Pages from Volume One, Palmer's Perlustration,Chapter 3 UNPDF

CHAPTER III.

See here the changes time has made

In long revolving years ;

Monks, priests, and guests, are

in the grave,

With all their hopes and fears.

DJACENT to the church, and immediately op-

posite the south transept and the south aisle of

the chancel, and communicating therewith by

a green yard and cloister, was the priory, where

the chaplains, the priests, the singing men,

and all who served in the church, resided. *

The establishment consisted of a prior f and eight

Benedictine monks, sent from the convent of the Holy

Trinity at Norwich, who were frequently changed. t Of

seculars, there were three chaplains, a deacon, and two

or three clerks.

The original building was coeval with the church; but

at ﬁrst there were three monks; and one chaplain only.

During the middle ages numerous gifts were made to

this priory, and personal legacies to the inmates. Wills at

that time were usually drawn by ecclesiastics, who had

ample opportunities for directing the benevolence of

testators. Thus, William Motte gave to John

* For an account of this priory see the appendix to Manship, p.

402.

f To be prior of Yarmouth, was a stepping stone to advancement.

In I466, William Bekenham, the than prior, was elected abbot of

Wymondham.

Thomas Hoo was prior in 1502. He was of the same family as Sir

John de Hoo, prior temp. Edward III, who here arg. a bend between

six cross crosslets sa.

t We are indebted to the Benedictines for our ﬁne cathedral

service, which has outlived the vicissitudes of so many generations.

Guido Aretinus, a Benedictine monk, who lived about the year 1020,

is the reputed inventor of the scale called the gamut.

GREAT YARMOUTH.

59

Elyngham, chaplain, 10s., “so that he might aid and advise the executors

rightly and faithfully to administer his will, to the honor of G OD and the

salvation of the testator’s soul;” and William Reyse bequeathed to Sir

Alexander, the head chaplain, 1s., to his two partners and the deacon,

6d. each, and to the three clerks, 3d. each.

Here the Dean of Yarmouth held his court Christian, for granting

probates and letters of administration, and for hearing “causes matrimo-

nial”; for doing which he was sometimes accused of extorting heavier

fees than were of right his due; and the bailiffs were not slow to enforce

the 31 Ed. I., passed expressly to prevent such practices. *

The Dean was also constantly endeav-

ouring to draw into his court causes which

did not properly belong to it, to the great ire

of the bailiffs. In 1376, Sir William, dean of

Yarmouth, and parson of Billock’by, was

ﬁned for summoning persons to the consis-

tory court improperly, and punishing people

twice for the same canonical offences, and

taking more for absolving them than was

allowed, f

This priory was enlarged in 1260, and some-

what later the great hall was built which remains

to this day. At the east end were the apartments of

the prior (with chambers above), looking into an

extensive garden, which reached to the town wall. The doorway leading

to the lower apartments still remains. On the north side was the green

yard, into which, there was a doorway from the great hall.; t The public

entrance to the hall

* The bailiffs required all wills to be produced to them, and if such wills related

to real estate they had to be enrolled. Wills continued to be proved in ecclesiastical

courts down to 1856, when a Court of Probate was established.

f The deanery of Yarmouth was, in 1345, united with that of Flegg, and is now

within the deanery of Norwich.

J What remained of the cloisters surrounding the green yard was pulled down in

1811, and the site added to the churchyard.

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THE PERLUSTRATION OF

was on the south side, opposite the door leading into the cloisters. The

apartments for the chaplains, deans, clerks, and monks, were arranged

round a large court on the south side of the hall, into which court there

was an entrance from Priory plain, under an arch with a gate house

above.

At the upper end of the hall on the south side, an arched doorway

which still remains, led to the minstrels’ gallery, the open windows

of which looked down upon the dais; and at the lower or west end, a

stone screen, composed of a series of arches (in the spandrels of which

were the arms of East Anglia; France (ancient); England; and Castile

and Leon), divided the hall from the buttery and domestic ofﬁces.

Hospitality, which formed an essential part of the monastic system,

was here freely exercised ; and distinguished visitors to the town were

usually “lodged at the priory.”

Here, in 1882, Richard II. was received when he paid the visit already

mentioned. His object was to view the fortiﬁcations; for Great Yar-

mouth being one of the principal “frontier towns and strongholds on

the sea coast,” was accounted at that time “a place of great importance

to the King and to the whole realm.” *

Mary Tudor, the beautiful daughter of Henry VII., who had ﬁrst mar-

ried Louis XII of France, but was then the wife

of the Duke of Suffolk was, with her husband,

lodged at the priory for three days, f

in 1514.

* He issued a commission under the great

seal appointing Lord de Morley and divers

knights and gentlemen with, the bailiffs to take

charge of the fortiﬁcations for the defence of the

same, promising to supply them “ with armor,

munytion, and other means as occasion should require.” F. p. 18.

The Lords de Morley had long been in the service of the crown.

Sir Robert de Morley was at the siege of Calais; and Lord de Morley

his son (who married a daughter of Lord Bardolf), was killed by a

prodigious storm of hail when serving with the English army near

Chartres in 1860. His shield of arms arg. a lion ramp. sa. crowned or.

is still on the ceiling of the south aisle of the parish church. See P.C.

p. 122.

f Charles Brandon, remarkable for the dignity and gracefulness

of his person, had been brought up with and as a companion to the

Prince, afterwards Henry VIII; and had been a few months previously

to his visit to Yarmouth, created Duke of Suffolk, a title forfeited by

Edward de la Pole, beheaded in the previous year.

GREAT YARMOUTH.

61

At the reformation the priory followed the fortunes of the convent

at Norwich, and passed to the newly-constituted clean and chapter,

but it still continued to be the place where strangers of distinction

could be lodged, at the invitation of the corporation and charge of the

town. Thus, in 1546, the Duke of Norfolk, Lord Burgh, Sir Robert

Southwell, Sir Roger Townshend, Sir Edward Windham, Knts., and

Robert Holding, John Garnell, Thomas Gawdy, and John Corbett,

Esqs., royal commissioners sent down to determine the dispute

between the town and the Paston family “touching boundaries “were,

on their arrival, lodged at the priory, where they remained for two

days,” at the town’s charge,” taking evidence.*

In 1551, the dean and chapter of Norwich granted all the temporalities

of the church at Yarmouth to one Sowell, a layman, for a term of

80 years, at a ﬁxed yearly rent, he providing for all the religious

services of the church, including the appointment and maintenance of

ministers; an arrangement scarcely credible at the present time, and

one which then led to much dissatisfaction and many disputes; the

corporation, who coveted the patronage, being thenceforth constantly

at variance with the lessee, f

Still, however, the great hall was used by the corporation on state

occasions, and for many years they held their guild dinner in it on

Michaelmas day, it being much more convenient for this purpose than

their own hall.

When, in 1578, Queen Elizabeth 1 , being at Norwich, proposed to visit

Yarmouth, great preparations were made for her reception, and the

priory was ﬁtted up for the purpose. On the journey from

* The channel called Grubb’s haven, having been by this time

completely ﬁlled with sand, the boundary between Yarmouth and

Caister became undeﬁned, and this led to great disputes. Some of the

depositions taken on the above occasion are printed in extenso by

Swinden, and are extremely curious.

f See P. C., p. 150.

t In anticipation of the Queen’s arrival, each bailiff was to have

three ofﬁcers attendant upon him, besides the three usually allowed,

and new liveries were ordered for the occasion. Each alderman was to

provide “able men to shoot in cullyvers,” and every one of them was

to have “a jerkin of black buckrum lined with white ;” and those who

could afford it, “silk or black kersey,”

1 Palmer’s Addenda: Queen Elizabeth - In anticipation of her arrival, a silver cup in

the form of a ship was provided as an intended present to her majesty.

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THE PERLUSTRATION OF

Norwich, her Majesty was to have rested for a night at Ludham, then a

manor house belonging to the bishop. Unfortunately the plague broke

out at Norwich, and it was deemed necessary that the Queen should

leave the city with all haste ; and being thus prevented paying her visit

to Yarmouth, she sent the Earl of Leicester, Lord Burleigh, and many

other noblemen and gentlemen of her suite to express her regret; and

they were “moste worthely entertained” and “royally feasted” at the

priory, at the town’s charge. *

Long after the reformation the clergy continued to reside at the priory.

Here, in 1599, “William Younger, of Emmanuel college, Cambridge,

wrote a sermon which he preached in the parish church, “ the argu-

ment whereof was to administer instruction unto the people, upon

occasion of the troubles which then were feared by the Spaniards.” It

was published at London in 1600, and was dedicated to the bailiffs,

John Felton and Thomas Mansﬁeld.

In this hall it was the custom, from a very early period, for the prior

to provide a public breakfast for the parishioners on Christmas day. It

originated in the desire so to keep the feast as to promote “love and

good will” among all classes, and to exercise the gift of charity by pro-

viding bread and meat for the necessitous poor 1 ; and whilst the priests

remained dominant these ends were obtained with reverence and deco-

rum. But after the reformation, when the prior and monks were turned

out of the building, all respect for the day

* The bailiffs knew well the advantage of having a friend at court; and imme-

diately on the disgrace and execution of the Duke of Norfolk in 1572, they elected

the favorite, Leicester, to be their high steward (see P. C, p. 322). Whilst on a journey

to Cornbury park, he died of a fever in 1588 ; an opinion prevailing that the fatal

result was caused by a cordial administered to him by Lady Essex, which alike ﬁn-

ished his journey, His plot against the countess, and his life. See Leicester’s Ghost.

He was succeeded in the high stewardship by Lord Burleigh, who had accom-

panied Leicester to Yarmouth. It is to be hoped that the feasting on this occasion did

not increase the gout to which the Lord High Treasurer was subject. The sufferings

of so great a man called forth numerous prescriptions. Lord Shrewsbury recom-

mended “oil of stag’s blood”; others “medicated slippers”; but Dr. Baley, more to

the purpose, insisted upon “a regimen of diet.” See L ansdowne M.S.S. It ultimately

killed him at the good old age of 77; the Queen visiting her faithful minister on his

death bed, and “ comforting him with most kind words.” P. C., p. 323.

1 Many might think the poor more necessitous then, but the sad fact is that

since the demise of the holiday guest house and small hotel in the 1970’s, many

of the proprietors have turned their rooms over to the accommodation of the most

destitute and deprived of the population, and deliberately attracted them to this town

from places such as Birmingham and Glasgow. At the same time there has been an

increase in homeless sleeping rough. As a result there is an annual Christmas dinner

at the Marina centre, open to all such persons and well attended. The church porch

has also been a gathering place on Sunday mornings for the destitute, who then con-

front those leaving after the service.

GREAT YARMOUTH.

63

seems to have been cast aside, whilst the people insisted upon having

their “breakfast” as a legal right. The farmer of the newly-constituted

dean and chapter in vain represented to the lords of the privy council

(to whom matters of this kind were then referred on petition to the

King), “ the danger of gathering together at least one thousand people,

most of them of the rudest and basest sort, whose meeting was often

attended with danger of murder, by quarrelling and ﬁghting “ among

themselves, breaking of windows, tables, stools, pots and glasses,

and many other disorders which could not be prevented”; besides the

profanation of the day, Holy Communion having to be put by, and

the greater part of the people remaining, drinking and swaggering till

eleven o’clock, going neither to service or sermon. 1 ” These reasons

were considered sufﬁcient to suppress the custom, but not to relieve

the farmer’s pocket, who was ordered to pay £10 a year “to the proﬁt

and beneﬁt of the ﬁshermen of the town.”

During the succeeding century the buildings fell into decay, for neither

the dean and chapter nor their lessee would do any repairs; and in pro-

cess of time they were converted into cottages, inhabited by the low-

est classes. In 1778 the dean and chapter granted a lease of the priory

to John Morris, merchant, for forty years, at a rent of £10 and two fat

capons. In this lease the principal building is described as “a fair large

hall, with three rooms at the west end thereof, previously used as a

kitchen and buttery,” * with a parlour and two other “ground rooms” at

the east end, with three chambers over them; and to the south, two low

rooms and “a fair gallery” over them, and a large garden lying east

as far as the town wall, containing about an acre of ground, and three

other plots of ground adjoining the hall and rooms, with a court yard

and stable, and a number of rooms surrounding the court yard, and

to the north of the great hall, a green yard, the buildings surrounding

which had been made into numerous habitations. In

* There is an etching of the west end of this hall by Cotman, when it was still

used as a stable. It represents the arched screen already mentioned. One of these

arches had then been cut away, in order to hang up the tandem harness of the occu-

pier of the stable, Mr. William Taylor, surgeon.

Drawings of several parts of this hall before its restoration, were made by

Winter, as also of the gatehouse already mentioned.

1 At St Nicholas Church only this last weekend, 31st December 2006, I ob-

served in the porch, a rather obese and simple looking woman, being lectured on

some subject or other by just such a person as in Palmer’s day, this time, with a can

of lager in his hand! Not much changes in Yarmouth!

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1779 the executors of the will of Morris assigned the property to the

R ev. John Whitesides, Unitarian minister, who sold it to Mr. Thomas

Clowes, who assigned the lease to William Fisher, Esq. Subsequently

Mr. Samuel Sherrington became the lessee. By this time the great hall

had been ﬁlled with rubbish, and converted into stables, the windows

being used for doors; the whole of the old buildings being then in a most

dilapidated state, whilst a warehouse and stables had been erected in the

court yard. In 1846 the Rev. Henry Mackenzie, the then incumbent (now

suffragan bishop of Nottingham), aided by some gentlemen of the town

prevailed upon the dean and chapter to make a grant of the old buildings

for the purposes of a National school 1 ; and the right of the then lessee

having been purchased, the great hall was restored as nearly as possible

to its original state, and now forms an admirable boys’ school. Relics

of antiquity have from time to time been found within the precincts of

the priory. Among these was a “small ancient circular ﬁbula, with an

inscription round the rim;” and “a small oval brass seal, with a dove

and olive branch, with the circumscription Sum sine dolo;” as Boulter

describes them in his Catalogue of Antiquities.

The Guildhall

By King John’s charter * the burgesses had granted to them a

merchants’ guild, the members of which became the governing body

of the town, none of the inhabitants having any voice in public affairs

who were not “free” of this guild; and for the transaction of business

they erected a Guild-house at the church gate, immediately opposite the

great south porch. The original structure was built upon arches, allowing

a free passage under it to the churchyard. f

* The burgesses paid 100 marks and a last of herrings for this charter.. Madox

Exc h. p. 202.

f In lowering the pathway leading to the church in 1870, a portion of the foundations

of the old guild hall, of very solid work, was laid. bare. Some fragments of sculptured

stone ware also discovered, one being a quatrefoil panel, having in the centre a crown

of thorns, an engraving of which is here given.

1 Palmer’s Addenda: Priory Schools, considerable additions were made and the new

building opened January 1873.

GREAT YARMOUTH.

65

At ﬁrst the freemen annually elected four of their number to govern

the town, one for each of the four leets or wards, and called them

bailiffs, which title, in its original meaning, was equivalent to lessee;

they in fact holding the borough under the crown at a perpetual

fee-farm yearly rent of ﬁfty-ﬁve pounds. Subsequently to assist the

bailiffs, twenty-four of the principal burgesses were selected, who

were called jurats, from having been sworn faithfully to perform

their duties; and they were empowered annually to elect four bailiffs,

two chamberlains (equivalent to treasurers and accountants,) two

churchwardens, two muragers (to whom the care of the town wall was

entrusted), eight warders or tellers of herrings, two collectors of the

half dole of herrings (which constituted part of the town revenue), and

four auditors; an arrangement conﬁrmed by subsequent charters. *

This form of government continued until 1428, when the four bailiffs

were reduced to two; the ﬁrst named being called the prime bailiff,

and with him the chief authority rested j and they with the jurats and

the whole of the freemen (denominated the commonalty), constituted

the governing body; but as any inhabitant could become free by serv-

ing an apprenticeship of seven years to another burgess, and when

once admitted and enrolled transmitted the franchise to his descen-

dants in perpetuity, their number rapidly increased and became too

large to exercise the functions of a deliberative assembly, f It would be

much the same now if all skilled artisans or the descendants of those

who had been such., were de facto members of the town council. The

inconvenience on

* See an explanation of the charters in P. C., p. 1, and see the charters in ex-

tenso printed by Swinden.

f The customs as to freemen differed in various boroughs. In Durham, all sons

of tailors, drapers, and mercers (freemen), could claim their freedom by right of

birth, but only the eldest sons of all others traders. In Oxford, the son of a freeman

was entitled to his freedom if born within the ancient limits of the city, but not if

born elsewhere, unless the father before the son’s birth “put a bond in the chest”

for the payment of city taxes. The corporation of Yarmouth claimed and exercised

the right of admitting any one to the freedom of the borough without serving an

apprenticeship, and this they occasionally did on payment of an agreed sum of

money. They also exercised an arbitrary power of disfranchisement. Thus, in 1551,

a freeman was “discommoned” for his “ill demeanour,” and another in 1588 for

“incontinence with his maid.”

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THE PERLUSTRATION OF

account of the number became so great, that in 1485 an ordinance

was drawn up, sanctioned by Sir James Hobart, the attorney general,

under which forty-eight burgesses were selected to represent the

commonalty, and these with the twenty-four already mentioned,

constituted the select governing body, usually called the corporation;

and as they were enabled to ﬁll up vacancies as they occurred, the

power of the freemen at large, or commonalty, was virtually at an end;

especially as.the select body exercised the exclusive right of electing

members of Parliament, usually from, among themselves.

The “twenty-fours” were afterwards reduced to eighteen, and called

aldermen, and the “forty-eights” to thirty-six, and called common-

council men ; thus conﬁning the privileges of freemen to a still smaller

number. In 1654 the freemen at large claimed the right to vote at

elections for members of Parliament, but were overruled by a decision

of Speaker Lenthall. At the restoration, however, they again asserted

their right, and with better success, for a committee of the House

decided that the franchise was in the freemen. James II., in 1686,

endeavoured by charter to conﬁne this privilege to the corporation

only, which he would have packed with his adherents; but ﬁnally the

freemen triumphed, and whether resident or not retained their right

of voting, till the Reform Act cut off the out voters, and at last the

whole body were disfranchised in 1848, since which time the being a

freeman confers no privilege. *

* By an ancient ordinance none could be elected to represent the borough in

Parliament, but freemen, and hence it became the practice, after that rule was set

aside, to present the freedom to those who were elected, and who did not previously

possess the franchise; and it was also customary to present the freedom occasionally

as an honorary distinction, as was indeed usual in all corporate cities and towns.

Walpole, Pitt, and other statesmen had the freedom of Yarmouth presented to

them; as had also other distinguished persons.

When Sir Stephen Lushington, who presided for so many years in the High

Court of Admiralty, was made a freeman, after his election :

in 1808, he acknowledged the compliment in the following letter :—

Temple, March 26, 1808.

My dear Sir,

Permit me to express what I really feel,

my sincere gratitude for this

GREAT YARMOUTH.

67

Merchant guilds, introduced by the Normans, enabled their members

to hold lands and make trade regulations ; and although intended

to foster commerce, they had the effect of creating a monopoly

by excluding non-freemen from the privileges of trade, which the

freemen enjoyed, and this distinction existed in Yarmouth down to

the present century; as for example, a freeman paid less dues on the

importation of coals than a non-freeman, and to this day existing

freemen are compensated by the town council for the suspension

of this privilege. The freemen, however, sometimes bore exclusive

burthens, for in ancient times when Tallages were arbitrarily raised,

they were either assessed upon the guild as a body, or upon the

members per capita. In 1298 the Yarmouth “free-men” were “for their

good and laudable services” relieved of tallages.

The Merchants’ guild originally partook of a religious character, and

was called The Great Guild, of the Holy Trinity ; and in their hall

the members were accustomed to pay their gheld or contributions to

the common stock, and to hold their feasts. * At the reformation this

guild was suppressed as a religious body (as were all the guilds in the

town f ), and the hall with other property of the guild remained with the

corporation as a purely secular body.

additional mark of favor, -which has recently been conferred upon me, by

presenting me with the freedom of the borough.

It is peculiarly satisfactory to me because I cannot but be sensible that many

of my best friends differ with me in. some political opinions, and this I must con-

sider as a proof, that though they may think me mistaken, they do believe that I act

honestly, and to the best of my judgement.

Believe me,

Dear Sir,

Your very faithful Servant,

E. K. Lacon, Esq.,

S. LUSHINGTON.

Mayor of Yarmouth.

Dr. Lushington, although his family had considerable possessions in the “West

Indies, spoke and voted in favor of the abolition of the slave trade. His mother was a

daughter of John Boldero, Esq., of an old family in Suffolk,

* Hence the vulgar expression “ down with your gilt,” when requiring a person

to pay money.

f There were many other guilds, but they all seem to have been formed for so-

cial, religious, or charitable purposes only, and to have had nothing to do with trade

or politics. They were possessed of houses, money, plate, jewels, relics, robes,

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It had been “ a very fair building “ says Manship, but being then much

“ruinated,” it was by the corporation, in 1544, “very substantially

repaired and amended, the walls new buttressed and supported,” and

the roof was “brought from the college at Mettingham,” near Bungay,

then lately suppressed, “and covered with lead very neatly.” * This hall

was 76 feet in length by 22 feet in breadth, the interior being hung

with “ cloth of arras, tapestry, and other costly furniture.” Although

suppressed as a religious body, the eating and drinking part of the

institution was continued.

On the vigil or eve of the Feast of the Holy Trinity, the brotherhood

assembled, bringing their wives with them, and, after prayer, were re-

galed with spice cake, good beer, and ale. On Trinity Sunday there was

a dinner, which consisted, for the ﬁrst course, of fromerty, t roast beef,

veal, and green geese; and for the second course, lamb, pigs, capons,

and custard. The company were divided into parties of six,

and other effects; and most, if not all of them, had. chapels in St. Nicholas’

church. Each kept a guild hook, and their accounts were audited yearly. The

members walked in procession on public occasions, and were distinguished by their

dresses and ornaments. In 1545, after an enquiry made by commissioners, they were

all dissolved, and their property conﬁscated to public purposes. See P. C. i, p. 243.

* This was not a college in the present acceptation of the term, but a residence

built and endowed for thirteen chaplains or fellows, presided over by a master. At

the foundation, however, provision was made, according to the Liber Valorum, for

fourteen boys “ who served God,” and were educated and supported.

That the inmates of this establishment were not all drones is proved by the fact,

that the master being “ a man in those days in water works holden very expert,” was,

in 1545 (soon after the suppression of the college), consulted by the corporation as

to the construction of the ﬁfth haven. A complete insight into the domestic economy

of Mettingham collage, is obtained from the existence of six folio volumes of M. S.

accounts of receipts and expenditure from the reign of Henry IV. to the dissolution,

now in the possession of the Rev. O. E. Manning, of Diss.

In the Compotus for 1404, is an entry of the expanses of John Wilbey, the

master, on riding to Yarmouth to speak with Sir Miles Stapleton, Knt. Free stone

for the buildings was imported at Yarmouth, and conveyed by water to Beccles, and

thence by land carriage to Mettingham. Thomas Barsham, of Yarmouth, a celebrated

decorator, was employed to paint images, and a “ tabula” for the high altar.

f At a time when carpets were unknown, ﬂoors were strewed with rushes.

These were renewed when strangers of distinction were expected, but ordinary

guests were considered “not worth a rush.”

t A dish made of wheat (frumentum) boiled in milk with rich spices.

GREAT YARMOUTH.

69

and it was ordered that each mess should have two green geese and

one capon. On Sunday evening the mess consisted of good broth,

boiled beef, roast mutton, capon, lamb, and tart; and on Monday a

similar dinner was provided. These entertainments were continued

until 1569, when by reason of the excessive charge, and the disorders

with which they were attended (the original religious element being

entirely excluded), they were ﬁnally discontinued.

In their guildhall the corporation were wont to entertain persons

of distinction visiting Yarmouth. In 1332 they received the Lord.

Chancellor, the King’s justices, and the stewards of the royal

household * when they came down to Yarmouth, at the King’s

command, to endeavour to settle the disputes between the town and

the Earl of Richmond, as Lord of Gorleston. Here, in 1488, the bailiffs

feasted Sir John Paston on porpoise, a ﬁsh then esteemed a great

delicacy, f

The royal commissioners, Sir “William Paston, John Goodfall,

John Heydon, and Nicholas Mynn, appointed “to view all manner

of chantries and chapels, charnels and hospitals,” sat here in 1585,

and administered “interrogatories” to the bailiffs and others. It

is impossible to enumerate all the great people who from time to

time have been feasted in this guildhall, for, as the old chroniclers

inform us, no person of any distinction in former times ever came to

Yarmouth without being publicly entertained. Some, however, may

be mentioned. Sir Robert Southwell and Sir Robert Jermyn in 1580 ;

Lord Howard of Efﬁngham in 1587; Sir Thomas Leighton and other

knights and captains sent down by Queen Elizabeth to inspect the

fortiﬁcations, and report as to the defence of the town against the

Spanish Armada, in 1588. Sir William Paston, with many knights

and gentlemen, were entertained here in 1608; as was the Lord Chief

Justice Coke in the following year; and Sir Henry Vane, ambassador to

Sweden, when he came in 1631, to take ship ; and the Earl of Dorset,

K.G., in 1633, when he came to be sworn in as Lord High Steward.

In 1642, the

* By an entry on the roll for that year, we ﬁnd that their entertainment cost £1

2s. 6d.; and at the same time the sum of 13s. id. was paid for bread Kent to them.

f The corporation by virtue of their charters were entitled to all ﬁshes royal. In

1491 they sent a present of a porpoise to the Earl of Oxford.

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Earl of Warwick was entertained; in 1648, Lord Fairfax, Lord General

of the Parliamentary forces; and lastly, the corporation never omitted

to feast themselves, whenever there was an excuse for doing so. *

In this old guildhall the corporation held their deliberations, and

in the plenitude of their power made sumptuary laws of their own

(supplementing those of the legislature) which they were never slow

to enforce. In 1532, John Shortbread and John Shuckforth were

proceeded against for adorning their bodies “with an apparel called

clokes, having velvet guards,” they not being knights, or the heirs

apparent of knights or gentlemen of sufﬁcient means according to the

statute. These presumptuous youths were convicted, heavily ﬁned, and

bound over to keep the peace. f Hats were among the articles of dress

with which the corporation troubled themselves. None but the wives of

aldermen were allowed to wear velvet hats ; an ordinance which was

annulled in 1633.

Here also the bailiffs (afterwards the Mayor) and other ofﬁcers of the

corporation were annually chosen in a remarkable manner, according

to an ordinance drawn up in 1491, which was observed until the

passing of the Municipal Corporation Act in 1835. Dean Davies gives

an

* A favorite dish at Christmas time was the Norfolk game pie,

or as it was called “ a moste choyce paste of gamys.” It comprised a

pheasant, a hare, and a capon, two partridges, two pigeons, and two

rabbits, all honed and put into a paste, and shaped like a bird; also

two livers and hearts, two mutton kidneys, forced meats, mushrooms,

seasoning, spices, catsup, &c, ﬁlled in with gravy.

f The sumptuary laws of Henry IV. decreed imprisonment, during

the King’s pleasure, against any tailor who should dare to make for

a commoner a costume above his degree. Dr. Doran informs us that

John Drake, a Norwich shoemaker, resolving for once in his life to

dress like a knight, he took himself to Sir Philip Calthorpe’s tailor, and

seeing some ﬁne French tawney cloth which the cavalier had sent to

have made into a gown, for gentlemen then as now sometimes “ found

their own materials,” the aspiring Crispin ordered one of the same

stuff and fashion. The knight on calling at the tailor’s, saw the two

parcels and enquired as to the meaning. “John Drake,” said the master,

“ will have a gown of the same fashion as your worship.’’ “ Will he

so?’’ asked the proud Sir Philip, “ then fashion mine as full of cuts as

thy shears can make it, and let the two he alike as ordered.” He was

obeyed; but when Drake saw the garment, and the peculiar making

thereof, and was moreover told the reason, he rubbed his head and

remarked, “ by my lachet, an it be so, John Drake will never ask for

gentleman’s fashion again.” Habits of Men, p. 42.

GREAT YARMOUTH.

71

accurate description of it. “29th August 1689, being election day,

I went to church, and read prayers, and Mr. Milbourn preached.

Then I went to the hall and saw the method of election, which was

thus:— The aldermen and common councilmen, being called over,

the town clerk gave the senior bailiff forty-eight little tickets, whereon

the names of the said commons were written, and out of which he

selected twelve, “ being of those men who had served on the inquest

the last year, then laid them by; then (the foreman of the inquest last

year being in the north part of the town) some persons of the south end

were selected as they stood in the impannel, and their names (on slips

of paper carefully folded) were put into a hat; then as many more of

the remainder were put into each of three other hats, being in all, the

names of thirty-six persons; and when any of them failed to appear, a

freeman (though not of the council) was appointed in his room; then

a child, standing on a table, takes three tickets out of each hat, twelve

in all, and gives them to the senior bailiff, who reads them out, and

the persons coming up are sworn to choose ﬁt persons for bailiffs

and other ofﬁcers for the ensuing year, and two Serjeants are sworn

to keep them “ without meat, drink, ﬁre, or candle, until nine of the

twelve were agreed. I then went to the stationer’s and there read the

news, and bought a quire of paper for eight pence ; then came home

to dinner with. Mr. Ellys. At four o’clock we heard that the inquest

had agreed; whereupon I went to the hall, and on the way went in

and drank two glasses of wine with Alderman Collins. At the hall,

the “ inquest being given in, Mr. Thomas England (second son of Sir

George England) and Mr. Gabriel “Ward were chosen bailiffs for the

ensuing year, and according to custom we all waited upon them at

their respective houses, and were treated,”

The interval between the election on St. John’s day and the

inauguration on Michaelmas day was spent in preparations for the

latter event. In the early morning the church bells rang a merry peal.

The ships in the harbour hoisted their colours, many of the houses,

both in streets and rows, displayed ﬂags and garlands, which in some

cases were suspended from house to house, as may still be seen on

lord mayor’s clay in London. The mayor and aldermen, each with a

bouquet of ﬂowers

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provided by the gaoler, breakfasted with the new elect, and then, in

their scarlet robes, walked with him in procession to the guildhall,

where they were met by the common councilmen in their black

gowns, and then all proceeded to the parish church, where morning

service was celebrated and a sermon preached; which being ended the

corporation returned to the guildhall, and the new elect was “ sworn

in,” the junior alderman holding the Bible. The retiring bailiffs (or

mayor) then delivered up the pocket mace and the ofﬁcial seals; the

recorder or sub-steward made a speech congratulatory to the new

and complimentary to the old mayor (much as the Lord Chancellor

is still accustomed to do), and there was much shaking of hands. A

deed transferring the prisoners in the gaol from one chief magistrate

to the other was then sealed, the gaoler delivered up his keys, the

water-bailiff and the ﬁve sergeants their several maces, and they with

the other ofﬁcers elected by the inquest or annually appointed, were

sworn; and at two o’clock the guild dinner was served in the great hall

of the priory; the rest of the day being spent in feasting and jollity.

After the demolition of the old guildhall and the erection of the town

hall, these ceremonies were modiﬁed. The breakfast was dispensed

with; evening prayers were substituted for morning service; and

after 1734 the mayor, upon being sworn, retired to a private room,

where the junior alderman transferred the gold chain from the neck

of one mayor to that of his successor, and when the usual business

was concluded, a procession was formed which proceeded from the

guildhall, by the Market and Broad rows (before Regent street was

formed) to the town hall, where dinner was served at four o’clock.

“Women, strawing the path with ﬂowers, led the way”, and the

procession was “ﬂanked” by four drummers and four colourmen, who

by dexterously ﬂourishing their ﬂags in all directions (after the manner

of the whifﬂers with their swords at Norwich) kept off the crowd. ln

1804 the drummers were transformed into a band, which with the ﬂags

led the procession, the line being kept by constables; an innovation

much disliked at the time by some old corporators.

In this guildhall, in 1684, the charter granted by Charles II., which pro-

vided for the election of a mayor instead of two bailiffs, and reduced

GREAT YARMOUTH.

73

the number of aldermen and common councilmen, was publicly

read, and George Ward, Esq., the senior bailiff, was sworn in as

the ﬁrst M AYOR , amidst the ringing of bells, the ﬁring of guns, and

other expressions of joy. There had been frequent contentions in the

corporation before this change could be brought about; but the grant

of this charter appears to have been highly popular. The instrument

itself, a bulky document in a long red-leather case, with a place for the

great seal, was entrusted to the Earl of Yarmouth, then high steward

of the borough, who brought it from London as far as Littlebury,

where he received intelligence of the serious illness of the countess,

his wife, and was compelled to return to London, after placing the

charter in the hands of his son, Viscount Paston, who brought it as far

as Haddiscoe, where his lordship was met by the mayor elect, with

a numerous train of carriages and near four hundred horsemen. The

cavalcade then returned to Yarmouth, bringing the charter with them,

and having crossed the bridge they were greeted by a vast concourse

of people assembled on the quay, where the mayor elect delivered

his precious burthen to Mr. Robert Huntingdon and Mr. Gabriel

Ward, the two chamberlains. A procession was then formed, which

proceeded through the principal streets to the guildhall. Lord Paston

and the gentlemen who brought the charter to the town were publicly

entertained.

By introducing the element of chance, the use of the ballot, and other

checks and safeguards, endeavours were made from the earliest

times to prevent any preponderating inﬂuence in the corporation.

The aldermen were selected from the common councilmen, and at

their election the bailiffs (or mayor) and aldermen withdrew into a

separate room, and a ballot box having the names of three common

councilmen was then produced. A second ballot took place between

the two highest, and the common councilman who by this process had

the largest number of votes was sent for to the aldermen’s room and

sworn in. Common councilmen were selected from the freemen. The

mayor and aldermen having withdrawn from the assembly, six names

were put on the ballot box, which was then placed in another room,

and each common councilman, beginning at the youngest, went alone

and voted.

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When all had done so the town clerk, proclaimed the result, and the

name for whom the greatest number of balls had been given was

taken from the box; and another ballot then took place, and the name

which was then highest was taken off, and the two names sent to the

aldermen, who in their separate chamber, by ballot, selected one; and

then, returning into the common hall, the mayor proclaimed their

choice, and the common councilman elect was sent for and sworn

in. Many ingenious devices were adopted to work this complicated

machinery to a proposed end. If the majority of the common

councilmen were determined to elect a freeman who was known to

be obnoxious to the aldermen, they would send up with his name that

of another, whom from his inferior position or known bad character

it would be impossible to select, and so the obnoxious individual was

forced upon them. Arrangements and compromises were also made

before hand, so that the result of the ballot was often predicted with

certainty.

The only other grand assembly in the year, at which the freemen at

large were entitled to be present, was held on the Friday before Palm

Sunday, usually called Black Friday, upon which the year’s accounts

of the corporation were “read off.” This was the remnant of the old

right which centuries previously the freemen had to a deliberative

vote. These accounts were kept in a very peculiar manner under

separate heads; and were audited by four members of the select body

annually chosen by the inquest on St. John’s Day. Their labours were

cheered by frequent dinners, culminating on Black Friday in a great

feast called the audit dinner, to which the corporation and many of the

principal inhabitants were invited.

At the commencement of the 18th century, the guildhall, then very

old and decayed, the principal room inconveniently narrow, and the

building in many respects deﬁcient in accommodation, was pulled

down, and a new hall erected on the South Foreland at the Furlong’’s

end, in which ever after all corporation feasts were held.. The old idea,

however, of having a Guildhall close to the church, could not be got

rid of, and a new one was erected on the west side of the church gate.*

* There is a view of this hall in Corbridge’s map, and also in Preston’s Pic-

ture of Yarmouth, but it is to be regretted that there is no representation extant of the

previous guildhall.

GREAT YARMOUTH.

75

It was customary, both in the ancient guildhall and that of more

modern construction, to present the freedom of the borough to distin-

guished persons, and also to “swear in” high stewards. One of the

most remarkable of these ceremonies took place on the 31st of July,

1782, when Sir Robert Walpole, the Prime Minister, attended for

this purpose. On his entering the town, the corporation received him

“in their formalities,” under the discharge of cannon, and conducted

him to the guildhall, where the mayor (Anthony Taylor, Esq.)

delivered to him the patent, constituting him High Steward of the

Borough, contained in a silver box; whereupon Sir Robert “made

a very handsome speech.” He was afterwards “most sumptuously

entertained” at a dinner, and “all possible marks of respect were

shown him.” Nest day Sir Robert proceeded to Norwich, where he was

met three miles from the city by the bishop and dean, a considerable

number of clergy, and near one thousand citizens on horseback, with

a great train of coaches, “amidst the joyful acclamations of a very

numerous body of people.” *

Every Sunday morning it was customary for the mayor to receive the

members of the corporation in this hall, and, wearing his robe and

chain, and preceded by the insignia of his ofﬁce, to go in procession

with them to church, where special seats, were provided; that for the

mayor, being at the south-east corner of the south aisle, on a level with

and close to the pulpit . f At the conclusion of the service the ofﬁciating

minister turned in the pulpit and bowed to the mayor who, having

bowed in return, left the church with the corporation, in the same order

as they had entered it, the mayor not stopping at the guildhall, but

going on to his own residence, where, on “scarlet days,” those who

accompanied him were entertained with a “whet.”

Here also it was customary to nominate candidates for the repre-

sentation of the borough. As politics generally ran high in Yarmouth,

this hall was on these occasions much crowded, and courtesies were

* Sir Robert Walpole left ﬁfty guineas for distribution in Yarmouth; and in the

severe winter of 1739, he sent ﬁfty guineas to he laid out in coals for the poor.

f On the demolition of the aldermen’s gallery in 1848, this seat was removed

and placed in the council chamber of the Tolhouse hall.

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not always exchanged. * In later years the windows were taken out,

and a platform erected outside, upon which the nomination took place,

and from it the candidates addressed the electors who were assembled

below, f

The Municipal Corporation Act did away with, the grand assemblies

and the old ceremony of electing a mayor ; and the guildhall becoming

of little use was pulled down in 1849, and the site thrown into the

churchyard. t

* On one occasion (in 1796) Mr. Edmund Cobb Hurry, a tall and powerful

man, and an ardent supporter of Sir John Jervis, pressed so much upon Mr. Jodrell,

the other candidate, as to push him off his legs, just as he was about to address the

electors; which led to a great uproar.

f After the demolition of the guildhall, this ceremony took place on a platform

erected on the north side of the town hall until 1859, when the balcony of the Crown

and Anchor tavern on the quay was used for the purpose.

t The chair of state, with its gaudy pillars and canopy of white and gold, in

which civil authority had been seated for so many years, was sold with the old

materials on the church plain, for £3. 18s. Sic transit.

Ancient stone panel belonging to the Old Guildhall