse upon thy wife.

" That flashing wit, which made each table roar;

" That social wit, which never made a foe;

" That matchless wit, which calls up mirth no more,

" Its merry jibes are laid for ever low.

" But this is nature's law—we all must die,

" Then let us in our God repose our tru t;

" Nor heave again the unavailing sigh,

" For we ere long shall mingle with the dust.''

* He was the godson of John Willes, Esq., an eminent London corn merchant, who

died at his seat at Dulwich in 1818, aged 83. He increased his wealth, which was very

considerable, by a marriage with the daughter of Alderman Wright of London.

f He married Maria, daughter of Mr. Basham of Norwich, by whom he had no issue.

She married, secondly, Mr. John Kitson of Thorpe. The name of Basham is derived from

a parish in Norfolk, in which is Basham Hall, a most interesting specimen of architecture

of the time of Henry VIII. Mr. Basham, who was "remarkable for his power of exciting

social mirth" and for other good qualities, died suddenly when on a visit to Mr. Charles

Beart at Gorleston in 1803, aged 71.

t He had an estate at Hunworth in Norfolk. The Hogans were at one time a family of

wealth and importance. They bore arg., a chev. vairy or. and gu . betw. three harts, on

each a bear's leg or paw erased of the field. Thomas Hogan, Esq., of East Bradenham,

died in 1585, while filling the office of High Sheriff of Norfolk, in which he was

succeeded by Henry Hogan, Esq., of East Dunham. Sir Thomas Hogan, commanding the

Parliamentary forces at King's Lynn, writing to the

s

"And heard the sob of grief's convulsive breath.

" When plac'd within his narrow last long home,

"I sadly gazed, and cried alas! my friend,

'' Must I then leave thee in the earth's cold womb,

" Must here our joys—must here our sorrows, end?

" Oh no! whene'er I see the sacred fane,

" Or when beside my fire I pensive sit;

"Or when I pass the well-known ' Sandy La e,'

372

THE PERLUSTRATION OF

by her, who died in 1807, aged 28,* had an only child, Francis Hogan

Beart, who died unmarried. Jehoshaphat Beart died at Dum Dum

Barracks, Calcutta.

Of the five sons of Mr. C.W. Beart, the eldest, Charles James, a

Lieutenant in the Royal Navy (see vol. ii., p. 117), married Harriet

Oswin, only child of John Lutzens, Esq., and died in 1861 at

Broxbourne, aged 66, leaving issue. John, the second son, married in

1824 Maria Trefosia, one of the two daughters of Benjamin English of

Southtown, and died in 1857, aged 56, leaving one daughter, Isabel

Maria, who married John Patrick Murrough of Graffham, Surrey,

sometime M.P. for Bridport; and a son, Benjamin English Beart, now of

Leamington. Francis, the third son, in the naval service of the East India

Company, died at Bombay in 1822, aged 19, unmarried. Robert

Hayward, the fourth son, married in 1834 Eliza Eleanor, youngest

daughter of William Armitage, Esq., and died at Norwich in 1866, aged

60, leaving issue (see vol. ii., p. 332). George, the youngest son, died in

1852, aged 42, s.p. Of the four daughters, Helen, the eldest, married

George Costerton, Esq., and died in 1829, aged 32, leaving issue, and

was buried at Rollesby, where, in the Parish Church, there is a mural

monument to her memory. Mary, the second daughter, and Cordelia

Rachel, the youngest, both died unmarried (the latter 8th December,

1874), and Elizabeth remains unmarried.

On the death of Mrs. Browne the Church Farm was purchased by

G . D. Palmer, Esq. (see vol. ii., p. 389), and on his death in 1865 it was

divided and sold. The old house and farm buildings, with most of the

land adjoining the Turnpike Road, were purchased by Charles Cory,

Esq. (see vol. i., p. 54; and vol. ii., pp. 33, 389), who made a new

speaker on the 5th of July, 1647, complains of the insubordination of his soldiers in

consequence of their pay being in arrear; he not having received £ 500 ordered to

be handed to him by Mr. John Cory of Norwich, collector for the county, the same

having been otherwise disposed of. At the same time Thomas Toll, Mayor of Lynn,

wrote to the speaker, giving a lamentable account of the state of that town in

consequence of the civil war. Carey's Memorials, vol. i., p. 287. Hogan was a local

name given to "an unusually powerful tipple" much used in Norfolk, the

component parts of which are now unknown. See vol. ii., p. 296; and Notes and

Queries, vol. 12, 4 Series, p. 14,

* There is a mural monument to her memory in Ormesby Church.

GREAT YARMOUTH

373

road across the lands lying to the north of the buildings now called

Stradbroke Road (following the title of the present Lord Lieutenant of

Suffolk),* the ground on either side being let for building purposes.

Upon a field which had belonged to the Church Farm, called Lower

Stone Close, next the third milestone on the Lowestoft Road, the Great

Yarmouth Water Works company f have recently constructed, under an

Act of Parliament passed in 1872, a covered reservoir capable of con-

taining 800,000 gallons, into which the water from Ormesby Broad is

pumped; and from it the water flows back for the supply of Gorleston,

Southtown, and Great Yarmouth.

Old England Lane connected the main road passing the Church Farm with

the road to the east ascending the cliff. At the south-west corner of this

lane there stood a cross, the base of which remained until 1786, and was

vulgarly called the devil's tombstone. This was St. Clement's Cross

mentioned in the Cheever's Accounts for 1597. In 1706 some lands on the

south side of this road were sold by Richard Engle (see vol. i., p. 249; and

vol. ii., p. 178) to Andrew Bracey of Yarmouth, and became early in the

last century the property of Thomas Symonds, who left two daughters his

co-heirs, one of whom (Margaret) married William Edwards of Carlton

Colville, and Kinn, the other, married Thomas Custins, who died in 1798,

leaving an only daughter, Mary, his sole heir, by the executors of whose

will

* See vol. i., p. 94. The family of Rous were distinguished for their loyalty. The following

letter from Charles II. to Sir John Rous has never been published:—

"Breda, 27th April, 1660.

"It is no news to me to heare of your great affection, which I always promised myself from

your family, yet I was very well pleased with the accounte this bearer brought me from you

of the activity you had lately used for the promoting my interest in which so many have

followed the good example you gave, that I hope I and you and the whole nation shall shortly

receive the fruit of it, and that I may give you my thanks in your owne country. In the mean

time you may be confident,

" I am, your affectionate friende,

" CHARLES R."

f See vol. ii., p. 335. Of this company Sir E. H. K. Lacon, Bart., M.P., has been chairman,

and Mr. C. J. Palmer secretary from the formation of the company in 1853. Robert

Chamberlin, Esq., of Catton near Norwich, has been deputy-chairman since the death of the

late S. C. Marsh, Esq., in 1663.

374

THE PERLUSTRATION OF

this property was sold to John Sayers Bell, Esq., who also became

possessed of the adjoining lands formerly Godsalve's.* On the death of

his widow in 1866 these lands were divided and sold; and have

subsequently been laid out for building purposes. New roads or streets

called Upper Cliff Road, Lower Cliff Road, and Nile Road run east and

west, and Nelson Road and Bell's Road run north and south.

The M ANOR F ARM lies between the Turnpike Road to Lowestoft

and the sea, to the south of the new roads last mentioned, and with the

allotments made to it comprised about 400 acres. In the early part of the

last century this estate was the property of Samuel Artis, Esq. (see vol.

i., p. 312), and in 1785 it was purchased by Robert Harvey, Esq.,

already mentioned. f

The family of H ARVEY held lands in Norfolk as early as the 16th

century. John Harvey settled in Norwich where he became an eminent

manufacturer, and filled the office of sheriff in 1720 and of mayor in

1728, and died in 1742; and by his posterity similar honors were

enjoyed for many generations. The above estate descended to George

Harvey, Esq., second son of Col. Harvey of Thorpe Lodge (ante p.

318). Born in 1793, he married Marianne, only child of the Rev. Dr.

Beevor, and was drowned whilst bathing at Winterton on the 4th of

October, 1831. J By him this estate was sold to Mr. James Barber (ante

p. 318), who pulled down the old Manor House and erected near the site

a modern and more convenient residence, which was for some years

occupied by his son, Mr. James Barber, jun. Ultimately the church

* Sir John Godsalve was Knight of the Carpet at the Coronation of Edward VI., and

resided at Norwich and at Buckenham Ferry. He died in 1556. There is an engraved

portrait of him. A family of this name "bore per pale gu. and az., on a fess wavy arg.

betw., three crosslets pattee or. , as many crescents sa. Crest—a griffin's head erased, paly

wavy az. and sa., eared sa., beaked or., holding a branch of gilli-flowers gu., leafed ppr.

f While in the possession of the Harvey family this estate was in the occupation of

Mr. William Cross, already mentioned, and of his son-in-law, Mr. Thomas Salmon, who

inhabited the old Manor House.

J The Harveys bore erminois, on a chief indented gu., three crescents arg.; and for a

crest—over a dexter cubit arm erect ppr. a crescent arg. betw. two branches of laurel, all

ppr. These arms and crest were augmented in favor of Lieut.-General Sir Robert John

Harvey, K.C.B.

GREAT YARMOUTH

375

Farm was purchased by the late Thomas Osborn Springfield, Esq., of Norwich.

A small portion of the Parish of Gorton adjoins the south-east corner of the

Parish of Gorleston, and a white stone marks the boundary. In the

"perambulation " it was called John-a-lane’s Cross. Newton, as we have seen,

adjoined Gorleston, but is now entirely submerged, except a small piece of land

called Newton Green. With the above exception, Gorleston is now bounded on

the south by Hopton Heath 1 , formerly an extensive common where troops were

frequently encamped during the great continental wars of the last and beginning

of the present centuries. In 1779 the Huntingdon Regiment of Militia was

encamped here under the command of the Duke of Manchester; and the East

Essex Regiment of Militia under Colonel Bullock. The surgeon attached to the

latter regiment was Dr. Glover, the author of some verses on the "Yarmouth

Water Frolick," already quoted (vol. i., p. 295). They are printed entire in

Glyde's Norfolk Garland p. 301. It appears that during the entertainment,

------- concertos most grand,

Were delightfully played by the East Essex band,

" When the cattle on shore were so pleas'd with the sound,*

That like Orpheus's brutes they came dancing around.

" Nay, stranger, 'tis said the old river god Yare,

"Popped his head above water to look at the Mayor;

" While two Tritons arose from their pearly resort,

"And swam off with some bottles of Warmington's port. f

The Lincolnshire and West Kent Regiments of Militia were encamped on

Hopton Heath in 1794; and in the following year the 3rd, 53rd, and 88th

Regiments of the Line, with the North Lincoln Regiment of Militia. So large a

force could not be assembled without some quarrels leading to duels, by which

method even slight differences were at that time settled. In consequence of some

practical joking, Ensign Edwards of the 3rd Buffs called out two brother officers

and wounded them in

* It is a fact that cattle will follow the sound of music along the banks of a river until

stopped by a ditch or fence.

f Put into the water to cool, and adroitly stolen while all on board the mayor's barge

were engaged in looking at the river god. Mr. Warmington, the wine merchant, has been

mentioned in vol. ii., p. 192.

1 This heath is now the site of the Gorleston Golf Club, which moved here after the

first “World” or “Great” War, from the ground where now is Marine Parade, where it had

been originally laid out by J.H. Taylor. (see RRH)

376

THE PERLUSTRATION OF

succession, one in the arm, the other in the leg, but not mortally. Two

officers of the North Lincoln fought at Mutford with a worse result, for

one of them died of his wound. In 1799 a duel was fought between an

officer of artillery and an officer of the Yarmouth Volunteer Corps.

After twice exchanging shots and no hurt done, the seconds interfered.

The western branch of the Southtown Road is continued by a road

leading to Beccles. A little south of this junction a road turning sharp to

the right leads to Burgh Castle. On the left a road extends to the west

end of the Parish Church of Gorleston, whilst another to the east,

already described as Burnt Lane, forms a junction with the main road.

At the corner, between the last two ways, stands an old house now

called the White Horse, which marks the site of an older edifice which

is said to have been occupied by Thomas Bendish from 1644 to 1652,

and in which was born in 1645 Thomas Bendish, who married Bridget,

daughter of General Ireton and granddaughter of the Lord Protector, as

already mentioned. On an old chimney piece in this house was a shield

with the arms of Bendish impaling Ireton. On the west gable of the

present house is the date 1662 in iron letters, being probably the year in

which it was erected on the site of the previous edifice.

Sir James Johnson, Knt., of whom mention has been made,

possessed a considerable estate in Gorleston and Southtown, with a

"chief mansion house" thereon called North Hall. In 1684 he mort-

* See vol. ii., p. 367. Sir James Johnson had extensive business connections

abroad as well as at home, for Dr. Edward Brown in his Account of several Travels

through a great part of Germany, published in 1677, informs us that in 1668 he "left

the large and pleasant City of Norwich and went by land to Yarmouth," which he

described as "fairly built and populous, very considerable for the great herring fishing

in the autumn, and the commerce it maintained in the Streightes, Baltic, and German

seas, with Italians, French, Spaniards, Dutch, Danes, and Swedes." "I was here,

says the traveller, nobly entertained by that worthy and obliging person, Sir James

Johnson, who also furnish'd me with letters of credit to Amsterdam, Frankfort, Venice, and

Vienna, whereby I was readily and handsomely received in all parts where I had

afterwards occasion to travel." He adds, " At six o'clock at night I went aboard the Angel

ketch in Yarmouth Roads, a vessel of about 55 tons, and we immediately set sayl for

Rotterdam. We left St. Nicholas' Sand on the larbord, and after that Nowles, a new sand

not taken notice to be raised above twelve years before. We kept our course all night east

by south and east south-east. In the morning we discovered Gravewandt steeple,"

GREAT YARMOUTH

377

gaged this estate to Sir George Hutchings, Knt., and dying without issue

male, his two daughters and co-heirs, Elizabeth and Prisca, conveyed

their equity of redemption to the mortgagee. In pursuance of a

settlement made in 1736 on the marriage of Hill Mussenden, Esq.,*

with Martha, daughter of Sir Henry Johnson, Knt,, of Toddington in the

County of Bedford, and step-daughter of Martha, Baroness Wentworth, f

the trustees thereof (John Wentworth, William Lee, Carteret

* The name is derived from the Lordship of Mussenden or Missenden in

Buckinghamshire, posessed by this family from the time of the conquest. The

immediate branch from which Mr. Hill Mussenden descended acquired considerable

estates in Norfolk, and was seated at Quiddenham. He also purchased an estate at

Herringfleet in Suffolk of Sir Edmund Bacon of Gillingham. The old castellated

Manor House at Herringfleet standing near the church, surrounded by a moat, still

partially remains. The site of the present hall with the lands adjoining were purchased by

Hill Mussenden of Sir Thomas Allin of Somerleyton, and here he erected

Herringfleet Hall, which thenceforth became the chief seat of his family. The arms

of Mussenden are or., a cross engrailed gu.,~- in the first quarter

a martlet sa, He was, says his epitaph in Herringfleet Church,

"an upright magistrate, a generous friend, and an honest man.''

The Lordship of Herringfleet or Harlingfleet, meaning the

farmstead of the son of Harl, was possessed by the Fits Osberts,

who conveyed it to the Prior of St. Olave's soon after the

foundation of that house, which at the dissolution was granted

to the Jerninghams. A fine Roman patera found at Herringfleet, with the maker's name, Q.

Attinus, on the bundle, is preserved at the hall.

f Martha Lovelace, daughter and sole heir of John, Lord Lovelace (who died

vita matris), eldest son of Ann, Baroness Wentworth, only child of Thomas, fourth

Baron Wentworth. Martha, Lady Wentworth married Sir Henry Johnson, Knt.,

by whom she had no issue. The barony went to her cousin, Sir Edward Noel, Knt.,

upon the death of whose son, Sir Clobery Noel (created Viscount Wentworth) in

1774 it descended to his son, the second viscount, who dying without issue in 1815

this barony fell into abeyance, which was recently terminated in favor of the eldest

son of the present Earl of Lovelace by his wife, Ada, sole daughter and heir of Lord

Byron. Early in the 17th century, the Somerleyton Estate was purchased of the

Jerningham family by John Wentworth, Esq., whose son, Sir John Wentworth,

represented the Borough of Yarmouth from 1627 to 1639 with Miles Corbet. In a

scarce tract, "printed in the yeer 1648," and entitled The Parliament Porter, after

alluding to the visit of General Fairfax (see vol. i., p. 155), the writer goes on to say:

"From Yarmouth Town, Fairfax went forward to Lothingland, and there arrived,

took up his quarters at Sir John Wentworth's house, who durst doe no other but

entertain his goutship with all possible accommodation. From thence he departed

378

THE PERLUSTRATION OF

Loathes, and Richard Martin) with money then in the South-Sea Stock,

purchased the North-Hall Estate of Leman Hutchings, Esq., the only son

and heir of Sir George Hutchings. The marriage of Hill Mussenden with

Martha Johnson was solemnized in 1736 in the private chapel of old

Somerset House; Strand, London.* He was returned to Parliament for

the Borough of Harwich, and also represented Norwich. He died at

Yarmouth in 1773, aged 72, without lawful issue, f and devised all his

landed estates in Norfolk, Suffolk, and Essex, to his brother Carteret,

who had then assumed the surname of Leathes in pursuance of the will

of his uncle, William Leathes, Esq., which has ever since been retained

by the family. t Carteret Leathes died in 1780, having devised the

" towards St. Alban's where he intends to have his head-quarters, O ominous word! "me

thinks head and quarters with London Bridge to boot, should mightily perplex " his

excellence, and fill his busie fancie with uncouth dreames and visions such as condemned

traitors prattle on in their sleep." Wentworth of Somerleyton bore az., a saltire erm. betw.

four eagles displayed or ., granted by Cooke in 1576. It appears by the Corporation

Accounts that in 1652 Lady Wentworth was presented with some sack which cost £5 10s.;

and in 1668 the same body sent this favoured lady a present of half a hogshead of sack,

costing £10 10s.

* This chapel, in which a very limited number of marriages took place, was shut up

in 1777; and was finally removed in 1790. As a proof of the carelessness which prevailed

in the last century, a vacancy for 1745 is left in the register book, because Dr. Chapman,

Archdeacon of Sudbury, neither left the license nor the names of the couple. There is a

portrait of Hill Mussenden, by Vandermyn, at Herringfleet Hall.

f He had a natural son, Edward Mussenden, to whom He left an ample fortune. In

1772 Edward Mussenden married Esther Franklin, daughter of the Rev. Robert Adkin,

Rector of Rainham from 1770 to 1798.

X The name is derived from the Hamlet of Leathes in Cumberland, where this family had

an estate at the time of the conquest, which property was sold by Adam de Leathes in the

reign of Elizabeth. From him descended William Leathes of the County of Antrim in

Ireland, who, after serving under the Duke of Marlborough, became

Paymaster-General of the Forces in the reign of Queen Anne, and

Minister Plenipotentiary of George I. at the Courts of Brussels and

the Hague. He died in 1727 leaving considerable property to his

eldest nephew, the above-named Carteret Leathes. The arms of

Leathes are az., on a bend between three fleur-de-lis three mullets

pierced gu. Crest—a demi-griffin ramp, with wings disp. sa. In

Herrimgfleet Church there are several hatchments with the arms of

Leathes and their quarterings. There is a portrait of Carteret Leathes

at

GREAT YARMOUTH

379

North-Hall Estate and all his landed property to his eldest son, John

Leathes, then of Trinity College, Cambridge.* The latter, who died in

1787, aged 48, without issue, f devised all his estates to his brother,

George Leathes of Bury St. Edmund's, a Major of Dragoons, who in

1800 sold the North-Hall Estate to James Sayers, Esq., by whom it was

divided and re-sold.

In 1734 the gentlemen of Gorleston and its neighbourhood raised

and maintained a pack of hounds. William Roote, innkeeper, undertook

for £30 a year to kennel and maintain twelve couple, and to hunt the

same in the proper season whenever required, and provide himself with

and keep one horse "able and fit to perform the field duty of pursuing

the chase of the fox and hare;" and also to breed, train, and keep a

sufficient number of young hounds.

Herringfleet Hall, by Old Vandermyn; and also a full-length portrait, by Herman

Vandermyn, of the above-named William Leathes, by whom, when Minister at Brussels,

the collection of pictures now at Herringfleet Hall was principally made. Among these

pictures there is an original portrait of the Duke of Marlborough. Preserved with the

family papers was a letter announcing the gift of this portrait, but the picture itself was for

many years not to be found; until at length it was discovered in an upper chamber, where

it had long been used as a chimney board, and was then so covered with dirt that the

subject could scarcely be discerned.

* Mary, youngest daughter of Carteret Leathes by Loveday his wife, daughter of S.

Garrod, Esq., of the County of Lincoln, married (first) Horatio Beevor, and (secondly) Sir

John Mortlock.

f His widow married Anthony Merry, Esq., sometime Minister Plenipotentiary to

America. Merry bore gu, on a fess ena. between three water budgets arg ., a cross formy

sa . charged with five bezants of the second (Papworth, p. 810). Sir George Jackson,

writing from Bath, says "This morning the first acquaintance I met was Merry, whose

wife being bored by the dulness of Herringfleet Hall has fancied that a course of Bath

waters would raise her spirits, aided by the gaieties of the town. I knew by Merry's

meaning glances that he had something to tell, and while Mrs. M. was taking her dose in

the little pump room he whispered in my ear—for he is "a most cautious man—

'Thornton,' and bade me wait for him until he had escorted his wife back to their

lodgings.'' Diaries and Letters of Sir George Jackson, vol. iii., p. 317. On her death in

1817 John Francis Leathes succeeded to the Herringfleet Estate. He filled the office of

High Sheriff of Suffolk in 1827. On his death the Herringfleet Estate descended to his

next brother and heir, Henry Mussenden Leathes; and from him to the latter's eldest son,

the present Colonel Hill Mussenden Leathes. The name of Hill was acquired by the

marriage of John Mussenden, Vicar-General of Down and Connor, with Penelope Hill of

Hillsbro’; and their son, John Mussenden, married Jane, daughter and heiress of Adam

Leathes.

380

THE PERLUSTRATION OF

By the Parliamentary Reform Act of 1832, the Parish of Gorleston

wag added to the Borough of Great Yarmouth for electoral purposes;

and by the Municipal Corporation Act, 1835, it was constituted a ward

(St. Andrew's), returning six members to the Town Council.

The area of Gorleston contains 1,931 acres, exclusive of the Hamlet

of Southtown. The population of Gorleston with Southtown by the

census of 1871 was 6,645.

GREAT YARMOUTH

381

Final Note.

T HE task which the Editor desired to accomplish is now completed, and while engaged upon it

he has attained the scriptural age of man. He claims for the foregoing pages no more than that they may

serve as subsidiaries to Local History, preserving the memory of persons and events which might otherwise

pass into oblivion, hut which are not without interest to those engaged in similar studies, and especially to

those who are in any manner connected with the Town of Great Yarmouth.

In a work, every page of which bristles with statements and figures, compiled amidst other and more

pressing engagements and under many and great disadvantages, errors, whether of the press or arising

from imperfect or erroneous information, must almost of necessity occur. For these the Editor craves

indulgence. It only

remains for him to tender his thanks for the valuable assistance kindly afforded by numerous friends.

He concludes with a paraphrase upon the well-known suggested epitaph of "Honest Tom Martin" —

" Numerous facts from, various tracts

" By me collected into

one;"

When I am dead, shall

be instead,

" Of my own monumental stone;"

or he may be allowed to adopt the following, which was found among Martin's M.S.

Church Collections—

" When death shall have his

due of me, " This work my

monument shall be,"

C. J. P.

2nd August, 1875.