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

GREAT YARMOUTH

257

PART III.

CHAPTER I.

HE lowlands adjoining the west side of Yarmouth.

Haven have been reclaimed from the estuary of

the Yare,* and form, within certain limits, the

hamlet of S OUTHTOWN in the Parish of Gorleston, in

the half-hundred of Lothingland in the County of

Suffolk; the boundary between Norfolk and

Suffolk at this point being the river Yare. It was called Little Yarmouth,

and, according to Gwillim, had for armorial

bearings— arg., a chev. betw. three lions' gambs erased

sa. (See Papworth's Ordinary of Arms, p. 455.) At an

early period there were a few houses which formed

what was then called W EST T OWN ; with which there

was a communication with Yarmouth by means of a

foot ferry where the bridge now stands. Near this

ferry, on the Southtown side, was a Hermitage, f which continued to

exist until 1555 when it was suppressed, and the building,

* The soil may be thus described. Passing through that which is superficial there is a

bed of peaty earth, then a layer of shelly marl, and lastly a stratum of clay and silt.

f A Hermitage was frequently erected in close proximity to a ferry. At St.

Olave's there was a fairy over the Waveney, which in the 14th century was kept by

a fisherman, "who received for his trouble, bread, herrings, and such like things to

the value of XXs. a year." In 1420 Jeffery Pollerin of Yarmouth had leave to

build a bridge there; but it was not erected until the reign of Henry XII., when a

causeway having been made over Haddiscoe dam, a bridge was built by Dame

258 THE PERLUSTRATION OF

with the ground surrounding it, was granted to the Corporation of Great

Yarmouth, who in 1701 pulled down the Hermitage.

It is recorded that when, the Southtown bridge was first erected

there were but two small tenements on the west side; but at the

commencement of the seventeenth century the number had

considerablyincreased, although greatly discouraged by the Yarmouth

authorities; for at that time the Borough magistrates had no jurisdiction

in South-town, and no County magistrate was resident within four

miles; the consequence of which was that the houses at the bridge end

became the resort of idle and disorderly persons, who spent their time

and consumed their substance in drinking "to the utter undoing of

themselves, their wives, and families ;" and criminals were accustomed

to lurk there until they could get a passage to the continent.* The

Yarmouth magistrates represented to Lord Chancellor Ellesmere in

1616 that these enormities were committed with impunity "before their

very eyes," and "in utter contempt of their authority;" the idle

vagabonds deriding

Margaret, the wife of Sir James Hobart. The bridge formed the subject of a tradesman's

token issued by "John Derring at St.Olave's bridge," with a swan and pitcher, and on the

reverse "neere Yarmouth in Suffolke—his halfe penny." The Yarmouth Corporation hud,

as we have seen (vol. i., p. 292), jurisdiction up to St. Olave's bridge; and in 1522 William

Dale, Prior of St. Olave's, was presented for having "insulted" John Barfote, a fisherman

on the north side of the bridge, by taking and carrying away his nets, contrary to the law of

England, and thereby infringing the liberty of the town." St. Olave was a King of Norway,

who, after delivering his country from the tyranny of the Goths, sailed to England in 1013

and assisted King Ethelred against the Danes. He laboured earnestly and successfully to

extirpate idolatry; but at last was slain by the Pagans in 1028. The country people usually

call him St. Tooley. See Maclear's Apostles of Mediaeval Europe.

* In the time of Queen Elizabeth the people of Yarmouth were prohibited from

drinking beer in Southtown on pain of forfeiting 12d. to the informer; and complaint was

made that butchers "openly sold flesh there in Lent," whilst in the town it was prohibited.

Before the Reformation was complete the magistrates were enjoined to prevent the use of

flesh on fast days and in Lent. This was the case in London as well as in Yarmouth, for

we find by the Middlesex Rolls, temp. Queen Mary, a presentment made "That on

Passyon Sondaye in Lent last paste, there was a pygge dressyd in the howse of Rycharde

Aston, in Charter House Lane, but whether the " same pygge was rosted there or no, or

who was at the eatyng of it the jurors knewe not, nor cannot sertynly understande.'' On

reading of roast pig the mind naturally reverts to Elia's charming Essay.

GREAT YARMOUTH

259

the justices, using unseemly gestures, and "taking sights" at them across

the river. An extension, of magisterial jurisdiction was thereupon

obtained. The vulgar practice above alluded to has great antiquity to

boast of, if it be true that there is a figure on the Nineveh obelisk in the

British Museum, so engaged.

" He spoke no word to indicate a doubt,

But put his thumb into his nose, and streched his fingers out."

The lands in Southtown adjoining the haven were at that time the

property of the Paston family, who held the possessions of the ancient

family of Fastolfe in the neighbourhood of Yarmouth.* In 1636 a

particular of Squire Paston’s lands and houses beyond the haven" was

submitted, to the corporation; and a committee was appointed to

consider the question of purchasing the same; but nothing further was

done, for great jealousy prevailed against any extension of the town into

the hamlet; and by an ordinance passed about thirty years previously,

the inhabitants of the former were prohibited from buying any goods,

wares, or merchandise in Southtown, on pain of forfeiture. In 1656 Sir

William Paston, the then proprietor, proposed that Southtown should be

incorporated with Yarmouth; but this measure was rejected by the town.

Two years later he offered to grant building leases of all the lands

adjoining the river to the corporation; but this offer was also refused,

His son and successor, Sir Robert Paston, afterwards Earl of Yarmouth,

who had been active in promoting the restoration, introduced a Bill into

Parliament in 1664 for settling the differences

* Some account of the Paston family has been given in vol. i., p. 126. Their

monuments in the ancient Church of Paston in Norfolk have for the most part

disappeared, but there are some remaining in Blofield Church, the manor there having

"been granted to the Pastons by Henry VIII. The arms of Paston in North Walsham

Church," drawn in colours on vellum by Thomas Barber of Yarmouth in 1772," was sold

in the Hotten collection in 1874. The great coat of Paston comprises fifty-six quarterings

in nineteen shields. An original portrait on panel of Sir William Paston, "the good judge,"

is in the possession of the Rev. T. Lovick Cooper of Empingham Rectory (see vol. ii, p.

204). The authenticity of the "Paston Letters," mentioned in vol. i., pp. 108 and 131,

having been questioned by the late Mr. Merivale, search was made in all the royal

libraries but the original letters have not been found. In making a catalogue of M.S.S. at

Magdalen College. Oxford, a short time ago, some papers of Sit John Fastolfe not

previously known were discovered.

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THE PERLUSTRATION OF

between Yarmouth and Southtown." This measure was vigorously

opposed by the town, but without success; for after a debate in the

House of Commons which lasted for six hours, the numbers, upon a

division, were equal, and the Bill was carried by the casting vote of the

Speaker. By this Act the corporation had three years allowed them in

which to agree with Sir Robert Paston; and in 1666, making a virtue of

necessity, they waited upon him at his seat at Oxnead, and discussed the

matter; and in the following year terms were arranged. At this time

there was no quay-head on the west side of the haven, and the tide

flowing over a rand, a dispute arose between the earl and the

corporation as to the ownership of the strip of ground so occasionally

covered with water. The earl put down posts which the bailiffs

removed, and lengthy proceedings in Chancery were had, which

resulted, in a reference to Sir Robert Baldock, Knt., John Norris, Henry

Negus, and Thomas Cory, Esqs., and Thomas Bulwer and John

Warkhouse, gentlemen; who ordered the earl to remove his posts, but in

all other respects decided substantially in his favor.

This award is still among the archives of, the Town

Council, signed by the referees, who all sealed with

a coat of arms* except Negus, who although entitled

to bear arms (see vol. i., p. 257) used instead a

curious monogram, combining his Christian and

surnames, an engraving of which is here given.

Finally, in 1668, a charter was obtained from Charles II., which enacted

that Southtown or "Little Yarmouth" should be firmly united with Great

Yarmouth; and that "the men and inhabitants of the former should "be

under the rule, government, jurisdiction, scrutiny, taxation, correction,

punishment, precept, and arrest" of the corporation. f Sir

* For Baldock, see vol. i., p. 107. Norris tore quarterly arg. and gu., in the 2 and 3 a

fret or., over all a fess az. For Cory, see vol. ii., p. 33. Bulwer bore gu., on a chev. betw.

three eagles regardant or., as many cinquefoils sa.; and for a crest, a horned-wolf’s head

erased erm., crined and armed or. Warkhouse bore sa., three covered caps arg.

f Notwithstanding the above Act, Southtown contrived to escape the "taxation" to

which Yarmouth was subject. Being within the Parish of Gorleston, which is

incorporated with other parishes for the purpose of assessment, her poor-rate is extremely

low as compared with that levied in Yarmouth; and until the establish-

GREAT YARMOUTH

261

Robert Paston then printed and published proposals for building a new

town according to a plan prepared under his direction. It provided for a

quay, of the width of fifty feet, the entire length of his property nest the

river, with a range of houses facing the same.* Sir Robert was however

greatly in advance of the age; he could find no one willing to erect

houses in Southtown, and another century elapsed before there was any

demand for building leases, and then only upon the most moderate

terms.

Fresh disputes between the corporation and Lord Yarmouth again

arose as to their respective rights, and recourse was once more had to

the courts of law and. equity. In 1678 S IR James Johnson, Mr. England,

and Mr. Huntington attended at Oxnead to propose arbitration, which

was agreed to, and shortly afterwards Sir Robert Baldock, Mr. George

England, and Mr. Pell on behalf of the corporation journeyed to

Norwich, and at the Rampant Horse met Mr. Norris, Major Doughty,

and Mr. Thomas Cory on the part of Lord Yarmouth, but nothing could

be agreed. In the following year however these parties met at the King’s

Head, Norwich, when terms proposed on the part of the corporation

were accepted.

After the death of the last Earl of Yarmouth in 1734, the South-

town estate was purchased, with the Norfolk estates of the Paston

family at Paston, Oxnead, Beighton, Mautby, Bassingham, and else-

where, by Commodore Anson, the circumnavigator; that trusty and

Ment of a Local Board in 1871, now merged in the Suburban Authority of Yarmouth,

there was no local rate of any kind.

* Gough, in his British Topography, says that at the foot of this description there

was an engraving of " the front of a house designed "by Lord Yarmouth;" and that some

copies of the proposal were printed in Dutch, in the hope of inducing settlers to come

from Holland. The houses were to be worth a rental of £10 a year; equivalent to £60 of

the present currency.

t He was born at Shigborough, Staffordshire, in 1697. In the Library at Quiddenham

there is to be seen the log of the Centurion, kept by the Hon. Augustus Keppel when he

accompanied Lord Anson round the world. There is also a full-length portrait of General

Washington, which was captured by Capt. Keppel when on its passage from the United

States, having been sent by them as a present to the Stadtholder, and which, with some

dispatches thrown overboard and fished up, proved the existence of a friendly feeling

between the two governments. Among

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THE PERLUSTRATION OF

fortunate sea captain who had acquired great wealth by his expedition

against the Spaniards, and who in 1747 was created a peer. The property

thus acquired in Southtown still remains, for the greater part invested in

the Anson family.* On the death of Lord Anson, sp., in 1762 the title

became extinct. But the Southtown estate came to his brother and heir,

Thomas Anson, Esq., of Shugborough in Staffordshire, and on his death,

.s.p., it devolved on his nephew and heir-at-law George Adams, Esq, son

of his sister Janette by her husband, Sambroke Adams, Esq., of Sambroke

on the borders of Staffordshire, who thereupon took the name and arms of

Anson, arg. , three bends engrailed gu., with a crescent for difference and

quartered with them erm,, three cats-o'-mountain passant guardant in pale,

sa. for Adams; and az., three salmons naiant, in pale or ., and arg ., for

Sambroke and and sa a bend org., betw. Three demi-spears arg., for

Carrier. f Mr George (Adams) Anson encouraged building by granting

leases for eighty years at moderate ground rents . t

The first houses erected on the west side of the road as it turned to the

south were the nine houses built in 1775 upon land which had previously been a

Ten Garden kept by John Haggarty. Over the bridge also, in 1788, was a place

of resort called "The Cream House," where milk and cream could be had with

strawberries and raspberries.

As soon as the before-mentioned bridge was constructed, a road

was formed, leading thence Gorleston; and on the Elizabethan map

the many interesting pictures sold at Oxnead on the death of the last Earl of Yarmouth

was a portrait of Richard III, which had been in the Paston family for many generations. It

passed into the hands of that eminent the Antiquary, Mr. Kerrich, who bequeathed it to the

society of Antiquaries. Some valuable pictures of more modern date from the Paston

collection, came into the possession of Sir Robert Buxton.

* It was settled upon Louisa Catherine, Countess of Lichfield, the mother

of the present earl; the trustees being the Earl of Sefton and Lord

Waterpark.

f A very elaborate pedigree of the Anson family was printed in 1806. A copy was in

the library of the late Dawson Turner Esq., which had been presented to him by the first

Earl of Lichfield.

t The Rev Frederick Anson, eighth son of the above-named George Anson, inwas born

before the first of these leases was granted, and lived to see it expire, dying in 1867,

being then Dean of Chester, at the ripe age of 88 years.

GREAT YARMOUTH

263

already referred to, persons on horseback and on foot may be seen

traversing it. How this "causey," as it was termed, was to be kept in

repair was long a matter of dispute. In 1581 the corporation paid John

Wigmore 26s. 8d. quarterly for this purpose. The Justices for Suffolk in

1657 "propounded" to the corporation "the necessity of repairing the

causeway," and the latter ordered some gravel to he furnished "as a free

gratuity and not by way of contribution;" and they frequently afterwards

gave "materials" for repairs, but never "on compulsion."*

The Southtown Road was in 1549 the scene of a singular incident.

The insurgents under Kett having possessed themselves of six pieces of

ordnance at Lowestoft came to Gorleston, and there prepared to make

an attack upon Yarmouth. They assembled, says Manship, in "the close

at the north end of Gorleston," and commenced their march towards

Yarmouth; but their intention becoming known, the magistrates of the

latter place sent some "very valiant townsmen indued with wisdom,

fortitude, and discretion " into the adjoining marshes, where they set

fire to a large stack of hay which, the wind being favourable for that

purpose, so blinded the insurgents that they could not see the Yarmouth

men, "who, with a great troop coming upon them, did, after "many

bitter blows lent each to other, put the rebels to a total rout, "killing

many upon the spot, and having taken thirty prisoners, brought them in

triumph to Yarmouth."

At a time when there were no houses between the bridge and

Gorleston, this road on account of its loneliness was the scene of

frequent outrages. f

* They had no difficulty in complying with the 13th. Ed. I., which enacted that no

tree or bush should be within two hundred yards on either side of any causeway "whereby

a man may lurk to do hurt," for nothing of the kind could then be seen.

f So late as 1748 a man named John Dopson Tongue was hanged for robbing Mrs.

Halden on the Southtown Road. To these horrors were added those conjured up by

superstition. It wan currently believed that the Evil One, fonder the familiar name of Old

Scarfe, assumed the shape of a black dog, and in dark wintry nights was heard rushing up

and down the Southtown Road making sorrowful moanings, and dragging after him a

klanking chain. An endeavour was made to exorcise this spectre, and at one time this was

supposed to have been effected; the evil spirit being doomed to remain in a vault under the

Duke's Head Inn " until the river should cease to run under Yarmouth bridge."

Notwithstanding this, however, Old Scarfe

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THE PERLUSTRATION OF

" Over the bridge near Yarmouth " in 1723 lived Nicholas Browne.

In a letter from his kinsman, Oliver Browne of Winterton, to the land-

lord of the latter," Mr. Thomas Bright, Esq.," he excuses himself for not

attending with his rent as " not willing to hazard the bringing of the

money because there is soe much robbing upon the road."*

Great disputes continued as to the liability of keeping this road in

repair; and in 1712 an indictment was preferred against the hamlet of

Southtown for not doing so. It was not until 1763 that the method of

maintaining public roads by moans of a toll to be paid at a barrier before

the "pike" was "turned," began to be extended to all parts of the

kingdom. In 1775 the Southtown Road being then "in a very ruinous

condition and unsafe for passengers," an Act of Parliament was obtained

for making it a Turnpike ; and a long list of the principal inhabitants of

Yarmouth and Gorleston were named trustees. They considered the

business of so much importance that they held their meetings at the

Town Hall ; the Mayor and Deputy-Mayor being both ex-officio trustees.

f This Act has been continued down to the present time, and will finally

expire in 1875, after which time the road will have to be kept in repair

by the Suburban Sanitary Authority of Great Yarmouth, t

continued to "be a terror to benighted travellers, until at length the increase of houses

scared him away. It is not improbable that the distant roar of the sea, the surging of the

liver against its banks, the melancholy sighing of the wind over long tracts of marshes,

and the crunching and clanking noise of the ships forced against each other by the "wind

and tide, joined with the darkness of night, may have combined to produce an impression

which became embodied by superstitious fears. There are, however, more black dogs than

one; for a sulky man is said "to have a black dog on his back;" and in several parts of

Norfolk the existence of " Black Shunk," a large shaggy dog with glaring eyes who trots

along the roads at night under the shadow of a hedge, was fully believed in. A headless

dog may sometimes be seen passing by night over Coltishall bridge; while another, "Old

Shunk" by name, travels between Beeston and Overstrand to the terror of the

neighbourhood,

* See The Brights of Suffolk, published at Boston, U.S., in 1858. Cornelius Bright

was Bailiff of Yarmouth in 1546. The ancestor of the American branch leached New

England in 1630 and settled in Watertown, Massachusetts.

f The Clerks to the Trustees have been—1775, John Spurgeon; 1775, Jacob Preston;

1794, Francis Riddell Reynolds; 1846, Charles John Palmer; the three latter holding the

clerkship for the long period of one hundred years.

t In 1801, Edward Took, a coal-heaver, for a wager of five guineas, walked one

measured mile on this road sixty times in fourteen hours.

GREAT YARMOUTH

265

Before the construction of the river bank beyond the tollgate this road

was frequently flooded, which was especially the case on the 2nd of

February, 1791, when a raging tide swept over it, insomuch that boats

were rowed up and down the road for a considerable distance. So late as

1803 the ditches on both sides were unprotected, and in that year

Thomas Douglas, returning to his house at night, walked into one of

them and was drowned. At that time the road was not lighted. In 1835

the trustees obtained power to light the road, and a few oil lamps were

provided, giving a feeble light; but in 1849 a clause in a local Act of

Parliament authorised the trustees to light the road with gas, and they

did so as long as their funds permitted, having regard to the repayment

of their bonded debt. In 1873 the East Anglian Tramway Company

obtained Parliamentary powers to construct a tramway along the

Southtown Road, and the works were commenced in that year, but were

not completed in 1874, when an extension of time for doing so was

obtained from the Board of Trade 1 . In one of the Nine Houses, at the

commencement of the present century, resided the

Rev. Charles Buckle, who in 1811, by royal sign

manual, took the name and arms of B ARLEE —barry

wavy of six sa. and erm., with a canton sa. for

difference. (See vol. ii., p. 21.) He was Rector of

Fritton and also of Worlingworth, both in Suffolk,

and a Magistrate for that County. He married

Katharine, daughter of John Matchell of Gisleham, by Honor Clarke his

wife, and died in 1821, aged 75.*

*He published in 1811. A few admonitory hints to his Parishioners. Also Familiar

Essays; and put in verse the Exiles of Siberia. He and his brother, William Buckle,

Rector of Wrentham in Suffolk, were the sons of the Rev. William Buckle of

Ditchingham in Norfolk, by Anne Nelson his second wife. They were the devisees

of an estate at Clavering in Essex, and also of estates in Cambridgeshire and

Hertfordshire, under the will of Catherine Barlee Ranson of Ditchingham, who by

virtue

of the will of Palgrave Barlee of Clavering, and of Barlee Ranson of Hoddeston in

Hertfordshire, had become entitled to the same, whereupon in 1779 she obtained a

grant of the name and arms of Barlee. The family of Barlee came originally from

Barlee or Barley in Hertfordshire, and they were for several generations settled at

Albury in that county, and at Clavering in Essex. Henry Barlee, Sheriff of Essex and

Herts in 1466, married Anne, laughter of Sir John Colvile, Knt. William, their son,

1 Palmer’s addenda: Tramway – on Lady Day, 1875, the necessary certificate having

been obtained from the board of trade, the tramway from Yarmouth to Gorleston was

formally opened by the mayor.

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At the furthest house south, No. 25, resided George Thompson,

Esq., who died here in 1819, aged 79. He had been for thirty-seven

years Comptroller of the Customs at Yarmouth, from which post he

retired in 1815. He filled the office of mayor in 1791, at which time he

resided in a house on Church Plain. Important news from India having

been received he gave a feast at the Town Hall, and regaled the militia

with two barrels of beer for firing feu de joie.* Subsequently

forfeited his estates by joining Perkin Warbeck, but had them restored in 1500. He left a

son, Henry Barlee, who was Sheriff of Essex and Herts in 1524, and married Anne,

daughter of Charles, Duke of Suffolk, and widow of Lord Gray. Dorothy, his sister, who

was Abbess of Barking, died in 1557. The above-named Catherine Barlee was the only

daughter of William Buckle of Ditchingham, by Bridget his first wife, daughter and at

length heir of Edward Hobart, Esq., by Catherine his wife, daughter of Haynes Barlee and

sister of Palgrave Barlee, both of Clavering. She died in 1812, having, as has been

mentioned, devised her estates to Charles and William Buckle, her brothers in the half

blood. Buckle bore sa., a chev. betw. three chaplets arg. Haynes Barlee married Urith,

daughter of Sir Augustine Palgrave, Bart. She died before 1732. See vol. ii., p. 230, where

the Palgrave monuments in the Parish Church of Norwood Berningham are mentioned.

There is one representing a lady in a black cloak kneeling at a desk beneath a canopy, the

curtains of which are held back by angels. It is "for a sacred and religious remembrance "

of Margaret, daughter of John Palgrave Esq., who married. John Pope, Esq., L.L.D., and

died in 1624, but, as her epitaph informs us,—

" The most part of her life she leadd in Virginitie, "

And always took care to serve well the Trinitie."

Richard Lubbock, who died in 1717, aged 41, when filling the office of Mayor of

Norwich, married at Thrigby in 1700 Elizabeth, one of the daughters and co-heirs of

Thomas Palgrave, Esq., of Norwich. Thomas Lubbock married Mary, the daughter of

John Low of Yarmouth. She died in 1729, aged 23. Lubbock bore arg., on a chief gu.,

three mullets of the field, in base a hern standing ppr., and quartered Palgrave, and imp.

gu., two lions passant or.

Edward Barlee of Worlingworth married Justina, daughter of Zacharia Levy of

Walthamstow in Essex. The latter was born at Venice in 1751, and married Sarah,

daughter of Moses Vita Montefiore of Hackney, Middlesex.

In 1862 Lucy Elizabeth, widow of the Rev. William Barlee, obtained the royal

permission to take the name of Davy, as devisee under the will of her uncle, Eleazer

Davy, of the Grove, Yoxford.

* Elizabeth, his wife, died in 1803, aged 64. George, their son, died in 1705,

aged 23, having married Mary, daughter of Samuel Tolver, Esq. She died in 1853,

aged 92. Charles, another son, who commanded a post-office packet from Harwich to Hamburg,

died in 1807, aged 37.

A hand written note says that Charles, not George, married Mary.

GREAT YARMOUTH

267

No. 25 was inhabited by Rear-Admiral Laughlin Hunter, who married

in 1798 Miss Eliza Hunter, as already mentioned.* (See vol i., p. 378.)

The Station of the Great Eastern Railway Company at Southtown, erected

by the East Suffolk Railway Company, occupies the. site of two houses

which were built in 1776 by John Green of Wroxham, under a lease for

99 years, granted by George Anson, Esq. f The one to the north was

purchased in 1795 by William Taylor, Esq. (see vol. ii., p. 77), who in

1804 sold it to the late Sir E. K. Lacon, Bart, (then called Capt. Lacon),

who resided in it after his marriage ; and in the above-mentioned house

the present baronet was born. This house was purchased in 1810 by

Colonel Gustavus Belford, who died there in 1816, aged 68. When

required by the railway it was the property and residence of Mrs.

Chevalier. § The other house to the south was at the

* He had sailed with the famous Captain Cook; and being a man of much simplicity, the

wits had an opportunity of saying that like Commodore Anson the worthy admiral had

been "round the world but never in it." On retiring from active service he became what

was then called a "yellow" admiral.

f John Green, son of John Green of Wroxham, the first speculative builder in South-town,

died in 1825, aged 79, leaving two sons, James Green, well known for many years as

"admiral" of the fleet of pleasure boats on the river, who died in 1855, aged 79, leaving

an only child who married Mr. E. R. Palmer (see vol. i. p. 391), and Thomas Green who

died in 1846, aged 57, unmarried. The latter left £50 to the Gorleston Schools, £50 to the

Yarmouth Hospital and several other charitable legacies:

J He was a son of General Belford, distinguished for his conduit at the battle of

Culloden, where he commanded the artillery; and brother of Lt. Col. Belford, whose

daughter married Major-General Sir Robert the brother of Rear-Admiral Sir Eaton

Travers. (See vol. ii., p. 313.); in Gorleston Church, where on the slab which covers his

grave is his castle. Priscilla, his daughter, married Lieut. Benjamin Worthington RN

died in 1821, aged 35.

§ Elder daughter of John Farr, Esq., of Cove Hall, Suffolk (see vol i., p.337) and widow

of the Rev. Clement Chevalier, Hector of Badingham, to which living he succeeded on

the death of his father, the Rev. Temple Fiske Chevalier, author of a Description of the

Troad, in 1804. The Rev. Clement Chevalier held also, the Rectories of Cransford (1801)

and Ellough (1811). He had been a Fellow of Pembroke College, Cambridge. He was a

Magistrate for Suffolk, in died in 1830, aged 65. The Chevaliers are descended from a

French family of that name, Antoine Rodolphe Chevalier, a zealous Huguenot, born at

Montchamps ill, 1507, fled into England, and became French, tutor to the Princess

Elizabeth (afterwards Queen). He died at Guernsey in 1572. His descendants settled in

Jersey, one of whom

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commencement of the present century, the property and residence of

David Simpson, Esq., an eminent corn merchant, who died in 1836,

aged 86. His only daughter and sole heir married George Penrice, Esq.,

M.D. (See vol. ii., p. 208.) It was subsequently the residence of Samuel

Jay, Esq., who filled the office of mayor in 1839; and in that capacity

personally presented an address of congratulation to Queen Victoria on

her marriage. He died in 1842, aged 59.* When required for the

purposes of the railway this house was the property of H. V. Worship,

Esq., and in the occupation of the Rev. Mark Waters.

"Great things from trifling causes spring," as may be said of the

Great Eastern Railway. In 1834 two gentlemen who had been dining

with ''a mutual friend" at Putney, when returning down the river late in

the evening, fell into discourse upon railways, and the success which

had attended the opening of the Liverpool and Manchester line. One of

them who was of a speculative turn of mind proposed to the other, who

was a man of property, to join in a project for running a line of railway

from London to the north. The latter refused; but said he had an estate in

Suffolk, and if a line could be made through it to Norwich he would

give his assistance. "It matters not to me where I go," said the projector,

"so that I can obtain help;" and in a few days appeared in print the

Prospectus of the Grand Eastern Counties Railway from London to

Norwich and Yarmouth, with no names attached, except those of Dimes

and Brymer, 18, Austin Friars, as solicitors. Such

Chevalier barley, which he was the first to cultivate and

introduce to the agricultural world. A family of this name

resided at Limoges in France, of which is M. Michel Chevalier,

the

French political economist and free trader.

* During the French war he was captured at sea, and carried prisoner to France,

where he was detained. He made his escape disguised as a priest. He purchased the

Walpole estate in Suffolk of the corporation of Southwold.

purchased in 1720 the Manor of Aspall in Suffolk, and his

descendants afterwards made Aspall Hall their chief residence.

They bore arg., on a cross gu,, five escallops of the first.

(Papworth, p. 653.) The Rev. John Chevalier, youngest son of the

above-named Rev. Temple Chevalier, was educated for the

medical profession, but having: taken orders was instituted to the

Perpetual Curacy of Aspall (which had been held by his father) in

1817; and on the death of his brother, above named, he became

Vicar of Cransford. His name will reach posterity as associated

with the

GREAT YARMOUTH

269

was the origin of the G REAT E ASTERN R AILWAY ; the energetic projector

being Mr. Robertson, who for many years acted as secretary.* A

company was formed, with Mr. Bosanquet as chairman. The line was

opened to Broxbourne in 1840, to Harlow in 1841, and to Bishop's

Stortford in 1842. Impatient at this slow progress, an attempt was made

to form, an independent company to construct a line from Yarmouth to

Norwich, but the Bill was opposed by the Eastern Counties Company

and thrown out. The latter company however allowed their compulsory

powers to expire, and then was formed the Yarmouth and Norwich

Railway Company, and an Act was obtained authorising the construction of

the short line. George Stephenson, the father of railways," was the

engineer, assisted by his distinguished son, Robert Stephenson; and Sir

S. Morton Peto, then first becoming known as a man of great energy and

enterprise, was the contractor. This railway was opened for traffic in

1844, The first trip along the line was made in an open truck, which

contained the Bishop of Norwich (Dr. Stanley), the Engineers, the

contractor, Sir E. H. K. Lacon, the late Mr. John Edward Lacon, Capt.

Stanley, R.N., and a few others (teste me ipso). f In 1845 this line was

* Rival schemes wore soon concocted. In 1835 Mr. N. W. Cundy, C.E., published at

Yarmouth (from the press of J. Barnes) some Observations on Railways, in which he

advocated the importance of obtaining a communication with the metropolis and the

northern and western districts,

f The first Secretary to the Yarmouth and Norwich Railway was Henry Patteson,

Esq., son of the Rev. Henry Patteson, Hector of Drinkstone in Suffolk (second surviving

son of Henry Spark Patteson of Norwich, see vol.. ii., p. 189), by Sophia Lee his wife, and

brother to Sir John Patteson, a Judge of the Court of Common Pleas. The latter, by a

second marriage with "Frances Duke Coleridge, sister of Judge Coleridge, was the father

of the late Missionary Bishop of Melanesia, killed by the natives on laudmg at one of the

Islands of the New Hebrides in 1870. Mr. Patteson was followed as secretary by Mr.

Edward Tootal, eventually a Director of the London and North Western Railway

Company, who died in 1873, aged 74. The latter was succeeded by Richard Till, Esq.,

Principal Clerk to the Commissioners of Land-tax in the City of London, in which office

he succeeded his father, Richard Till, who died in 1824, aged 76. Mr. Till had a residence

at Lowestoft, and died in 1865. Among the first managers of this line of railway was Mr.

William Newall. On the 6th of April, 1850, he went to inspect a bridge in his miniature

engine, when having neglected to telegraph his approach to Reedham, and fearing a

collision with a goods train, he jumped off, and the heel of his boot catching the ledge of

the car he was thrown under the engine, which passed over his body and caused instant

death. His age was 37.

270

THE PERLUSTRATION OF

extended to Brandon by another company, and opened simultaneously

with the Eastern Counties extensions to Cambridge, Ely, and Brandon,

and thus at last was completed a continuous but circuitous line from

Yarmouth to London. In 1847 the Eastern Counties Company extended

their line from, Ely to Peterborough, and thus opened a communication

with the Midland and Northern Counties. But a more direct route,

following very nearly the old coach road, was after a few years demanded;

and in 1859, mainly by the exertions of Sir S. Morton Peto, the E AST

S UFFOLK line was constructed from Yarmouth to Ipswich, having a

terminal station in Southtown. This line was subsequently amalgamated

with the Eastern Counties Company, which then assumed the title of the

G REAT E ASTERN .* James Goodson, Esq., afterwards M. P. for Great

Yarmouth, being then chairman. This line exceeds all others in the quantity

of food, which it conveys to the metropolis. In 1873 it carried 27,046 tons of

fish, being about one fourth of the total consumption, of fish in London. f It

was for some time a matter of speculation as to what would be the result

of two engines meeting when at speed. This problem was solved by an

occurrence, which happened before the railway to Brandon was completed.

The engines reared themselves against each other like two dogs fighting.

The same thing was observed at the appalling disaster at Thorpe on the

10th of September, 1874, when the express down train from Norwich was

started before the up mail train from Yarmouth had arrived, both being on

the single line of railway. When the trains met, each being at full speed,

the crash was terrific, and both engines reared themselves against each

other before they fell over. Twenty persons were killed on the spot and

several soon afterwards died of their injuries, and numerous passengers

were severely hurt.

* The present capital of the Great Eastern Railway Company is nearly thirty millions,

and the gross annual revenue approaches to one million and a quarter.

f One of the first goods managers and afterwards superintendent of the through line

was Mr. Charles Capper, who speedily obtained a prominent position in commercial

circles. He left the railway to become Manager of the Victoria Docks, and was

subsequently Chairman of the Southampton Docks and Deputy Chairman of the Central

Bank. In 1861 he published The Port and Trade of London, an acknowledged text book of

commercial information. In 1866 he entered Parliament as Member for Sandwich; and died

in 1869, aged 46.

t Among these was Job John Hupton of Yarmouth and William Bransby

GREAT YARMOUTH

271

On the north side of the Southtown road, after passing over the

bridge, there was a piece of marsh, comprising 5 acres, called the Lady

Haven Marsh, because it was bounded towards the north by a stream called

Lady's Haven, which divided Southtown from Cobholm Island. In 1772 there

were two old houses only standing thereon, occupied by Gooday* and

Hammond; and in that year Thomas Anson, demised these houses with

the marsh, which was bounded by the river to the east, to John Green for

80 years; at the expiration of which term this property was divided into

lots and sold as freehold. The first road through it is called Saw Mill

Lane, because it leads to a Steam Saw Mill erected by Messrs. Saul. Here

also there is a Steam Flour Mill belonging to Messrs. Gambling. The

next to the right, at the turn, of the main road, is called Mill Road,

because on the west side of it stands a Tower Windmill, erected in 1813

by Mr. Woolsey. It is 120 feet in height to the top of the cap, has eleven

stories, and is capable of manufacturing 200 quarters of grain weekly. It

was constructed in this lofty manner in order to catch the wind coming

over the town, the several stories serving as granaries. Further north was

another mill, the property of Mr. Robert Waters, which was burnt to the

ground, in 1850. On the west side of Mill Road stands a house (now

occupied by Mr. H. H. Gambling) in which, early in the present century,

resided Mr. John Matsell, a merchant, who married Elizabeth, sister of

the first Lord Tenterden. f On the east side

Francis, surgeon, of Norwich, mentioned in vol. ii., pp. 199 and 207. The latter was in his

60th year. There were twenty-six deaths in all. The report of Capt. Tyler to the Board of

Trade states that the Thorpe collision was the "most serious railway catastrophe ever

experienced in this country."

* There is still a family of this name residing on the property, but they have dropped

the final y. The name is doubtless, however, derived from, the salutation and benediction

" Good-day;" and a family so called held lands at Fordham All Saints in Suffolk early in

the List century; of whom was George Goodday, a Turkish merchant, who filled the

office of Sheriff of Suffolk in 1758, and bore arg., a fess wavy betw. two leopards ’ heads

sa.; and his sister and heir curried the property to the Moseley family.

f Charles Abbot, Lord Tenterden, one of the most distinguished ornaments of the

Judicial Bench, was a son of a wigmaker at Canterbury, and was a singing boy in the

cathedral of that city. Disappointed in obtaining some small post, which if gained might

have kept him there for life, young Abbot left his native place for London, where he

studied law and pushed his way to fame and fortune. His daughter

272

THE PERLUSTRATION OF

of this road, occupying a portion of what was Lady’s Haven Marsh, are

spacious malthouses erected by Messrs. R. S. Watling and Son 1 . The

land on the south side of the main road after passing over the bridge

formed also a portion of the Anson estate, which extended thence in a

southerly direction to beyond the present tollgate.

At an early period there was at the bridge foot a public house called

The Bear* In later times it became an Inn much frequented by the

farmers of the neighbouring district; and was the scene of much

joviality especially on market days, when corn had reached an enormous

price during "the war 2 ," f It was pulled down in 1849 to allow of the

widening of the river at this point when the present bridge was built.

The Goods Station of the Great Eastern Railway Company occupies

the site of a Proprietary School which was erected in 1834 (from a

design by Brown), and was taken down in 1858, f as were some private

residences adjoining fronting the road.

Mary, married in 1839 Sir John Rowland Smyth, who was Major of the 16th Lancers

when that regiment was quartered at Norwich. The major's sister married the Prince of

Capua, brother to the King of Naples.

*This sign dates from the time when bear baiting was a favorite pastime. The

(statement in vol, i, p. 87, is corroborated by the archives of the Town Council of

Weymouth, which prove that butchers were there prosecuted for selling bull-beef where

the bull had not been baited. See Notes and Queries for March, 1874, p. 181. "The Bear at

bridge foot," that is at the foot of old London Bridge on the Southwark side, was for

centuries one of the most popular of London taverns. The Bear and Ragged Staff, the

well-known-crest of the Dudleys, was a popular sign in the reigns of Edward VI. and

Queen Elizabeth, especially in Norfolk after the suppression of Kett's rebellion.

f In 1797 "Matt, of the Bear Inn." was married; and the Norfolk Chronicle said that

"if he proved as good a husband as he was a waiter he would be the best in England."

This house was much frequented during the annual Races, for it was

said that " -------------- -------- with the Bear,

" For sporting and betting no Inn can compare."

t The head masters of this school were— 1833, The Rev. Thomas Clowes, M.A.,

Fellow of Queen's College, Cambridge, who died at Ashbocking Vicarage in 1662, aged

61. The Rev. Cecil Wray Goodchild, M.A., was second master, and resigned in 1838 on

being appointed to the Mastership of the Free Grammar School at Sutton Valence in Kent,

where he died in 1848, aged 38, in 1841. The Rev. Henry Nicholson Burrows, M.A., of

Trinity College, Cambridge.

1 Now demolished, the industry entirely closed locally, see RRH for a detailed

description of the maltings.

2 The war v. France under Napoleon.

GREAT YARMOUTH

273

To the south of the present Railway Station, and on the west side

of the road, stood the Church of St. Mary ultra pontem, ejected for the

use of the inhabitants of West town and South town, until those

benefices were consolidated with the Vicarage of Gorleston in 1511,

when this church fell into decay. In 1548 it was demolished; and the

stones were used in constructing the pier at the haven's mouth, and no

vestige of this edifies remains. The church was surrounded by a grave

yard; and the bones of the dead have occasionally been turned up, and

stone coffins have been found.

Connected with this church was the Guild of St. Mary ultra pontem,

of which Simon Bakton was alderman in 1481, It was dissolved in

1525, when William Dene, the then alderman, delivered in a schedule

of effects, by which it appeared that this gild had been possessed of a

pair of silver chalices, three silver shoes,* a George of silver with "an

arrow of silver upon a little velvet fillet," nine silver spoons, two

damask aprons, one "with sundry jewels fashioned upon it," and other

vestments , and also plates and dishes, pots and pans.

Nearly opposite, on the east side of the road, an Episcopal Chapel,

designed by Scoles, was erected in 1830 by public subscription, and

dedicated to St. Mary. The corporation gave £50 in aid of the funds, f

A new organ, by Mr. W. C. Mack, costing £250, was erected

in 1872. Miss M. Bryant of Pier House, Gorleston, bequeathed £30 towards

the same.

The first house past the lane leading to the marshes, at the end of

the Nine Houses, was for many years occupied by W ILLIAM B ARTH , Esq.,

1846. The Rev. William Cufaude Davie, B.A., of St. John's College, Cambridge,

afterwards Rector of Intwood with Keswich, 1852. The Rev. John Partridge, M.A.,

of Queen's College, Cambridge; who died at Thornbury near Bristol in 1873, aged 46.

* Probably ornaments in that shape to hold relics.

f The following have been the incumbents:— Thomas Clowes, eldest son of Thomas

Clowes, solicitor. See vol. ii., p. 266. John Edmund. Cox. In 1843 he preached a

sermon on National Judgments, which was printed at the request of the congregation.

Francis Salt (1844), who afterwards resided at Chester, where he died. John James,

resigned. Samuel Nicholson Vowler, M.A. (1870), son of John Vowler, Esq.; of Parnecott

in Devonshire.

274

THE PERLUSTRATION OF

timber merchant, a member of the corporation, and an active and influential

leader of the Liberal party. He filled the office of mayor in 1824, and again in

1826, the corporation being then self elected; and after the parsing of the

Municipal Corporation Act in 1835, he became the first Mayor under the new

system, being elected on the 1st of January, 1836, and re-elected on the 9th of

November following; and when filling this office he had the honor of personally

presenting to Queen Victoria a congratulatory address on her accession to the

throne. He was also appointed one of the Magistrates for the Borough under the

new system, and one of the newly-created Trustees of Charities. Some years,

later he retired from business; and through the influence of the Earl of Lichfield,

then Post-Master General, obtained an appointment of considerable

responsibility in the Money-Order Department of the General Post Office. He

died in London in 1850.*

The above-mentioned house was afterwards occupied by William

Walpole, Esq., who married Susannah, widow of John Goulding Seymour,

Esq., of Bishop's Waltham, Hants (who died in 1840, aged 67), and previously

of Samuel Palmer, Esq. (son of W. D. Palmer, Esq.), who died in 1823, aged

33. Mr. Walpole died here in 1865, aged 72; and his widow in 1871, aged 81. f

No. 28; was built by Mr. George Pattinson, maltster and corn merchant,

who died in 1843, aged 77. He bequeathed £50 to the Gorleston National

Schools.

At No.31 died in 1874 Amy Diggens, aged 96.

No. 32 is the property and residence of Hezekiah Martin, Esq. J

* The name is derived from Barth or Bardt, a small harbour in the Gulf of Ribnik in

Pomerania, and the word means in Anglo-Saxon a place of shelter. By his marriage with a

daughter of Samuel Jefferies, Esq., of Windsor Forest, Jamaica, and of Picton House, East

Grinstead, he had several sons and one daughter. Samuel Jefferies Barth, the eldest son,

was in 1836 appointed Clerk of the Peace for the Borough by the new Town Council in

succession to Samuel Tolver, Esq., who, previous to the "passing of the Municipal

Corporation Act, had combined that and several other offices with the town clerkship.

f They are all buried at Loddon, Norfolk. Mrs.Walpole bequeathed £50 to the

Yarmouth Hospital and 19 guineas to the Sailors' Home.

J A family of this name resided for centuries in the north part of Yarmouth and a

branch settled in the south end. With both Hezekiah was a favorite Christian

GREAT YARMOUTH

275

At No. 34 resided for several years Mr. Patrick Stead,* 1 who was born at

Stead's Place, Leith Walk, but established himself in Yarmouth as a corn

merchant and maltster. Conceiving that the Act of Parliament, passed in the

reign of Charles II., conferred upon the inhabitants of Southtown all the

privileges enjoyed by those in Yarmouth, he claimed to be entitled to vote at the

elections of Members to serve in Parliament for the Borough and at the general

election in 1826 he tendered his vote in favor of the Hon. George Anson and

Mr. Rumbold, but it was rejected by the returning officer on the ground that no

inhabitant within the borough could vote unless be had been admitted a

freeman. He was very active in promoting the acceleration of the mails and

other mercantile improvements. He died at Birnam, Perthshire, in 1869, and by

his will bequeathed £1,000 to the Yarmouth Hospital, payable after the death of

his widow; and also a munificent sum for the purpose of founding an hospital at

Halesworth, in which town he was long a resident, and in which he had

extensive maltings. A window of stained glass, by Hughes, has been placed in

the south aisle of Halesworth Church to his memory by his widow.

At No. 39 resided Commander George Jenner, R.N., son of James Jenner

of Lound. He entered the navy in 1806; and in 1810 served

name. Early in the last century Hezekiah Martyn, as the name was then spelt, purchased

some houses in Yarmouth of Sir John Castleton, Bart. Hezekiah Martyn died in 1726,

aged 64, leaving a son of the same name. In 1777 Hezekiah Martin voted at a borough

election for Beckford, and in 1790 for Townshend and Beaufoy. In 1795 Hezclriah Martin

and Hezekiah Martin, jun., voted for Stephens Howe; in 1796 for Loftus and Jodrell; in

1807 for Harbord and Lushington; and in 1812 for Lacon and Wilson. Mr. Hezekiah

Martin, named in the text, was born at Yarmouth, in 1794, and was the only son of Capt.

Hezekiah Martin, mentioned in vol. ii., p. 154. He is a member of the Diapers' Company

of London. He is probably the only Yarmouth man married at Gretna Green, an event,

which took place on the 2nd of December, 1833. A second marriage was solemnized at

Gorleston Church on the 1st of January, 1834, his wife being Mary, only daughter of Mr.

Richard Tomlinson of Southtown. She died 23rd of February, 1873, aged 57, leaving six

sons, of whom the Rev. Hezekiah Martin, Vicar of Matcham, Berkshire, is the eldest, and

three daughters.

* Stead in Scotland means a piece of cultivated land. The affix, of sted or stead, has

generally been taken to be Anglo-Saxon, but there is reason to believe the many parishes

in Norfolk and Suffolk having that termination, are of Danish origin.

1 Palmer’s addenda: Patrick Stead – his widow Susan Alexander, died in 1875, 1 st

June, at Helensburgh.

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THE PERLUSTRATION OF

on board the Desires, Capt. Arthur Farquhar; and was at the taking of

St. Sebastian, for which he received a medal. He died in 1873, aged

82.* No. 56 the property and residence of R OBERT S TEWARD , Esq.,

who for many years took a leading part in the affairs of the borough. He

filled the office of mayor in 1858, and again in 1861, and

was re-elected to that office three times in succession;

being a continuance in office unprecedented; in

consideration of which a service of plate was presented

to him, the cost of which was raised by public

subscription. Mr. H. Steward was a Magistrate for the Borough and also

for the County of Suffolk, and a Haven Commissioner. He died at

Cambridge in 1871, aged 57, and was buried in Gorleston Churchyard,

where a monument in the shape of an obelisk has been erected to his

memory.

The above-mentioned house had been previously occupied by Mr.

Wright, a member of the Society of Friends, who was the first to

introduce steam packets on the river. f After the explosion which took

place in 1817 (see vol. i., p. 215) he fitted up a packet worked by horses

instead of steam but the experiment was not successful

*James Jenner of Fritton in 1802 married the daughter of Daniel Dade of Woodton.

f When in the reign of Charles I., an endeavour was made to suppress the puritans, a ship

called the Mary Ann was fitted out at Yarmouth by a merchant named Payne, for the

conveyance of the persecuted to New England, he himself being one of the number. With

them was Joseph Hayward, a "dormix weaver" of Harwich, from whom there are now

numerous descendants in New York, George Phillips of Rainham, connected by marriage

with the Hayward family, also went out; as did Robert Chapman of Norwich, but not in

the same vessel as the latter had crossed over to Holland. He was the ancestor of many

American Chapmans, some of whom settled in New York. Jane, the widow of William

Ames, the most prominent among the earliest Norfolk nonconformists, also sailed from

Yarmouth in the Mary Ann, accompanied by her daughter and two sons. Three brothers,

named Wright, descended, it is believed, from the Wrights of Saxham in Norfolk (from

whom came the Wrights of Kilverstone), went over to New England in 1638, and, settling

at Lynn in Massachusetts, became active and zealous members of the Society of friends.

Besse, in his History of the Sufferings of the Quakers, vol. iii., p. 224, and Sewall, in his

History of the Quakers, p. 389, gives some, curious particulars of the persecution of this

sect in New England, and especially at Boston.

GREAT YARMOUTH

277

No. 69 was the residence of Lieut. Abdiel Orfeur, R.N., who died

here in 1815, aged 44, having one son, the present Mr. John Orfeur*

* The name is derived from Orfeore, a goldsmith. Thus we read of "John le Orfeore and

Roger le Orfeore." (Bardsley's English Surnames, p. 356.) It was frequently spelt Orfeure.

On the business card of Ellis Gamble, goldsmith, of Cranburn Street, Leicester Fields, to

whom Hogarth, the painter, was bound, apprentice) (and which card was designed by

Hogarth, and is engraved in the Cornhill Magazine, vol. i., p. 277), there are inscriptions

in English and French, the one describing Gamble a "goldsmith," the other as " Orfeure."

By dropping the final e the name became O RFEUR . The family were doubtless of French

extraction, as all our dealers in delicate workmanship in the middle ages came from

abroad. In the parish of Plumstead in Allerdale ward below Derwent, near Cockermouth

in the County of Cumberland, there was seated an ancient family named Orfeur, and their

pedigree is given by Hutchinson in his History and Antiquities of Cumberland (vol. ii., p.

349). They bore set., a cross arg., en a canton arg. a mullet gu.; and for a crest, a woman's

head, couped at the waist all. ppr., and above the head a cross or, pattée fitchée. This

pedigree commences with Thomas Orfeur, who lived in the reign of Edward II. Fourth in

descent from him was Richard Orfeur, who married Margory, daughter and heiress of

Robert Birkby of Birkby, and their son, Richard Orfeur, married

Margaret, daughter and heiress of Sir John Lamplugh of Lamplugh,

Knt. Richard Orford, grandson of the last couple, married Alice,

daughter and heiress of Thomas Covell of Hayton Castle. Fifth in

descent from them was William Orfeur, who married Elizabeth,

daughter of Sir Charles Howard of Ridsdale in the County of

Northumberland, Knt., and died in 1665; and thus far the pedigree is

certified by Sir William Dugdale, Norroy King of Arms, in his

visitation for Cumberland in 1665. Charles Orfeur, the eldest son of

William, married Jane Lamplugh., widow of John Senhouse of

Netherhall, and by her had five daughters his co-heirs, of whom Anne., the eldest, married

Francis Yates of Whitehaven, from, which match descended, it is believed, the Rev. Edm.

T. Yates, late Vicar of Aylsham. Charles Orfeur died and was buried at Plumbland in

1723, and leaving no issue male, his estate was sold in 1732 to Sir Winfred Lawson of

Brayton, M. P. for Cockermouth, by whose descendant Plumbland Hall, under the name

of Highclose, is now possessed, but by some it is still called Orfeur Hall. The above-

named William Orfeur of Plumbland left besides his successor font other sons, from, one

of whom, Thomas Orfeur of Aspatria, the adjoining parish to Plumbland, is supposed to

have descended, but his paternity cannot he proved as the register books for Plumbland

from 1689 to 1703 are destroyed. There is however indirect evidence of a close

relationship between the families. This Thomas Orfeur migrated to Scotland, where he

married and died, leaving a son, John Orfeur, born there in 1745, who, after his father's

death, was taken by his mother to Aspatria, where the latter died in 1793, aged 84. The

son took to the sea and came to Yarmouth, where he settled in 1764, and became master

of a Rotterdam trader. He married Rebecca Johnson, by whom he had three

278

THE PERLUSTRATION OF

of Norwich. In the annexed engraving, Orfeur quarters Birkby (1394),

Lamplugh (1416), and Covell (1488).*

At No. 75 resided Capt. Richard Spear, R.N., who died here in.

1825, aged 56. f There was a good Dutch family of the name of Spaar.

On this road resided Mr. Joy, who for many years was guard of the

mail coach to Ipswich. He had two sons born to him; William, in

sons, Thomas, Abdiel, and Job. The last was drowned in the Baltic. Thomas, the elder

brother, was accustomed to go once a year to Aspatria, where on the death of an uncle he

obtained some property; and is said to have brought back a copy of the family arms. He

was master of a Yarmouth merchant ship, and died in 1809. Abdiel Orfeur, the second

son, was born at Yarmouth in 1771, and bred to the sea. He served as mate of the Charles

under Capt. Smith (already mentioned vol. ii., p. 104, as having lived to the age of 93),

but having some difference with him when at Genoa, he left the merchant service and

joined H.M.S. Dido, which vessel shortly afterwards encountering a heavy gale of wind,

this young man who was acquainted with the coast piloted her safely into Portafin, and in

a subsequent storm took her into Milfridonia. Having thus given proofs of good

seamanship, he was called to the quarter-deck and made a midshipman, and thus became

acquainted with Mr. William Barber of Yarmouth (already mentioned vol. ii., p. 268),

whose coat he found it convenient to borrow when first invited to dine with the admiral.

In 1796 he served on board H.M.S. Diadem, 62 guns, and was present at the battle of

Cape St. Vincent and the bombardment of Cadiz. In 1801 he was made lieutenant and

joined H.M.S. Warrior; and in 1804 was appointed to H.M.S. Le Tribune, a Trench frigate

of 24 guns, captured by H.M.S. Unicorn 1 near Waterford in 1796; and in 1806 he had the

command of her when guardship at Plymouth. In the same year he was appointed

Lieut.Commander of H.M.S. Prince Frederick, and having acquired a considerable

amount of prize money, he in 1811 purchased the above-mentioned house, to which he

retired for the rest of his days.

* See Hutchinson's Cumberland, vol. i., p. 194, and vol. ii., pp. 95 and 372.

f "When in command of the "brig-sloop" Chanticleer on the coast of Norway in

1811, he, accompanied by the gun-brig Manby, full in with three Danish brigs-of-war.

Spear chased and closed with one of them, but the others coming to her assistance the

Chanticleer made sail and got away. The Manby was less fortunate, being overpowered

and captured. In 1813, while still in command of the Chanticleer, he brought into

Yarmouth Roads the Prince of Orange, who had been invited by his countrymen (tired of

French interference) to return to Holland. The prince landed at the jetty, and was received

with shouts of Orange boven! the old Dutch cry need by the adherents of his house. Capt.

Spear was a gallant seaman, possessing a kind heart under a rough exterior. The sea is no

respecter of persons, and, the weather being rough, the prince was very sick. Spear was*

unacquainted with any language but his own, and could only express his sympathy by

going up to his illustrious passenger and exclaiming at intervals in a gruff voice, "Cheer

up, Mr. Prince, cheer up."

1 The Unicorn is now permanently berthed at Dundee, where there is a substantial

maritime museum.

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1803, and John Cantiloe (his mother's maiden name) in 1806. They both

evinced very early in life a talent for painting and when boys at Mr.

Wright's Southtown Academy made sketches of the house and grounds,

which were engraved. Being self-taught artists they attracted attention;

and on leaving school Capt. G.W. Manby gave them permission for the

purposes of study, to occupy an apartment at the Royal Hospital, then

occasionally used as barracks, he being barrack-master. From the

windows they could observe the sea in its ever-varying aspect, and study

the vessels constantly passing and repassing. One of their first attempts

was to paint in water colours the Royal Sovereign yacht, having George

IV. on board, when she brought up in Yarmouth Roads on her passage

from Scotland in 1822. This picture was purchased by Sir Edward

Owen. Shortly afterwards they made a drawing of the Lord High

Admiral (afterwards William IV.), going on board the Euryalus at

Spithead in a gale of wind to see his son, Lieut. Fitzclarence. This gave

them an introduction to naval men which materially influenced the future

career of these artists, but they did not feel themselves strong enough to

leave Yarmouth until the lapse of eight or nine years, when they were

assisted to do so by Lord Nevill (afterwards Earl of Abergavenny, who

was then residing in Yarmouth), but his aid was so given that they never

lost their sense of independence. After living for some years in London,

they took up their abode at Chichester; and having never been separated

in life, so in death they were not divided, for both died within a short

time of each other about the year 1857. As painters their works partook

more of nature than of art; more matter of fact than poetry; but their

productions were well and honestly painted, they greatly excelled in

depicting water in motion, they put their vessels well upon it, and were

accurate in the display of sails and rigging, which pleased nautical men

by whom they were mostly employed, and they deservedly gained

considerable reputation.

Here also resided Mr, Miller, many years harbour master. In 1800

Earl St. Vincent caused a gold medal to be struck bearing his own

portrait in profile on the obverse, with this inscription—"Earl St.

Vincent's testimony of approbation;" and on the reverse the union jack,

with full-length figures of a sailor and a soldier shaking hands,

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and surrounded by a laurel wreath. This medal was presented by the

earl to Mr. Miller for election services; and was given by the latter in

1858 to the late Mr. Thomas Thompson, met-farm officer. On this road

also lived Lieut. George Dallas Barclay, R.N.,* who died in 1834, aged

61. He received his promotion for his gallant conduct at Trafalgar,

whilst serving as a midshipman on board the Mars. Also Commander

Robert Heriot Barclay, who had the command of the British squadron

on Lake Erie when it was overpowered by a superior American force;

he being dangerously wounded on the left arm, having previously

entirely lost the right arm.

At No. 74 died in 1872 Mr. John Blake in his 90th year.

At No. 83 resided J OHN S ELL C OTMAN 1 , a native of Norwich, a

painter of an original genius and rare power, whose works during his

life were unappreciated, except by a discerning few, but they now take

high rank in the school of art, and have rapidly increased in value of late

years. In 1873 his "Mouth of the Yare" sold for 410 guineas; "The

Timber Barge," in 1874, for 50 guineas. In 1875 were exhibited at the

Royal Academy (among a collection of pictures by deceased masters)

the "Hay Barge becalmed," a "Norfolk coast scene," and the " Mouth of

the Yare,"—magnificent specimens, as luminous as the best works of

Cuyp or "Van Goyen; and holding their own against Turner's noble "

Sunset at the mouth of the Thames." Cotman's "Boscastle," amid the

Atlantic rollers bursting among jagged reefs and hollow seawaves, was

greatly admired. His water-colour drawings are admirable; but his fame

during his life rested principally on his admirable etchings contained in

his Architectural Antiquities of Normandy, his Sepulchral brasses in

Norfolk, and works of similar character, which were principally

engraved in the above-mentioned house. After practising as a drawing

master at Yarmouth for many years, he was in 1834 selected to fill that

position at King's College, London, and died in 1843, aged 73. f A

portrait of him by J. P. Davis was engraved by Mrs. Dawson Turner.

* His son, Major Robert Campbell Barclay, of the 68th Reg. B, N. I., died at Buxar,

Central India, in 1859, aged 35.

f Miles Edmund Cotman, his son, who died in 1868, aged 47, was an artist of

considerable merit; and another son had also much of the genius of his father.

1 Cotman was brought to Yarmouth and employed by Dawson Turner as art teacher

for his daughters and wife, who made a virtual industry of producing thousands of

paintings and drawings and etchings for Turner’s massively expanded version of

Blomefield’s Norfolk. The whole of which are in the British Library. Cotman was in

negotiation with Turner in 1811, and moved to Yarmouth with his family in 1812, for a

salary of £200. (John Sell Cotman 1782-1843). Ref. Dawson Turner, a Norfolk antiquary

and his remarkable family , Ed., Nigel Goodman, Phillimore and Co., 2007.

GREAT YARMOUTH

281

Another artist of ability resided for some years on this road,

Richard Slann, Historical Engraver to the Queen, formerly of Hampton,

Middlesex. He died in 1851, aged 78; and Martha Philadelphia, his

widow, in 1872, aged 83.

A little beyond the present toll-bar is a road to the right leading to

a public house called the Spotted Cow.

" Walk in, my friends, and may you find,

" The milk I give, is to your mind.''

It divided the properties of the Anson and Bendish families.

Further south stood what Druery, writing in 1826, describes as "a

pleasant white house, with a grove of old trees behind it," some of

which still remain to mark the spot, the building itself having been

entirely removed. He says that in his time "an ancient chimney piece,

curiously carved and coeval probably with the house," had then been

recently carried away to adorn some other mansion. This house was

long the property and residence of the B ENDISH family. Thomas

Bendish, descended as an epitaph in St. Nicholas' Church informs us,

"from the very ancient family of Sir Thomas Bendish of Essex, Bart.,

who was ambassador from King Charles I. to the Grand Seignior,"*

* Robert Bargrave, youngest son of Dr. Isaac Bargrave, Dean of Canterbury,

wrote an amusing account of this expedition, which sailed in April, 1646. He

says that he went in the same ship with Sir Thomas Bendish, who had a double

commission as well from King Charles then reigning as from the Parliament then

sitting. "With the ambassador went his lady, his eldest son, five of his daughters, and

a numerous suite, besides seven young "potentiary merchants," of whom Bargrave

was one. The ship belonged to the Levant Company, and being joined by another

of the company's ships, they "made with each other a league of friendship;" and

met with the following strange adventure. "After two days sailing we came in view

of five men-of-war belonging to the Queen of Sweden, giving conduct to a fleet of

merchant's ships. These being espied by the Great Mary, commanded by Capt.

Owen in the Parliament's service, and then guarding the coast, Capt. Owen shoots

a gun towards their admiral (intimating that they should strike their flag), but the

Swede does not strike but answers him with another gun; Owen then shoots a

second over the Swedish admiral, the Swede shoots another over Owen's ship;

Owen shoots a third, levelled at the ship; the Swede repays him with a bullet

levelled at Owen, by which perceiving the Swede's obstinacy, Owen makes sail to

our two ships, which after some parley joined in a league with Owen and his attendant

frigate to fight the five Swedes." Fancy this on the part of an ambassador on

board a private ship, with five of his daughters with him!" Having taken time to-

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took an active part in local affairs. In religion he was an Independent,

and in politics a republican. In 1644 he was admitted a member of the

Congregational Church; and in the following year was appointed "to

exercise his gift at the weekly meetings." In the old register book of the

Parish, of Gorleston, his children are entered as having been born only,

they not having been baptized according to the rites of the Church of

England.* Their births are also recorded in the books of the

Congregational Church at Yarmouth. The Earl of Manchester,

commanding the Parliamentary forces in the associated counties, wrote

in 1644 to his "loving friends," the Bailiffs of Yar-

prepare, each ship falls down with her fighting: sails trimmed to its adversary, when being

now within musket shot, Sir Thos. Bendish sends to inform the Swedish Admiral that he

and his retinue were on board; that he was the king's ambassador, and on that score

desired him to strike his flag. The Swede answered, he so greatly honored any servant of

his majesty that he would serve them to the utmost of his power, but for his lordship's

satisfaction, touching his flag, he seat him (not a copy but in noble confidence) his

original commission from his queen, intimating plainly that if he struck his flag to any of

the Parliament power, she would at his return divide his body in the midst; hereupon his

lordship very honorably returned to him his commission, leaving him to obey his queen's

commands; and now waiting each minute, when Owen should let fly the warning piece,

our cannons prim'd, our musketts cockt, and our matches alight, some wise and wary

passengers in the other ship (rather friends to merchandize than to Mars) cried "craven"

and persuaded their commander, and his example was a pattern for our captain to follow

in respect to their censorship. Owen, scorning our assistance, attended the enemy, who

with their fighting sails fairly steered their course, ‘till being in the middle of them, Owen

and his consort bravely saluted them with their whole broad sides, which were as stoutly

returned by the Swedes, and thus they exchanged their loud and bloody messengers for

about two hours space, till Owen, seeming weary of the dispute, falls off and despatches

his scout towards Folkestone Rode. The Swedes go on in their course, with their flags

aloft; but upon Owen's message (as we afterwards heard) five ships from the Downs

chased them, overtook them, and took them too, after the Swedes had handsomely

defended themselves. Thus we were so wise as to keep our skins whole, having nothing

broken but our cases of wine, which, to heighten the mariners' courage, let out such

prodigious streams as "made us the dryer through the whole voyage after." The voyage

lasted six months ; and his lordship, as the ambassador is styled, contrived in the course of

it to marry one of his daughters to a merchant at Leghorn.

* It was not unusual in parish registers to record the births of children who were not

baptised on account of the religious objections of the parents.

f The associated counties, Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Herts, and Cambridge, and

GREAT YARMOUTH

283

mouth, authorising them to demand of Bendish a quantity of wool,

which by his lordship's direction had been shipped at Lynn and was then

laid up at Yarmouth; and if Bendish refused to deliver it, they were to

break open the place where it was kept and sell the same ; and after

repaying themselves £314 for ammunition sent for the use of the

Parliamentary forces before Lynn, they were to send the surplus to the

earl. In 1649 Bendish, "for his good offices done to the town, was made

a free burgess ex merito, as the assembly book hath it. The "distractions

of the times" having brought upon the town great poverty and distress,

Bendish was in 1650 sent to London for the purpose of consulting with

Miles Corbet, then going to Ireland as chief justice, as to procuring

"some help and ease for the town." One of the grievances complained of,

was a general assessment levied on the town by the sole authority of the

corporation "for the support of ministers." The legality of this

proceeding was questioned; and Bendish, who was a leading member of

Bridge's congregation, obtained a grant of £100 a year out of the

impropriations. In 1654 Bendish was selected by the corporation to

journey to London, and inform. "The Right Honorable the Lord Henry

Cromwell," the Protector's second son, that he had been elected to high

steward, and to invite him to the town. Bendish in 1656 served the office

of bailiff; and after having taken an active part in public affairs for many

years, and probably foreseeing impending troubles, he in 1659 was after

"great importunity" dismissed from the corporation. He left one son,

Thomas Bendish, of Gray's Inn, who married in 1669 Bridget, third

daughter of General Ireton, sometime Lord Deputy of Ireland, by

Bridget his wife, eldest daughter of the Lord Protector.* He also resided

in the house above mentioned, and died there in 1707, aged 61, and was

buried in Yarmouth Church, where there was an

ultimately Huntingdon and Lincoln, were banded together by the master mind of

Cromwell,to keep down and keep out the king's party, and they embraced the only

considerable tract of country in England where the horrors of the civil war were not

brought to the people's doors,

* After the death of Ireton, his widow married Lieut.-General Fleetwood, one

of Cromwell's lords; and Bridget Ireton, his step-daughter, resided with him at

Fleetwood House, Stoke Newington, until her marriage. General Fleetwood was

buried in Bunhill Fields by the side of his first wife.

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Inscription to his memory and

where his hatchment still remains

– bearing arg., a chev. between

three rams’ heads erased az., for

Bendish impaling erm., a bend

voided gu., for Ireton. Bridget

Bendish his widow, grand-

daughter of Oliver Cromwell, whom she is said to have greatly

resembled in person and in the strength of her intellect, continued to

reside in the South town house until her death in 1728 aged 76. She left

three children, the eldest of whom, Thomas Bendish, died in the West

Indies.* Bridget, the only daughter, resided in the Southtown house,

and died there in 1736, aged 64, She also is said to have greatly

resembled the Lord Protector. Henry, the youngest son, married a sister

of Viscount Harrington, f and resided partly at Tempsford in

Bedfordshire, and partly in Southtown where he died, in 1753, and was

buried in Yarmouth Church, where his hatchment may be seen. t Mary,

the daughter of Henry Bendish, married William Berners, Esq., of

Hanover Square, London, and Woolverstone Park, Suffolk, by which

means the extensive marshes in Southtown, so long the properly of the

Bendish family, passed to that of Berners, with whom they remained

until 1852 when, on the death of Archdeacon Berners, aged 82, they

were divided, and. sold.§ The

* By his first marriage he had one son, Ireton Bendish, who had a place under

government, and died to 1730. He married, secondly, Catherine, eldest daughter of

Samuel Smith of Colkirk by Ursula his wife, the only daughter of Sir John Palgrave, the

first baronet of that name; and thereby acquired a considerable fortune, which he wasted

by extravagant living, and then went to reside in the West Indies.

f Lord Barrington., who died in 1734, is described by Meadley in his Life of Dr.

Paley. p. 179, as "one of the most strenuous advocates for religious liberty in his own or

any other age."

t Dr. Watts, who was well known to the Bendish family, addressed some verses to

him on his marriage. In his Horae Lyricae (1699) there is also a copy of verses addressed

to Mrs. Bendish Against Tears. In 1729 Henry Bendish, Esq., had " permission to cut off

the Denes a few flags to cover a little slope under his parlour window in Southtown.''

§ This family of Berners claim descent from Hugo de Berners who accompanied

William I. into England, and received grants of land in Essex. They were fortunate

enough to possess an estate in the vicinity of London, upon part of which Berners

GREAT YARMOUTH

285

archdeacon and his brothers were born in the Southtown house, which

was long popularly believed to be haunted.

A very curious account of Bridget Bendish was drawn up by Mr.

Say (see vol. ii, p. 45). "When Sarah, his only daughter, (who married

Mr. Toms of Hadleigh) was born, Mrs. Bendish was among the

company present with Miss Randall, afterwards Lady Ward (vol. i. p.

189). Bridget Bendish is described as having been a person of great

presence, high courage, and indefatigable industry; with something in

her countenance and manner, which at once attracted attention and

commanded respect. Accustomed to give her personal attention to

business, she might be seen from early morning ‘till the decline of day,

superintending her workmen and labourers at her salt-pans, not

disdaining herself to take part in the drudgery.* When the labours of the

day were over, she would eat and drink heartily; then throw herself on a

couch, and fall into a profound sleep, from which she would rise with

renewed vigour; dress herself in silk which had probably appeared at the

court of her grandfather, the Lord Protector, and then drive in her chaise

or ride on her pad to Yarmouth, and there join the assemblies at the

Town Hall (see vol. ii., p. 5), where all gave her place and precedence;

or she would visit the houses of some of her numerous friends, at which

she was always a welcome guest. When perplexed by any question, she

was accustomed to pursue the method, which she said her grandfather

used with success under similar circumstances. To obtain a solution she

would shut herself up in her closet, till by fasting and prayer her mind

became peculiarly impressible; and then whatever text of scripture

occurred to her she would consider it an infallible guide as to the course

which she ought to pursue; and when once her resolution was taken no

persuasion could turn her from it, however

Street, once a fashionable quarter but now principally given up to artists, was built.

Woolverstone Hall, on the banks of the Orwell, was erected in 1776, and became the seat

of the family. Berners bore quarterly or, and vert.; and for a crest, a monkey proper.

There are engraved portraits of the archdeacon, and his wife.

* In 1710 Josiah Clifton, Thomas Manning, and Thomas Cooper, three Yarmouth

merchants, entered into partnership with a capital of £2,000 for the purpose of making

and selling salt at the salt-pans in Southtown, then held under a lease granted by Mrs.

Bridget Bendish, at £160 a year.

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erroneous it appeared to be. In this manner and by her imperious temper

she was led into numberless extravagances; but she was always

generous and charitable, and ready to serve all whose necessities and

miseries required relief, however undeserving they might otherwise be.*

Lord Henry Cromwell f married Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Francis

Russell, t and by her had five sons, all of whom died without issue

except the second, Henry Cromwell (born in 1658), who married (as has

been stated, vol. ii., p. 301) Hannah Hewling, and died in 1711. He had

also several sons, but by one only, Thomas (the seventh), born in 1699,

was the family name handed down. By his first marriage with a daughter

of John Tidman he had an only child, Anne, who became the wife of

John Field, of a Hertfordshire family, and of her there are many

descendants. His second wife was a daughter of Nicholas Skinner; and

they had issue Oliver Cromwell of Cheshunt, Herefordshire, who was

born in 1742, and died in 1821. An estate at Theobalds devolved upon

him from his unmarried aunts, whilst other of their property went to the

Fields. He had two sons who both died unmarried, and one daughter,

Elizabeth Oliveria, who married Thomas Artimadorus Russell. She died

in 1849, aged 72, leaving an only son, Cromwell Russell, who married

Averella, daughter of the Rev. Wm. A. Armstrong of Pengelly House,

Cheshunt, the residence during the close of his life of Richard

Cromwell, who, on the death of his father, was proclaimed Protector of

the Commonwealth. They had an only child, Olivia, who married the

Rev. Paul Burt, Rector of Dulve near Liskeard. She

* Bridget Bendish left a curious cabinet (a fine specimen of decorative work of the

latter part of the 16th century) to her niece, who married Thomas Burkitt of Sudbury,

descended from a Northamptonshire family of that name who settled there in 1643, but

now extinct. John Bunyan is said to have delivered an address in the large kitchen of an

old house, long the residence of the Burkitts, adjoining Burkitt Lane, Sudbury.

f He was Lord Deputy in Ireland, and, according to Hewling Luson, his government

was so mild and equitable that be acquired a great degree of esteem even among the

royalists. Froude says that he was so popular that he might have made a party strong

enough to have enabled him to make terms for his Irish estates; but with a loyalty

extremely honorable to him, he acquiesced without condition or stipulation in the

restoration of the Stuarts. (See vol. i., p. 143).

t After this marriage Henry Cromwell spent a great part of his time at the seat of his

father-in-law at Chippenham in Cambridgeshire.

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287

succeeded to many of the heir looms of the family which are still

preserved. Among them is a protrait of Lord Henry Cromwell by Du

Sart, and his official seal when Lord Deputy of Ireland. Also the

protector's sword; the hat he wore when he dissolved the Long

Parliament; and what is more valuable, a mask taken from his face after

death.

Yarmouth was not the only town, which bestowed municipal honors

upon the Cromwell family. In 1650 the great Oliver himself was elected

High Steward of Gloucester, and his patent was accompanied by a.

piece of plate. He accepted the accustomed annual fee of £5, which was

accompanied by a dish of lampreys. Spinney Priory, in the Parish of

Wicken, a little to the east of the Cambridge and Ely road, was for

many years occupied by some of the descendants. They were buried in

the church there, but about the year 1830 their graves, it is said, were

rifled by a neighbouring farmer, who was churchwarden, to make room

for his own family,

Elizabeth, another daughter of Lord Henry Cromwell, married

William Russell of Fordham, and their son, Gerald Russell, Esq., was

appointed Military Governor of Yarmouth in 1718. Sir John Russell,

first cousin of the above-named William Russell, married Prances,

youngest daughter of the Lord Protector and widow of Robert Rich, son

of Robert, third Earl of Warwick; and their daughter, Elizabeth, married

Sir Thomas Frankland of Thirkelby in Yorkshire, in whose descendants

the estates of this ancient family of Russell, on failure of heirs male,

ultimately vested. The late Lieut.-Col. Francis L'Estrange Astley (see p.

216) married Rosalind Alicia, one of the two daughters and co-heirs of Sir

Robert Frankland Russell, Bart., of the Checkers, where numerous

relics of the Cromwell family are preserved. Mrs. Astley assumed by

royal authority the names of Frankland-Russell, and her son by the

above marriage inherits the Thirkelby estate, upon which a fine house

has been erected. Augusta Louisa, the other daughter of Sir E. P.

Russell, married the late Lord Walsingham of Merton, Norfolk.*

* Mrs. Prescott of Oxford Square (nee Cromwell Russell) possesses some interesting

letters and papers relating to Lord Henry Cromwell and other members of the family; and

likewise some personal relics of the Lord Protector. She also has a copy of the will of

Benjamin Hewling, and some letters find papers relating to that

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An old wayside Inn, near the junction of the Lowestoft and Beccles

roads, is called the Guardian Angel, an ancient sign which, is found in

France, as L’Ange Gardien in the Rue St. Jaques, Paris. Southtown

Common lies to the west of it. Hill-house, near the bounds of

Southtown on the main road, was erected by John Garnham, Esq., R.N.,

who died here 26th of November, 1872, in his 84th year.*

Stone Cottage, near the bounds of Southtown on the Beccles Boad,

was the residence of Thomas Hutchinson Oliver, who died here in 1865,

aged 92. f He was grandson of Thomas Hutchinson, Governor of

Massachusetts from 1770 to 1774, and also of Chief Justice Oliver when

Massachusetts was a British Colony. He was Surgeon to the West

Norfolk Regiment of Militia. By his will he appointed the Rev. John

Hutchinson, Canon Residentiary of Lichfield Cathedral and Perpetual

Curate of Blurton, Staffordshire, executor. J

On the opposite side of the road is a house long the residence of

Commander John Ellis, R.N. "who was one of the old war officers."

family. (Report on Historical M.S.S.) A portrait of Oliver Cromwell by Zincke, and one

of Richard Cromwell by Cooper, were in the collection of the late Andrew Fountains,

Esq., at Narford Hall.

* When a boy he entered the royal navy, and when a lieutenant in 1814, was taken

prisoner by the French, but exchanged in the following year. At the peace of 1815 he

retired from the service with the rank of commander. He was a Magistrate for Suffolk;

and had a country house, at Buxhall near Stowmarket. Buxhall was the seat of the ancient

family of Copinger 1 , so noted for their profuseness that " to live like a Copinger" became a

proverb. The last of the race died in 1675, leaving a daughter who carried the estate to the

family of Hill. For an account of these families see Gentleman's Magazine for 1831, pp.

12, 109, 112.

f A modern house of white brick has recently been erected in front of the old one.

t Governor Hutchinson had in his possession a diary kept by Col. Goffe, the

regicide, when residing in America. It was destroyed when the house of the governor was

sacked by the mob in Boston, some account of which is given in his History of the

Provence of Massachusetts Bay, the third volume of which was edited by the above Rev.

John Hutchinson. On the dissolution of the government of Massachusetts in 1776, Chief

Justice Oliver returned with his family to England. Peter Oliver, son of the above-named

T. H. Oliver, died at Shrewsbury in 1822, aged 81. There were other families named

Oliver resident in Yarmouth. Robert Oliver, who died in 1818, aged 84, was a petty

officer on board H. M. S. Orford in 1759, and he with a party of seamen and mariners

assisted in attacking the heights of Abraham, to favor the approach of General Wolfe at

the capture of Quebec.

1 Copinger, professor of law at Manchester University, wrote the invaluable “Manors

of Suffolk”, as well as a separate bibliography of unique local materials. The former is in

the library at St Felix School, and also the Great Yarmouth Central Library, the latter, at

the University of East Anglia library. This is another set of volumes of rich local history

that so deserves a modern reprint.

GREAT YARMOUTH

289

He served as Lieutenant of the Goliah in the action with the Spanish

fleet off Cape St. Vincent in 1797; and assisted in the capture of several

privateers, and in some "cutting out" expeditions on the coasts of France

and Holland in 1804. He was also employed against the enemy's flotillas

in the Great Belt, and in the defence of the Island of Romsoe, for which

he received the thanks of the commander-in-chief. In 1809 he was

present at the capture of two gun-brigs; and subsequently served in the

Revenge on the coast of Catalonia, and was engaged in 1813 in cutting

out a French privateer at Salamos. He died in 1848, aged 73; and within

a few days died Frances his wife, aged 72. "They were," says their

epitaph at Bradwell, "united half a century, and were together laid in one

grave." He was a son of Capt. Ellis, R.N., of Yarmouth, whose eldest

son was Sir Samuel B. Ellis, K.C.B., of the Royal Marines. The latter

was intended by his father for the legal profession, and was articled to

Mr. Watson (see vol. i., p. 376), but finding, after more than a year's

probation, that the sedentary habits of an attorney ill assorted with a

restless and active temperament, he was permitted to exchange the pen

for the sword, and being in. 1804 presented with a commission in the

Royal Marine Corps, he joined the Ajax, one of the Channel fleet, and

proceeded to the blockade of Ferrol; and in the following year was

present in Sir Robert Calder's action.* In the autumn of that year the

Ajax joined Lord Nelson's fleet off Cadiz, and young Ellis was engaged

in the battle of Trafalgar, of which in his Memoirs he gives the

following account. "There was scarcely any wind at the time, and we

approached the enemy at not more than a knot and a half au hour. As we

neared the French fleet I was sent below with orders, and was much

struck with the preparations made by the blue-jackets, the majority of

whom were stripped to the waist, a handkerchief was bound tightly

round their heads and over their ears to deaden the noise of the cannon,

many men being deaf for days after an action. The men were variously

occupied; some were sharpening their cutlasses, others polishing their

guns, as though an inspection were about to take place instead of a mortal

combat;

* Ellis was on board the Ajax when in 1807 she was destroyed by fire at the

entrance of the Dardanelles. He escaped; but nearly 300 men perished.

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"whilst three or four, as if in mere bravado, were dancing a hornpipe;

but all seemed deeply anxious to come to close quarters with the enemy.

Occasionally they would look out of the ports and speculate as to the

hostile ships with which they were about to engage. It was at this time

that Nelson's famous signal was hoisted at the mast-head of the

admiral's ship, and I was desired to deliver the words to the men on the

main-deck; for which purpose the quarter-master assembled the men

with "Avast there, lads, come and hear the admiral's words." When they

were assembled I delivered, with becoming dignity, the sentence,—

rather anticipating that the effect on the men would be to awe them by

its grandeur. Jack, however, did not at first appreciate it, for there were

murmurs from some, whilst others in an audible whisper muttered— Do

our duty! Of course we'll do our duty. I've always done mine; haven't

you? Let us come alongside 'em, and we'll soon show whether we will

do our duty." Still the men cheered vociferously,—more, I believe, from

love and admiration of their admiral than from a full appreciation of the

well-known words." Space will not permit us to follow Sir Samuel Ellis

through his long and meritorious career. He commanded the marines on

board the Pomona when that vessel captured the United States frigate

President in 1815; and he served with distinction in the first war with

China. He was appointed Colonel of the Portsmouth Division of the

Royal Marines in 1863, and died in 1865 at Old Charlton, and was

buried in the cemetery there.* The general's youngest brother was

Captain Francis W. Ellis, R.N., who after a long residence in Yarmouth

went to Southwold, where he died in 1858. f

* See Memoirs and Services, edited by Lady Ellis. Warren Ellis, the general's

youngest son, met his death by an accident in 1807, aged 15. George Samuel Ellis,

the general's grandson, was accidentally shot at Antelope Ranche, California, in 1869.

Some account of the Yarmouth family of Ellis has already teen given (vol. i., p. 105) ,

The Rev. William Ellis, son of John Ellis of London, Rector of All Hallows,

Staining, in 1758, married, for his second wife, Sarah Francis of Yarmouth, by whom he

had issue Maria, who married M. de la Serrie 1 of France, and an only son, Sir

William Charles Ellis, M.D., who died in 1839, aged 59, leaving issue W. R.

Ellis, Esq., Barrister-at-Law.

f He had shortly before had the misfortune to see his only surviving son,

aged 18, drowned on Southwold Beach while coming on shore in a lifeboat; as was

1 Who clearly adopted the name Ellis, and the name was continued, ignoring the

intervention of a Frenchman.

GREAT YARMOUTH

291

The first ship-building yard in Southtown was that of Mr. Isaac

Preston, who in 1782 obtained a lease for 80 years of ground which he

converted to this purpose, and erected thereon a dwelling house for his

own residence. In 1794 he purchased of the corporation the adjoining

site of the hermitage already mentioned. Here in the course of forty

years Mr. Preston built 153 vessels.* He was a son of John Preston who

died in 1778, aged 64, and was buried in the churchyard at Rollesby

near the porch there; and younger brother of Jacob Preston, Esq.,

already mentioned ante p. 16. He married (first) Elizabeth, daughter of

Thomas Crowe. f She died in 1788, aged 42, leaving three daughters.

Elizabeth, the eldest, married George Preston, t and died s.p.; the second,

Mary, married Robert Rising already mentioned ante. p. 74; and Anne,

the youngest, became the wife of Robert Cory, Esq., the younger. § Mr.

Isaac Preston married (secondly) Elizabeth, daughter of Isaac Lillystone

(then for the second time a widow), by whom he had two sons,

Frederick and Isaac. The latter died at Liverpool in 1871, aged 68. The

father died in 1819, aged 75; and his widow in 1832, aged 72. They

were both buried in the churchyard of Burgh St. Margaret, where the

first wife also was buried. The ship-building business was continued by

the eldest son (now residing at Wymondham), who from 1823 to 1841

built 102 ships; One of them, the Maria Somes,

also John Henry Ord, aged 17, only son of John Thomas Ord, Esq., of Fornham House,

Bury St. Edmund's, Harriett Emily, youngest daughter of Capt P. W. Ellis, married her

cousin, Capt Arthur Ellis, Royal Marines, a son of the above-named Sir Samuel Ellis.

* His business books are still preserved, and exhibit the progress of prices, which in

forty years in many respects were doubled. In 1787 he fitted out the Trelawny as a

Greenland ship 1 for Mr. W. D. Palmer, and in the same year he built the Hunter; and in

1788 the Argus for the same trade.

f Crowe died in 1802, in his 88th year, and was buried in the churchyard of Burgh

St. Margaret, where many of his family lie interred.

t He was the son of Jacob Preston, solicitor, and brother of Abraham Preston, a

purser in the royal navy. The latter died in 1830, aged 56; and George Preston died in

1837, aged 65.

§ See vol. ii., p. 33. Their children quartered, as in the annexed plate, the arms of

Crowe—gyronny of eight sa. and or,, on a chief of the first two leopards' faces of the

second—which coat had been granted to Christopher Crowe of East Bilney in 1614 by

Camden. Hart. M.S. 6093, fo. 44 .

1 For whaling.

292

THE PERLUSTRATION OF

being the largest vessel ever launched at Yarmouth.,* having brought

from China upwards of 900 tons of tea.

All the land from Preston's yard to the tollgate was from time to

time leased for trade purposes, except a site, which in 1806 was

conveyed to government, and upon which a N AVAL A RSENAL was

erected from a design by Wyatt. It was capable of equipping two sail of

the line, two frigates, and six sloops; and contained an A RMOURY for

10,000 troops. The officers’ quarters were in houses with gardens

fronting the South-town Road. f After the peace of 1815 the buildings

were occupied as granaries until the late war with Russia broke out,

when they were converted into Barracks, and were first occupied by the

2nd Battalion of the 9th Foot, being the East Norfolk Regiment of the

Line now attached to the Yarmouth Depot, then commanded by Lieut.-

Colonel Elmshurst. Three regiments of Irish Militia subsequently

occupied

* This ship was built for the London ship owner, Mr, Joseph Somes, who in 1841, in

conjunction with the late Mr. Thomas Baring - , unsuccessfully contested the representation

of the borough. (See P.C., p. 239.) He afterwards sat in Parliament for Dartmouth, and

died in I845, s.p., aged 58. His eldest nephew, Joseph Somes, represented Hull, and died

in 1871, s.p., aged 51. The latter resided (some years with Mr. F. Preston (until he was

twenty years of age), his uncle considering that as he might become one of the largest

shipowners in the kingdom he ought to obtain a practical knowledge of the construction of

ships. The second nephew, Mr. Frederic Somes, managed the entire business of the

shipping at Blackwall. He purchased a house at Corton near Lowestoft, where his family

very often resided. This house was erected by Mr. Holland Thomas Birkett, and is now

the property of J. J. Colman, Esq., M.P. for Norwich. Mr. F. Somes died May, 1872, aged

50. It is not to be supposed that so modern a house as that at Corton could be haunted; but

it is believed that "a lady in white" (supposed to be an unhappy nun who came to some

mysterious end) is occasionally seen flitting across the heath which surrounds it.

f One of these houses was occupied by Mr. Minty, ordnance store keeper. His son,

Mr. R. G. P. Minty, a solicitor, resided at Norwich for some years, and was mainly

instrumental in establishing the Norfolk and Norwich Archaeological Society, of which

he became one of the first secretaries. He subsequently settled at Petersfield, where he

died in 1870. David Jones, store keeper, married a daughter of Thomas Atkin, Esq., of

Yarmouth. She died in 1813, aged 68. Subsequent store keepers were Mr. Thomas Gibson

and Mr. George Gaskoin. The widow of the latter died m 1871, aged 80, leaving a son,

Mr. J. Gaskoin, a solicitor at Swansea. The last store keeper was Mr. Robert Boult Fenn,

oldest son of Mr. Robert Fenn (vol. i., p. 278), who died at No. 27, Southtown Road, in

1874, aged 85.

GREAT YARMOUTH

293

these Barracks in succession.* After the conclusion, of peace the

Barracks were for some years occupied periodically by the Norfolk

Militia Artillery and East Norfolk Regiment of Militia during their

annual trainings; but in later years exclusively by troops of the line.

The first dock in Southtown was constructed by Mr. Stone. Being

unsuccessful, it was filled up, but another which remains, greatly enlarged

and improved, was soon afterwards made by Mr. James Lovewell, who

resided at No. 76, Southtown Road, and died there in 1824, aged 58. It

now belongs to Mr. J. H. Fellows 1 . f (See vol. ii., p. 385.)

Facing the Southtown Road, from the Railway Goods Station to the

Tollgate, there is now an almost continuous line of houses fronting west,

the most considerable of which are Sefton Terrace and Waterpark Terrace.

At No. 4, Waterpark Terrace resides Vice-Admiral Spencer Smyth. t

* They were the Fermanagh, under Colonel the Earl of Inniskilling in person; the

Louth, under Lieut.-Colonel Sir John Robinson, Bart.; and the Donegal, under Lieut,-

Colonel Lord Claud Hamilton. One of the Majors at that time in the Louth was Myles

O'Reilly, Esq., of Knock Abbey, Dundalk, now M.P. for Longford, who in 1859 married

Ida, daughter of Edmund Jerningham, Esq.. He served, for some time a Major in the

Pontifical army.

f From the adjoining ship-yard many fine vessels have been launched. In 1818 the

trade of ship-building was so flourishing in Yarmouth, that nearly one hundred vessels

were on the stocks in various yards at the same time.

t He entered the royal navy in 1803; and when a midshipman in the Defiance, 74,

was in Sir Robert Calder's action, and he was also at the glorious battle of Trafalgar. In

1809 he assisted in the destruction of three French frigates under the batteries of Sable

D’Olomno, on which occasion the Defiance sustained considerable loss. After co-

operating with the patriots in the south of Spain, he was appointed in 1810 to the

Northumberland; 74, and was present when she captured two French privateers, and at the

destruction of the 40-gun frigates L’Arvenne and L'Andromaqu é and the 16-gun brig

Mamalouck, whose united fire, with that of a heavy battery, killed five and wounded,

twenty-eight men on board the Northumberland. For his services he was promoted in

1812 to the rank of lieutenant. Having been sent to the West Indies he, on his passage out,

assisted at the capture of Le Jason, letter-of-marque, pierced for twenty-two guns, and the

Iphigenie and Alomene, French frigates of forty-guns each.; and in 1815 he commanded

the boats at the landing of the troops during the operations against Martinique and

Guadeloupe. He fought on board the Dartmouth at the battle of Navarino in 1827, where

he was wounded whilst boarding a fire-ship. Previous to going into action he furnished

Sir Edward Codrington with a plan of the position and force of the Ottoman fleet. For

these services he was thanked by his chief and was promoted to the rank of commander;

and in 1835 he

1 Now Richards’ shipyard and dry dock.

294 THE PERLUSTRATION OF

and No. 5 is the residence of Henry Teasdel 1 , Esq., who filled the office

of Mayor of Yarmouth in 1873.*

Further south is a public house called the Anson Arms, built in 1814

by Samuel Paget, Esq., under a lease then granted by the Hon. Mary

Anson, widow of the before-mentioned George Adams Anson and

daughter of the first Lord Vernon, f

A little way beyond the Tollgate and adjoining the river were

Oyster Pits, which are now discontinued. t

Somewhat farther south there was moored during the revolutionary

war with France, and for some years after the peace of 1815, the French

corvette Utile, which had been, captured by Capt. Macnamara of the

Southampton, and was used as a receiving ship by the dreaded press-gang.

To man the navy by compulsion was a power exercised alike by

Cromwell during the protectorate, and by Charles II. after the

restoration. In 1653 when General Monk was in Aldborough Roads, he

granted a warrant exempting all Yarmouth fishermen from being

pressed during the time of the Free Fair. In 1664 the Government agent

at Yarmouth reported that "the press went on hotly," and that "throngs

of men were mustering up and down the streets frolicking away their

press-money; and when their friends tried to persuade them from going,

said they could not serve a better master." In the spring of the following

year he reports that the delay in sending away the pressed men was

occasioned by one being pressed whom Bailiff Cubitt could not spare,

but was sent on board lest the others should refuse; and was quietly put

on shore again. Sir Thomas Medowe sent

was appointed to the Coast Guard at Yarmouth (see ante p. 117). In 1867 he was

promoted to be a captain on the reserved list, was awarded a naval pension in addition to

his half-pay; and in 1870 he became a rear-admiral. After his retirement from-the navy he

was appointed Pier Master at Great Yarmouth, and discharged the onerous duties of that

office for many years.

* He was succeeded in 1874 by Robert David Barber, Esq., the present mayor, and

there ore the last holder of that office to be recorded in this work.

f

f The front door and door-posts are from the old house on the Quay pulled down by

Mr. Paget, when he erected the mansion already mentioned. : See vol. ii., p. 396.

t An attempt was made to establish Oyster Pits near the haven's mouth in 1634,

when the corporation proposed to lease ground for the purpose, but as they insisted that

oysters should be sold at a fixed price, the project was abandoned.

1 Author of a brief history of Gorleston.

GREAT YARMOUTH

295

a warrant and took the man in spite of the bailiff. Four days later he

says "the pressed men will hardly be got out of the town unless Capt.

Saunders be sent; every man in the town would go with him voluntarily,

he is so winning to all seamen, and as stout as ever salt water "bore." In

the 18th century it was not uncommon for judges to offer prisoners

accused of various crimes the option of entering the royal navy rather

than stand a trial. In 1755 James Clarke, who had for four years been

confined in Norwich Castle for smuggling, was released by order of the

admiralty and sent to Yarmouth to serve for life on board a man-of-war.

After the breaking out of the war with France, so great was the scarcity

of men that gaols were searched for criminals to be converted into

heroes by the lash; and the service acquired an unpopularity which it

has been found extremely difficult wholly to efface. At first no man was

to be "pressed" who followed any lawful calling—who "had a vote for a

Parliament man"—or who was a papist—but these exemptions were

soon disregarded." "We have got a regulating captain come down," says

Ives, jun., writing in 1770, " but he has not yet begun to press, as the

merchants endeavour to keep it off till the fishing is entirely finished";

for fishermen and even apprentices were sought for as being the most

useful men. This was not always done with impunity, for Mr. Samuel

Hurry obtained a verdict with £60 damages against a naval officer for

pressing one of his apprentices. The "press" were so much dreaded that

when in 1790 the news reached a fleet of Yarmouth vessels coming

from the north that the press-gangs were at work, the crews began to

desert, so that when the ships arrived in Yarmouth Roads they were all

short-handed; and in one case before quitting the crew furled all the

sails except the mainsail, leaving only the master on board, Barber by

name, who had but one leg, but who unassisted brought his ship to an

anchor.* So fierce had the practice become immediately before the

peace of 1802, that in one day 300 men were pressed in Yarmouth; of

whom however

* In 1796 the press-gang was very active, and among those pressed this year was

John Oliver, who was sent on board H.M.S. Bellerophon, or Billy-ruffian as he called her,

then in Yarmouth Roads. He served in the Victory at Trafalgar, being then coxswain to

Capt. Hardy. He was living at Wavertree near Liverpool in 1872, being then in his 99th

year.

296

THE PERLUSTRATION OF

250 were liberated. Every night the press-gang searched the town for

stragglers and drunken men 1 ; and they occasionally went so far as in

open day to seize the fishermen when peaceably spreading their nets on

the South Denes. In 1805, one evening at nine o'clock, press-gangs from

several of the men-of-war then lying in Yarmouth Roads landed at the

Jetty, and dispersing themselves about the town seized every man they

could find, without respect of persons, and forced them on board the

fleet, but on the following morning a large majority were sent on shore:

In 1853 a public company was formed for the purpose of supplying

the inhabitants of Southtown and Gorleston with gas; and works were

erected on a piece of land lying between the Turnpike Road and the

river. The first chairman of the company was Wm. Johnson, Esq., with

Mr. C. J. Palmer as secretary.

On the east side of that portion of the Southtown Turnpike Road

which branches off at the commencement of the rising ground and runs

to the High Street of Gorleston is a house, placed at the south end of a

lawn, which at the commencement of the present century was for many

years occupied, as a boys' boarding school, conducted by Mr. Thomas

Wright.* This property was subsequently purchased by the Rev.

Edward Valpy, D.D., who died here in 1832, aged 68. f The above-

mentioned house, now called Ferry-side 2 , is occupied by Edward

* This school had some celebrity. Here Baron Alderson received the first rudiments

of learning; and here was educated Sir Samuel Bignold, Knt., sometime M.P, for

Norwich, and Secretary to the Norwich Union Fire and Life Insurance Company, who

died in 1875, aged 83.

f He was brother of the Rev. Richard Valpy, D.D., Head Master of Reading School.

In 1810 he was elected Head Master of the Norwich Grammar School of the foundation

of Edward VI., which he raised to an unprecedented state of prosperity. He became

examining Chaplain to Bishop Bathurst, and was presented by him in 1819 to the Rectory

of Thwaite and to the Vicarage of St. Mary's, South Walsham, both in Norfolk. He

married Anne, sister of Admiral Western, who survived him and continued to reside in the

above-mentioned house till her death in 1835, aged 70. Their only son, the Rev. J. W.

Valpy, a young man of great promise, died in 1830. The name of Valpy is supposed to

have been originally Volpi, and to have been transplanted from Italy. A family of the

name bore counter-bendy of six gu. and arg., on a chief of the last a fox courant, holding

in his mouth a cock, all ppr. ; but Dr. Valpy of Reading bore as a device the Greek

digamma sa; and for a crest, a mountain ppr.

1 Not a few abused wives may have actually taken this as a blessing and a great relief,

since alcoholism was widespread.

2 Now used by the social services for offices, and as the registry office for births

deaths and marriages.

GREAT YARMOUTH

297

Henry Harvey Combe, Esq., the business representative of Messrs.

Combe, Delafield, and Co.,* who have recently erected extensive

maltings at the north end of the grounds. A road runs at the back of this

property, on the east side of which there are extensive malthouses

adjoining the river, erected about the middle of the last century by

Whitbread and Co., the London brewers.

Further south is Ferry-Boat Inn, where there is a range of houses,

one being the residence of Mr. W. H. Burrell, who has formed a

collection of pictures, including an interesting portrait of Shakespeare,

the possession of which can be traced back for two hundred years. He

has also a portrait of Lord Nelson, and the original letter addressed by

Nelson to Sir Edward Berry, printed ante p. 183, which was found

among the papers of Sir Edward's father-in-law, the late Dr. Forster.

The body of this letter is written by an amanuensis, but the signature

and address are by Nelson himself. On the back of the letter are some

verses in the same handwriting as the letter, evidently original, for there

are many substitutions of words and other corrections, and it is

conjectured that they may have been dictated by Nelson himself, as he

appears to have been in a jocular humour while waiting to an old

shipmate. They are to the tune of "Brisk blow the bellows, O," as

follows :—

" When man first came, it was his

game,

To till the ground of Eden, O.

" The tool he made was first a spade,

" And then he made a weeding hoe.

"Brisk blow, &c.

But dull his hours among the flowers,

Tho’ wondrous sweet and rare, O;

" Till from, his bone, to ease his

moan,

Eve- came so fine and fair, O.

"Brisk blow, &c.

* He is a grandson of Harvey Christian Combe, Lord

Mayor and M.P. for the City of London, who established one

of the great London Porter Breweries in the last century. A

pedigree of Combe of Middlesex will be found in Clutterbuck's

Hertfordshire, vol. i., p. 419. The family coat is erm. , three lions

pass. ramp. gu.; with the motto— Nil temere nec temere.

298

THE PERLUSTRATION OF

" Tho’ man alone endur'd the sun,

"And work’d his weary days, O;

She could not hide close by his side,

" Nor solitary stay, O.

"Brisk Blow, &c.

At No. 9 resides Mr. John Bately, M.D., who takes great interest In

the antiquities of the parish.* Here also resided for some years Rear-

Admiral John Gedge. f The last house, some time called "Pedestal

House," was, during the latter years of his life, the residence of Capt.

Manby, already mentioned ante p. 212.

Below this hill is an ancient Ferry, which for centuries was held by

the owners of the Somerleyton estate, who were also Lords of the

Manor of Gorleston. It was severed on the sale of this estate and manor

by Lord Sydney Godolphin Osborne, son of the Duke of Leeds, to

whom the manor with the right of ferry had been devised by his

maternal uncle, the Rev. George Anguish. The right of ferry, which at

that time was esteemed of little value, was purchased by William

Walpole, Esq. (already mentioned ante. p. 274), and is now possessed

by W. D. Palmer, Esq. and brings in a good rent.

Adjoining the river are extensive premises, extending into

Gorleston, which belonged to Hewitt’s Company limited, established

for the purpose of prosecuting the North-sea fishery for the supply of

the London market. Lord Alfred Paget was chairman of the company;

but not being successful it was wound up.

Southtown contains 694 acres. On the 13th of May, 1729 (in

Rogation week), Sir John Castleton, then vicar, accompanied by some

* The name is found in Norfolk and Suffolk at an early date. In the reign of

Queen Elizabeth, William Battelye was a defendant to a Bill in Chancery filed by

William Garrard to redeem a windmill in Yarmouth. Nicholas Battely of Bury St.

Edmund's, apothecary, was father of the Rev. Nicholas Battely, Rector of Newton in

Suffolk, who was collated by Archbishop Bancroft to the Vicarage of Bekesborne

and Rectory of Ive Church in Kent; and of the Rev. John Battely, Archdeacon

of Canterbury, both being authors of repute.

f He entered the royal navy in 1790, and for twenty-three years was in active

service. For his conduct in an engagement with the enemy's flotilla near Calais,

when in the Locust gunbrig, he was made a commander in 1811. He commanded

the Cadmus (10 guns) on the Yarmouth station for four years. He died in 1855.

GREAT YARMOUTH

299

of the principal inhabitants "beat the bounds" of Southtown, of which

ceremony he compiled a minute description. Commencing at the river

the procession went through the yard of Jeffery Killett, and through his

house by an entry dividing his kitchen and great parlour into High

Street, and crossing it a little way towards the south passed through

lands into Burnt Lane, and over a fence at the north end of Plane's

pightle to North-Hall, then over a wall into a garden, and along the east

side thereof' to an alley leading from Burnt Lane to North-Hall back

rooms, then along the alley into the kitchen of North Hall, through the

same in a transverse line through a closet at the corner of the kitchen,

through a doorway and across the little parlour directly across an entry

through a small beer buttery, across a long entry loading from North-

Hall fore door to the Chapel-Barn Gardens, then through the buildings

adjoining to the south end of a malthouse into the road leading to St.

Olave's Bridge, a little to the north of the gate of North-Hall fore yard.

Then, across the road into North-Hall Home, to the hedge next Fen

Street. Then along a common road and over the hedge into and along a

meadow belonging to North Hall, and over a ditch into the common at

an old willow tree, then across the common to Mr. Bedingfeld's marsh

ditch. Then into North-Hall marshes and along the ditch to Bedingfeld's

furze close, across the same to a stile leading into the grounds of

William Killett. Thence down under the hedge to the north, then

westerly to the south-west corner of Gapton-Hall lands. Then

northwardly iuto the marsh of Henry Bendish, and across the same to

Kitchen bank leading to the north, and along such bank, taking in an

elbow of high land on the west side, and directly across Bendish's marsh

to his north wall next the land of Sir Thomas Allin. Then along

Bendish's bank and over the ditch into Sir Thomas Allin's Laten marsh,

and along the same through Norgate marsh, belonging to Sir Thomas

Allin, leaving Hemmerstone marshes on the left all the way to Breydon

bank, and along the bank to the lower end of the Hemmerstone marshes.

Then across Breydon water to the bank on the Flegg side, and at the end

of Brightman's marsh (previously Draper's) to a boundary stone. Then

along the ditch dividing Carlis' and Brightman's marshes. Then

northward through further marshes

300 THE PERLUSTRATION OF

and over ditches going east, and through marshes (late Dodgeim ’ s then

Ransome's) directly east to the north river, and thence by water through

the middle of the stream to the place where the "procession" began.

Such an eccentric course as this, running through houses, over a river,

and into another county, must have required many "bumpings" to

impress it upon the memory. See ante p. 255.

The house first mentioned in the above route stands on the west

side of High Street, is now called the Sun.*

N EW H ALL appears to have been constructed out of the old

monastic buildings, and is now a collection of small dwellings, in one

of which an archway has been discovered probably the only original

part remaining,

G APTON H ALL formed part of the large estates possessed by the

Berners family in Southtown and Bradwell. It was sold in 1836 by the

late Archdeacon Berners to the late J. S. Bell, Esq., and is now the

property of R. S. Watling, Esq.

A small portion of Southtown is, as we have seen, in the County of

Norfolk, It adjoins the Parish of Runham, and is surrounded on all other

sides by Breydon water and the river Bure.

The Norwich Railway Stations and the principal part of the

Vauxhall gardens are within this portion of Southtown. In 1694 this

property, known as the Ferry-farm estate, was conveyed by Horatio

Suckling to John Dodgeim, who sold it in 1725 to Richard Ransome,

and. in 1782 Gamaliel Ransome conveyed it to John Ives, Esq., who

included it in a settlement made by him on his marriage in 1791. (See

vol. ii., p. 71.) In 1802 Mr. Thomas Fowler and his wife sold the

property to Mr. Hook, who in 1810 conveyed it to the late Robert Cory,

Esq., jun., by whose devisees the estate has been divided and sold to

divers persons. In 1852 an attempt was made to compel the owners and.

occupiers of this property to pay rates to Runham. The case was argued

before the Justices in the Exchequer Chamber, when it was decided that

the above lands were in the Hamlet of Southtown in the

* The "Sun," one of the oldest of signs and claiming a pagan origin, was common

in this and other countries. An old French writer says "on the roads near large

towns you will always find a home that exhibits the sign of the Sun." In the

adjoining village of Bradwell there is the Rising Sun 1 .

1 There is still the Sun public house, on the main road at Bradwell, 2008.

GREAT YARMOUTH

301

County of Norfolk. The boundary line dividing the two parishes passed through the public

house belonging to the Vauxhall Gardens.*

Some few tradesmen's tokens were struck in Southtown, and are enumerated in the

Coinage of Suffolk, an excellent work published in 1868, for private distribution only, by

Charles Golding, Esq. See P. C., p. 98.

* The boundary line between the counties of Bedford and Hertford passed through

the old parsonage at Meppenstall; in reference to which, carved on a beam in the dining

room, was this distich—

If you would go to Hertfordshire,

Hitch somewhat nearer to the fire

At Vauxhall the landlord might say—

If you would to Suffolk move,

Pray hitch nearer to the stove.

In the forest of Bewdley there grows a thorn forming an arch, one end of which is in the

County of Salop and the other in Stafford. The vulgar cause their children to pass under it

to cure the whooping cough. Crabb Robinson used to relate a case on the Norfolk Circuit,

in which he had been engaged as counsel, the question being to which parish a pauper

belonged whose bed had stood across the boundary line of two parishes. The court

decided in favor of his head and shoulders.