Rows 1-16

The Revised History of Great Yarmouth

Chapter

Six

Chapter Six

The Rows of Great Yarmouth

Until the Second World War, the majority of all the

residents in Great Yarmouth lived in the narrow

passages between the three main streets known as

the rows. Virtually all the properties were owned and

rented out by landlords, who often had quite large

portfolios of houses around the town.The rows all

had their own names, yet those names kept changing,

being generally known by a pub or shopkeeper

at one end or other. There must have been great

difficulty finding the way about until the rows were

first numbered in 1804. Even then, although some

sequences were logical enough, the rows had been

clearly given their numbers by walking around with

a paint brush. In 1804 there was no readily available

printed map, and the numbering was done “on the

ground”. The sequence followed in the numbering

was simply up and down here and there, and not

entirely logical.

Rows

One

to Sixteen

There were 84 rows in the town in 1598 according

to Nash, but by 1619 there were 140. The rows av-

eraged six feet in width, but some were as narrow

as three feet or even less. Most houses previous to

the reign of Queen Elizabeth had been covered with

reeds or thatch, but in 1571, that method of roofing

was forbidden. In 1555 an act had been made by the

Corporation that no-one should let a house without

a chimney, the fine being 10 pounds.

Various

views

of Row

One.

Row One

Ramp or Rampart Row

The first row was the longest row in the town and

ran absolutely dead straight and parallel with the

wall. At its west end was the northwest tower. Also

at the west end, on the south side, was the old White

Swan public house. The dwellings in this row became

very dilapidated, and in the 19th. Century the north

side ones that were built against the town wall were

demolished. In about 1875 there had been build-

ings on both sides of the row. At that time, those

at the west end of the row were leaning severely

outwards towards the centre. Of course all houses

in Gt.Yarmouth are built on sand, or made ground,

and clearly foundations in this row were very poor.

All the drainage, even of sewage, ran down the row

in an open drain, as can be seen on the old draw-

ings of Row One. This water would have seeped

into the sand below and aggravated the settlement.

The buildings on the south side appear to have been

leaning outwards by about 10 degrees, held only by

cross braces against the houses on the opposite side

of the row. In another photo looking in the opposite

direction it can be seen that the row was cobbled,

with the drain on the south edge. At that time, trees

were growing out of the roofs of some of the dwell-

ings. Since 1618 an ordinance had been made that

all doors opening outwards into rows should be

altered and made to open inwards.

100

A New Perlustration of Great Yarmouth

Map of Row One

by

Henry Swinden

1758

second tower

The left-hand section is from the North Gate to the house

west of the second tower, and the right section overlaps

and continues to the North-West Tower.

North Gate

house

Northgate Street

yard

East wing of the

White Swan, or

more likely, the

main building,

facing down the

quay.

Here is a feature

never elsewhere

referred to, a gate

in the wall by the

tower

Tower 2

North Quay

garden

River

North-West Tower

The White Swan

House as at top of right-hand section

Yard, as at top of right-hand section

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The Revised History of Great Yarmouth

Chapter

Six

wide thoroughfare for carts, but we can see from

the photographs in the mid 1800’s that this in

fact never really happened, or else they were

soon rebuilt. The same houses on the north side

were never given numbers, and in the Kelly’s

Directories the numbering runs down the south

side, commencing at Northgate Street.

Rows

One

to Sixteen

The middle of Rampart Road is where the wall

stood. The foundations of the wall still remain

under the road. At the south-east corner of the

row, up by the North Gate was a public house,

which was at one time called “The Plough”,

and thereafter the “Jolly Farmers”. In Palmer’s

time it became a granary, and later a malthouse.

There were two substantial malthouses in Row

1, which latterly belonged to Lacons, and the

western one was not demolished until 1971. It

had been built in 1705, and rebuilt in 1912. The

site of the malthouse was in 1980 a tyre fitting

The owners were fined five shillings each if they had not

complied, and the constables were ordered to nail up their

door. The dwellings in this row, always those of the poorer

inhabitants, were very small, and never had any gardens or

yards. The houses built along the north wall had originally

been built without permission, and in 1641 a Committee was

formed to view them and enquire as to who had erected them.

They had been used as alms houses in the care of the church

wardens, but the Town Council owned the ground. Inside the

houses, the arches in the wall were used as bedrooms. (One

such bedroom was evidently present in the house knocked

down prior to Cotman’s drawing). Many of the

houses were cleared away when it was hoped to provide a

5 North Quay

20, Row 2 (map, p. 107)

centre, but the site in 2004 has

now stood empty for several

years. The next public house

along Northgate Street appears

to have been the “Bird In Hand”,

afterwards called the “Black

Horse”, and in Palmer’s time the

“East and West Flegg”, between

rows one and two.

The gap in the wall, and the gap

between the White Swan public

house and the other houses of

rows 1 and 2 can clearly be seen

on the 1855 map by Laing, that

shows the railway tracks which

102

The railway line ran along the narrow North Quay, before the road was widened.