Transcribed from the 1897 Edward J. Lupson edition by David Price, email ccx074@pglaf.org, using scans from the British Library.

WRITTEN FOR VISITORS.

THE
ANCIENT ROWS
OF
GREAT YARMOUTH:

Their Names.  Why so Constructed,
AND
What Visitors have written about them,
ALSO A DESCRIPTIVE SKETCH OF

YARMOUTH BEACH.

“And the Rows! them long bars of the gridiron,
   That Dickens hev wrote on—so quare;
Them ere Rows are a great institution,
   In the town at the mouth of the Yare.”

———:o———

Illustrated:
PRICE TWOPENCE.

———:o———

Yarmouth:
Edward J. Lupson, Church Plain.

ENTERED AT STATIONERS’ HALL.

p. 3THE ROWS OF GREAT YARMOUTH.

The two most remarkable and noteworthy features of the ancient Borough of Great Yarmouth, that remain unchanged to the present day, are the Parish Church, and the unique series of long, narrow passages, known by the general name of Rows.  The wonderful proportions and interesting features of the renowned Church having been duly examined, these singularly confined thoroughfares next claim the attention of the intelligent visitor.  On seeing them for the first time, the query naturally arises in the mind, why were they constructed in this peculiar manner, so opposed to all prevailing ideas?  Thoughtful minds have ingeniously surmised sundry motives; but the preponderating belief is probably the most correct one, viz., the builders’ desire to economise the limited area at their disposal within the walls of the fortifications.  In early times the population of Yarmouth grew apace; numbers of enterprising persons from various places being attracted thither by the flourishing fishing operations that were carried on here.  Manship, in his History of Yarmouth, states that within four hundred years from the time when “from a sand in the sea, by the deflection of the tides, Yarmouth grew dry and firm land, whereby it became habitable; the population grew to a great multitude, over whom, at the beginning of the Reign of Henry I., a Provost was appointed.”  It may be mentioned, by the way, that it was in this reign the Parish Church of St. Nicholas was built.  The population of Yarmouth, in the year 1348, numbered ten thousand.  We can, therefore, without difficulty, understand how valuable space would be in those early times, and how general the desire to make the most of it.

p. 4It is interesting to notice that Manship, who wrote in the year 1619, opined a very different reason for the circumscribed limits of the Rows.  When contemplating them patriotically, he prognosticated, with glowing satisfaction, the bad half-hour that awaited any rash invader, who might incontinently venture to approach them, feeling assured the brave and hardy inhabitants “of those seven score passes” would render a good account of themselves on any such occasion. [4]  But we must quote his own words.  He says: “The number of them (‘the Rows’) at this day be 140; whereby every householder to his private dwelling hath of all necessaries very convenient conveyance, and the same in time of hostility, for the defence and safeguard of the town, is very meet and necessary, for one man against twenty, with shot and powder, is able to make resistance.”  Continuing the subject, he says: “These buildings, although dissevered and disjoined each from the other by Rowes or Lanes, the same being in number, as I have before declared, one hundred and forty, yet is there not any more division in comeliness, to be by the eye discovered, amongst them, than unpleasantness to the ear in music, consisting of many discords which do make a perfect concord.  The streets being contrived and built in such warlike manner, flankerwise, with such convenient distance from the walls (fortifications) aforesaid, that the enemy having gained the walls, and entered the town (both which God forbid), may with few men, be enforced to retire, and the town recovered without any great danger sustained.”

It seems the most reasonable supposition that the Rows were constructed as we see them, in order that as large a population as possible might be concentrated within the narrowest limits, to make the work of p. 5fortifying the town as easy a matter as possible, and give, at the same time, greater security to the whole.

The following imaginative idea may be taken for what it is worth, namely, that the ground plan of the Streets and Rows were suggested by the fishermen’s nets, when spread out in long lines upon the Denes for drying, a narrow pathway being left between the nets of each fisherman, the pathways representing the Rows.

It has been sagely remarked by a reflective writer that the Rows “seem to have been so constructed, that in the event of an unusually high tide, the water might flow through them.”  And in like manner observes another, “if the water swept over on one side, it would make its escape at the other as if through a grating.”  Had such a contingency p. 6been in contemplation, surely a greater breadth would have been given to allow the water a freer flow.

These Rows, as might have been anticipated, have been objects of much interest to Visitors generally, but especially to those of antiquarian tendencies.  The minds of some have been so impressed with their old-world appearance, that on returning to their distant homes, they have relieved themselves by relating wonderful descriptions of them to the unfortunate individuals who had not yet seen them.  Some have excitedly rushed into print, and gladly made known to whole neighbourhoods, through their local press, the striking phenomena they had witnessed here.  One described the Rows to wondering readers as “fearsome apertures in the street,” and then soothingly added, “but there is nothing to fear.”  Another, we imagine, well-versed in country life, said they were “like rabbit burrows.”  A third descriptive writer asserted that “many of the ancient thoroughfares might be appropriately termed cracks in the wall, they are so narrow.”  Another less excitable individual wrote, “many of them are so narrow that you can easily touch both sides at once, by stretching out your hands while walking through, and it surprises the stranger not a little to be told that these were the only communications between the principal thoroughfares of the town.”  The critical pen of another scribe declares them to be “very long alleys—needless alleys I should say, if the architects had only known what they were about in the days when these alleys were made.”  Ah! yes! and then, before leaving the consideration of them, he thus describes their capabilities.  “They are so narrow that neighbours can shake hands across their little street.”  Another, condescendingly, describes the way in which it may be done.  “The inhabitants might lean out of their windows and shake hands.”  Still further capabilities were seen by another imaginative writer.  “You can put your hand out of your bedroom window and put out the candle in your neighbour’s;” and, I suppose, if necessary, borrow the candlestick; but this he omitted to state.  One, whose presence had, p. 7doubtless graced continental cities, as well as honoured the Rows of Great Yarmouth, saw in them other possibilities, and stated “for intricacies they can compete with the most confined of those of any Continental City you can mention, where the inhabitants can converse and shake hands from upper stories, visit each other in night-caps, quarrel in the upper world, or carry on a general confab, peacefully or otherwise.”  Somewhat more definitely wrote another: “They are passages between parallel streets, some with shops on either side like Union Passage in Birmingham, but most of them only a few feet wide, with dwelling houses on each side, where a jump from one window to another would be an easy task for a gymnast.”  Who can but admire the following graphic description?  “What a quaint old town.  The fine Market Place is like an open plain; the scores of narrow ‘Rows’ running out of it may be likened to burrows leading in all manner of directions.  However does each denizen find his, or her dwelling?  Do they never get mixed, and give it up for a bad job?  Some of these Rows are too narrow to permit of a man falling down if he got crosswise.”  Having investigated them with the eye of an antiquary, another gentleman described the Rows as “the long series of narrow passages, running from one principal street to another, numbering 145 in all, with houses on each side.  Although none of them are sufficiently wide to allow of other than pedestrian traffic, many quaint old-fashioned houses, dating several centuries back, bearing both external and internal evidence of great expense and labour being devoted to their erection and decoration.  In fact, old Yarmouth is full of interest to the antiquary and to the curiosity seeker.”  Of course, the visitor with an eye to sanitation, has not allowed the Rows to be unexplored.  They have borne the scrutiny, and we may breathe freely now the verdict has been given.  “A remarkable appearance is presented to the visitor by the number of long narrow lanes called ‘Rows’ that run east and west of the town.  It leaves little room for doubt of the healthiness of the place when these Rows are examined, for their cleanliness and orderly appearance must surely render them conducive to the highest possible standard of health; and if these observations can be applied with as much appropriateness to the internal sanitary arrangements of the dwellings—as I have reason to believe it may—the Corporation may congratulate themselves on the success of their efforts in this respect.”

We will now present the reader with the observations of writers who have less cursorily investigated this wonderland.  A writer in a metropolitan p. 8newspaper gave the following well-considered description:—“These openings are the famous Yarmouth ‘Rows,’ 154 in number, running parallel to each other, between the river and the sea, and so narrow that the meanest London Lane would look a very Regent Street if placed alongside of them.  I measured one, it was the narrowest I saw, and found, that at the entrance, it was little more than two feet across.  It is probably reserved for thin natives, since no fat man, with all his clothes on, could safely venture to tread it.  In all points of comparison, however, but narrowness, the Yarmouth Rows have a decided advantage over the London Lanes, and it is this that makes their appearance so extraordinary to a Londoner.  He naturally associates poverty, filth, squalor, and all sorts of misery and crime with courts in which the inhabitants can shake hands with each other out of the opposite windows, or step at one stride across the so-called street or lane.  Everyone with a watch to lose, carefully shuns such localities, or instinctively buttons up his coat if he happens to wander into them.  At night the narrow gloomy jaws of the Yarmouth Rows must, to a cockney pilgrim of a lively imagination, look even p. 9more formidable; but in daylight, one glance down them suffices to show that they are widely different from anything that his experience had taught him to expect.

“The model Row is respectability itself; its tiny toy pavement of brick or stone is easily kept clean, and shines like the deck of a man-of-war; the houses on each side, so far from betraying any signs of squalor or painful poverty, are, some of them, so nicely kept with rows of flower pots brightening the windows, and clustering creepers draping the naked wall, that one begins to wonder how people, who are in a position to consider the amenities, as well as the necessaries of life, consent to live in such close, crowded quarters, and is driven to conjure that they are a jolly neighbourly race, who like, out of pure good fellowship, to be always in talking and hand-shaking distance of each other.

“And this theory that the grotesque construction of the Yarmouth Rows is due not to strategic, but to social considerations, is supported by the fact, in the ‘good old times,’ each Row took its name, in friendly fashion, from the best-known or the principal person living in it.  In these degenerate days of scientific classification, arithmetic has triumphed over flesh and blood, and each Row is known by its number, with the single exception, I believe, of ‘Kitty Witches’ Row’—once a pet preserve of the invaluable public servant, the witch-finder Hopkins, who could always count upon unearthing enough ugly women in Yarmouth, with the unmistakeable witch marks on their sea-tanned shrivelled old skins, to make a respectable official return, and satisfy Government that public money was not being wasted.  The Rows are, I am told, chiefly the resort of the seafaring population, who constitute Yarmouth’s working class.”

A writer in Cassell’s Magazine says: “the Rows are not wooden arcades like those of Chester, but straight and extremely narrow alleys, running between the principal streets and the river, like the rungs of a ladder, to the number of 156.  Now-a-days only the humbler class of people live there, but having penetrated into a good many of them, I am bound to say that in no instance have I seen the squalor and misery of a low neighbourhood in London.  There are vice and poverty in Herring-haven, as elsewhere, but you see none of those sights which saddens the heart of the reflective Londoner.  I think the filthy coal smoke has something to do with the degradation of our metropolitan poor.  Country folks who come and settle in Babylon grow in time weary of contending with the blacks, and suffer their children to grow up grimy and ragged, p. 10while the children playing about the doors in the Rows are clean, healthy, decently dressed, and civil spoken. * * * Whitewash is laid liberally on every accessible place, the causeway is plentifully supplied with gutters made of semi-circular yellow tiles, and in no instance have I encountered those vile odours which offend you on the Continent.  It would be false to say that I never smelt fish; there is a vast deal of shrimp boiling done in some of these Rows, but of those filthy stenches of which Coleridge numbered seventy-two in the city of Cologne, I detected not one.”

Harper’s Magazine of June, 1882, gave the following interesting description:—“At one time the inhabitants of this old borough took up to living on a plan almost entirely their own, and the Rows in which they built their houses remain to this day the most curious of all the features of the ancient town.  The Rows are narrow streets leading to and from the quay,—not narrow in the ordinary sense, but narrower, perhaps, than any other streets in the world, their average width being six feet.  They are not isolated infrequent lanes left between more commodious thoroughfares by the incomplete modifications of early plans, but they form a system and their aggregate length is about eight miles.  Six feet is their average width, but some of them are scarcely more than three feet, and two persons cannot pass one another without contracting themselves and painfully sidling in the opposite directions.  The pavement is of rough cobble-stones, with sometimes a strip of flags down the middle to ease the way of the pedestrian.  The houses tower up with smooth perpendicular walls, like cliffs, on both sides, and shut out the light, the upper stories projecting in many cases beyond the lower, and forming an arch over the narrow passage below.  Most of these houses are very old, and the material of which they are built is flint or stone, often white-washed, though occasionally left in its natural condition with open timbering in the fronts; in one or two the masonry is of the herring-bone pattern; but huddled up as they are, without regard to privacy or ventilation, staring into one another’s faces with undesirable intimacy, they are of a good class, and in good condition, and some of them have courtyards before them with nasturtiums and scarlet runners dragging a tender green web over their white walls.  The narrowest of the Rows is only 2 feet 3 inches in width.  There are in all 156 of them, each known by its number.  The object of the frugal plan in which they originated is a mystery.  One of the guesses at it is this:—‘The fishermen spread out their nets to dry very carefully, and leave on the four sides of each net a p. 11clear passage, four, five or six feet wide.’  It is suggested that the ground on which the Rows stand was once used for this purpose, and that the passages became so well defined from constant traffic that eventually they were perpetuated as streets.  However this may be, it is certain that some of the houses in the Rows were among the first built in the town, and certain also that, leading from the main street, they give easy access to the Quay, whereon Yarmouth finds its chief interest.  When the moon is full and throws black beams of shadows across these alleys, and opens seeming pitfalls in their rugged pavement, a stranger hesitates to enter them.  At all times they seem properly to belong to conspirators, but they are quite safe and reputable.  In olden times the Watchmen patrolled them, ‘crying the wind’ for sleepless merchants and anxious skippers; and the bellmen of the Church of St. Nicholas prayed in them for the souls of those who had bequeathed money for the purpose. [11]  The wind holds pretty well to one quarter in Yarmouth, and it is said the watchmen seldom had occasion to vary their announcement: ‘East is the wind, east-north-east; past two and a cloudy morning.’

“Having invented the narrowest streets in the world, the inhabitants had to devise an original vehicle for their locomotion, as no ordinary carts could enter them, and this necessity was relieved by the ‘trolly,’ a peculiar cart about 12 feet long, with two wheels revolving on a box axle, placed underneath the sledge, the extreme width of the vehicle being about 3 feet 6 inches.

p. 12“Even in the dead of night the Rows are not quite still.  All of them lead toward the river, and some of them reveal the black lines of clustered masts and rigging.  Many of the houses are occupied by fishermen, who are astir at all hours.  The shrimpers go out to meet the tide at eleven or twelve o’clock, and though the river has some traffic with distant ports, the most frequent vessels on it are the ‘dandy-rigged’ boats and the rakish cutters which belong to the great industry of the town.”

Were we to omit the characteristic description given in Household Words, Vol.  VII., p. 163, that is very generally ascribed to the pen of the late Charles Dickens, our list of noteworthy quotations would be rightly deemed by many readers to be very incomplete.  We gladly insert the following from that excellent magazine, heading the extract with some lines from a rhyming description of Yarmouth, written by Mr. H. J. Betts:—

“And the Rows! them long bars of the gridiron,
   That Dickens hev wrote on—so quare;
Them ere Rows are a great institution,
   In the town at the mouth of the Yare.”

“Great Yarmouth is one vast gridiron, of which the bars are represented by ‘Rows,’ to the number of one hundred and fifty-six.  Repel the recollection of a Chester-row, a Paradise-row, or a Rotten-row.  A Row is a long, narrow lane or alley, quite straight, or as nearly as may be, with houses on each side, both of which you can sometimes touch at once with the finger tips of each hand, by stretching out your arms to their full extent.  Now and then the houses overhang, and even join above your head, converting the Row, so far, into a sort of tunnel or tubular passage.  Many and many picturesque old bit of domestic architecture is to be hunted up among the Rows.  In some Rows there is little more than a blank wall for the double boundary.  In others, the houses retreat into tiny square courts, where washing and clear starching are done, and wonderful nasturtiums and scarlet runners are reared from green boxes, filled with that scarce commodity, vegetable mould.  Most of the Rows p. 13are paved with pebbles from the Beach, and, strange to say, these narrow gangways are traversed by horses and carts which are built for this special service, and which have been the cause of serious misunderstanding among antiquaries, as to whether they were or were not modelled after the chariots of Roman invaders.  Of course, if two carts were to meet in the middle of a Row, one of the two must either go back to the end again, or pass over the other one, like goats upon a single file ledge of a precipice.  The straightness of the passage usually obviates this alternative.  A few Rows are well paved throughout with flagstones.    Carts are not allowed to enter p. 14these, and foot passengers prefer them to the pebbly pathways.  Hence they are the chosen locality of numerous little shopkeepers.  If you want a stout pair of hob-nail shoes, or a scientifically oiled dreadnought, or a dozen of bloaters, or a quadrant or a compass, or a bunch of turnips, the best in the world, or a woollen comforter and night-cop for one end of your person, and worsted overall stockings for the other, or a plate of cold boiled leg of pork stuffed with parsley, or a ready-made waistcoat, with blazing pattern and bright glass buttons—with any of these you can soon be accommodated in one or other of the Paved Rows.  Here you have a board announcing the luxurious interval, during which hot joints are offered to the satisfaction of salt water appetite; from twelve to two no one need suffer hunger.  Elsewhere is the notice over the door, that within are ‘LIVE AND BOILED SHRIMPS SOLD BY THE CATCHER.’  Shrimps, unadulterated, boiled and sold by the very catcher himself,—the original article, and no mistake!  From time immemorial, there has been a Market Row, in which two people can walk arm-in-arm, as they stare at the elite of Yarmouth shop windows, and there is a Broad Row, across which, if an Adelphi harlequin could not skip from first floor to first floor, he would get from the manager very significant hints about his abilities.”

The reader cannot fail to have observed the numerical diversity in the above quotations, as to the total number of the Rows.  The discrepancy probably arose through a compositor, when engaged upon a Yarmouth publication, transposing two of the numerals, thus turning the number 145 to 154, and the error passing unobserved remained uncorrected; and succeeding writers, instead of drawing inspiration from the fountain-head—the Rows themselves, have complacently copied, and so perpetuated the blunder.  This, however, does not explain the number given as 156.

Considerable allowances must be made for many of the statements given by the various writers, in consideration of the length of time that has since elapsed.  The onward march of improvement has become so general, it has penetrated even into the recesses of these old-world thoroughfares.  Although they remain, as in all probability they will continue to be, the picturesque, tumble-down Rows of Yarmouth, a “Paradise for painters,” as Punch described them, still the signs of the times are now apparent within their precincts.  Pedestrians are no longer compelled to tread gingerly upon uncrushed “petrified kidneys,” when threading their way through them, but may proceed satisfactorily and pleasantly along a pathway of concrete or flagstone, and if disposed to enter them at night, he p. 15will discover that nearly all are now illuminated by gas.  When preparation was being made for these improvements in the year 1884, an official measurement of eighty-one of the Rows was taken, and the total length of them was ascertained to be 8,372 yards, or rather more than 4¾ miles.  The entire length of the 145 Rows exceeds seven miles.  Within the eighty-one Rows which were measured, the number of the dwelling-houses was found to be 1,811.

The names of some of the Rows were sufficiently remarkable to justify Dickens in amusingly referring to them as “Jumber’s Row,” and “Mopus’s Row.”  Known as the Rows were to succeeding generations all down the ages, by name only, it was no easy matter to wean the Yarmouthians from the method so familiar to them and their forefathers, of recognising each Row by its name.  The change from name to number was adopted by the Corporation in the year 1804, and although a century of years have since nearly run their course, many of the old inhabitants still recognise a Row by name, in preference to its number.  The writer has found it a common occurrence for persons, after long residence in Rows, to be utterly unable to state their numbers.  A woman when asked the number of the Row she lived in, said, “57, but I don’t know whether it is the same number at both ends.”  Quite recently, “Row 161” was given to the writer as a place of residence of an individual.  A woman born in Row 21, in 1869, wrote in 1893, “I was born in Row 100, where some houses were pulled down for Sir E. Lacon’s Brewery.”  An illustration of a similar character may be given from one of the Register Books at the Parish Church.  In 1840, at their marriage, a couple were asked their place of residence, and it was given as “Row 171,” and they evidently stood uncorrected, as “Row 171” was recorded.  Still further proofs may be culled from these Registers, showing the tenacity with which the old names were cherished.  Most of the following designations have been obtained from entries which were made within the first four years of Her present Majesty’s reign:—

Angel Row

Almshouse Row

Adam the Barber’s Row

Buck Row

Barnaby Baker’s Row

Boulter’s Row

Brown, Grocer’s Row

Bennet, Cooper’s Row

Blue Anchor Row

Broad Row

Black Swan Row

Baptist Meeting Row

Black Horse Row

Blower’s, Cabinet-maker’s Row

p. 16Budd, Sail-maker’s Row

Blue Bell Row

Bessey’s Half Row

Bank Paved Row

Bell and Crown Row

Child, Blacksmith’s Row

Castle Row

Chapel Row

Chapel Paved Row

Conge Row

Cart and Horse Row

Custom House Row

Crown and Anchor Row

Crown and Heart Row

Dove Row

Doctor Smith’s Row

Doughty’s Row

Dog and Duck Row

Dover Court Row

Dr. Bayly’s Row

Doctor Ferrier’s Row

Dene Side Austin Row

Duncan’s Head Row

Esquire Palmer’s Row

Esquire Steward’s Row

Excise Office Row

Elephant and Castle Row

Earl St. Vincent’s Row

Fighting Cock Row

Foundry Row

Fulcher’s Row

Ferry Boat Row

Fourteen Stars Row

Frere’s Row

Gun Row

Gallon Can Row

Globe Row

George and Dragon Row

Garwood, Painter’s Row

Garden Row

Glass House Row

Golden Lion Row

Humber Keel Row

Horn Row

Horse and Cart Row

Half Moon Row

Huke, Carpenter’s Row

Jail Row

Kitty Witches’ Row

King’s Head Row

Law’s Baker’s Row

Lamb, Butcher’s Row

Lawyer Cory’s Row

Lacon’s Garden Row

Lion and Lamb Row

Mr. Paget’s Row

Mr. Blake’s Row

Mr. Butcher’s Row

Mr. Cobb’s Row

Mr. Skill’s Row

Mr. Woolverton’s Row

Mr. Yett’s Row

Meeting House Row

Mariner’s Compass Row

Market Row

Money Office Row

Morley Grocer’s Row

Miller, Basket Maker’s Row

Mews Half Row

Martin, Shoemaker’s Row

Nine Parish Row

New White Lion Row

Newcastle Tavern Row

Nichols, Shoemaker’s Row

Naunton, Baker’s Row

North Pot-in-hand Row

Old Fountain Row

Old Meeting Row

Old Post Office Row

Old Prison Row

Oakes, Grocer’s Row

Old White Lion Row

Page, Pipe-maker’s Row

Paternoster Row

Plummer, Schoolmaster’s Row

Pike, Sailmaker’s Row

Present, Butcher’s Row

Pot-in-hand Row

Post Office Half Row

Priory Row

Queen’s Head Row

Quay Angel Row

Quay Austin Row

Quay Mill Row

Quaker’s Meeting-House Row

Rampart Row

Rose and Crown Row

Rivett, Baker’s Row

St. John’s Head Row

South Walking Row

Saving’s Bank Row

Steward, Chemist’s Row

Say’s Corner Row

South Say’s Corner Row

Star and Garter Row

Spotted Cow Row

Stamp Office Row

Split Gutter Row

Snatchbody Row

South Garden Row

Sewell’s Row

Ship Tavern Row

Star Tavern Row

Synagogue Row

St. George’s Tavern Row

St. George’s Row east

St. George’s Row west

St. Peter’s Row east

St. Peter’s Row west

Sons of Commerce Row

Taylor, and Fulcher’s Row

Turnpike Row

Took, Baker’s Row

Two-Neck Swan Row

Three Herrings Row

Thornton, Grocer’s Row

Utting’s Row

Unitarian Chapel Row

White Lion Row

Wheatsheaf Row

Well Row

White Horse Row

Wheel of Fortune Row

White Swan Row

Wrestler’s Row

Yett’s Foundry Row

In some instances two names were given to the same Row.

Rampart Row no longer exists.  The cottages have been removed and the old rampart wall exposed to view; the space thus gained has been converted into a carriage way, and the thoroughfare named Rampart Road.

It has been asked, why are these thoroughfares called Rows?  In Palmer’s Notes on Manship, p. 271, we find the following reply:—“‘Row’ is supposed to be derived from rhodio, to walk; or from the Saxon rowa (a rank); or, which is more probable in the sense in which it is used in Yarmouth, from the French rue, a street, or lane.”

p. 23YARMOUTH BEACH,
ITS HOLIDAY ASPECTS.

Now for a sudden transition from the ancient to the modern, from mediæval shadows to undimmed sunlight, from the comparatively humdrum stillness and gravity of ordinary daily life into the midst of vivacious holiday activities, from the pent-up Rows to the glorious freedom of Yarmouth’s magnificent Marine Drive and unrivalled Beach.  Who could reasonably desire the realisation, in the course of a few brief moments, of a wider contrast or a change more refreshing?  Where, but in Yarmouth, could such a transition take place in so short a time, for where, but in the renowned old borough can such a series of such Rows be found?  And where else can be seen a Beach of such proportions, with its far-reaching stretches of dry, clean, soft, “golden” sand, and its uninterrupted view of the German Ocean, continuous from north to south, and bounded along the east by the horizon alone?  Measured by miles, both Beach and Marine Drive afford ample scope for the enjoyment of thousands of visitors of all classes.  Small cause for wonder is it that a veritable army of recreationists, at least a hundred thousand strong (including day-trippers), should be attracted thither year by year, it would be surprising were they not to come.  From the Rows to the Beach we go, with anticipations of pleasure of an altogether different description, and find amusement in watching for a time the varied ways in which the present detachment of the season’s welcomed battalions of visitors are disporting themselves.  Let us see what delights on a favourable day in summer our splendid sands afford!

Proceeding by a convenient wooden gangway laid upon the sand from the Marine Drive to high water mark, close to the Britannia Pier, we are at once in the midst of a lively spectacle, people of all ages and sizes are here, happy in the consciousness of being able to enjoy themselves in the way their fancy leads them.  Pleasure is the prevailing object on which all minds are set.  Many of the fair sex are quietly seated upon the accommodating sands, perusing their favourite books, papers, and p. 24periodicals, or engaged in some light and fanciful work whilst quietly noting the ever-changing scene going on around them.  Nursemaids in charge of juveniles are keeping guard over sundry cast-off shoes and stockings, whilst carefully watching the youngsters paddling joyously in the foaming surf.  Paterfamilias, too, is in the surf, and provides a centre of attraction to a number of ladies whose interest, however, is not in him, but in the young olive branch—his very smallest—whose wriggling extremities he is endeavouring to bathe in the spreading waves.  As his holiday inexpressibles appear likely to receive more from the sea than the unwilling child, his better half rushes forward to the rescue and hastily “reefs” them.

Bare-legged children in goodly numbers are paddling about and with shovels and tiny buckets are busily engaged in digging small docks and trying to fill them with water, others are making sand pies or erecting buildings in original styles of architecture, and castles and towers not remarkable for stability.  From the paddlers to the bathers our p. 25attention turns.  Two young ladies have emerged from the bathing machines and are bravely swimming away, whilst the bathing of the other naiads consists in tightly holding the ropes attached to the machines, and giving a succession of hysterical jumps that display the intense ugliness of their dresses.  In this ugliness we detect a device.  The main desire of the designer, surely, must have been to divert the unwelcome attentions of too obtrusive individuals of the opposite sex.  In the distance are the gentlemen’s machines, and near them can be seen a number of heads dotting the restless waters. [25]  For lovers of the sea seeking enjoyment upon, rather than immersion in it, the boatmen are on the qui vive.  “Hi, hi, hi, any more going!” shouts one.  “Here you are, sir, a jolly sail out,” says another.  Whilst a third, on business bent, cries, “Come along, we’re going to give you a treat, sixpence for a sail, any more going?”  We watch the filling and launching of one or two of the boats, and note the jaunty air and smiling faces of some adventurers as they go aboard, and have little doubt that some of their smiles will soon be exchanged for more reflective countenances.  Presently we are invited to have a trip in a rowing boat, “Have a row, sir, nice day for a row.”  Numbers at the time are indulging in that pleasant form of enjoyment.  A party of eight are seated in a rowing boat waiting to be launched, when a little stripling about seven summers old, bare-legged and brave, seeing their readiness, tries with all his might to give the boat the impetus it needs.  Some day, his indomitable will and energy will, we hope, be more amply rewarded.

Watching the return of the sailing boats and the landing of the passengers is found by many to be interesting, especially when the sea is inclined to take a mean advantage of those standing awaiting their turn p. 26to land, by unceremoniously bumping the boat, and causing the whole company simultaneously to lose their equilibrium and receive a shower of spray.  Of course they laugh as well as their friends on shore, indeed, everybody regards it as great fun.  Turning from the sea to the beach, we often find a small “dock,” caused by the incoming flood or left by the last tide upon the beach.  This is a source of supreme enjoyment to numbers of juveniles.  Here, with perfect safety, paddling is being indulged in.  Here miniature vessels are sailing, and, as from a reservoir, water is being conveyed in buckets for supplying the various needs of those actively engaged in raising fortifications, planning gardens, and making fish ponds.

This central position of the beach being most frequented by visitors, it is also the chief resort, the happy hunting ground of the numerous class who have a keen eye to business.  Nearly all of them are vendors of only one kind of article each, and this peculiarity tends to multiply their numbers, the variety of merchandise among the whole being considerable.  There are so many—and some of them are strangers to Yarmouth—that, were they not civil, and usually take the first refusal, persistency with frequency would be an annoyance little short of a nuisance.  Take a seat p. 27and your troubles begin.  “Here’s your chocolate creams.”  “Buns, two a penny.”  “Yarmouth rock, penny a box.”  “Apples, penny a bag.”  “Hokey Pokey, two a penny.”  “Nuts or pears—fine Williams.”  p. 29“Lemonade, three-a-pence a bottle.”  “Pears or grapes, all ripe, buy a nice bunch of grapes, sir.”  “Walnuts, eight a penny, fine walnuts.”  “Milk, penny a glass.”  These and many other solicitations are made to unfortunate visitors whilst reclining upon the sands or occupying seats, reading the morning papers, Conservative, Radical, and Sporting, or engaged in knitting, sewing, or fancy work of some kind, nursing, chatting, novel reading, or lazily watching the ever-changing scene on the Beach, or meditatively listening to the everlasting music of the sea.  Fancy the effect of such a succession of interruptions upon a couple who had passed the spooning period of life and were intently engaged in writing, probably letters to their friends, jotting down their impressions fresh from the sands; before subscribing themselves as ‘Yours ozoneously, Jim, or Jemima,’ we can imagine they would be able to lay much to the charge of these itinerating traders.

Real fun, that is thoroughly appreciated by all classes, is supplied when a sailing boat has to be drawn above high water mark upon the beach.  Young and old of both sexes and all classes willingly lend a helping hand at the long rope, and merrily runs the boat, responsive to the united pull, to the destined place.  Spooning couples are in profusion upon the sands.  The vicinity of the Beach Concert-ring appears to be a favoured spot with them.  Groups of pleasure seekers are reclining upon the clean, soft sand in all directions.  Some of them, like children, finding amusement in trifling things.  The most objectionable form of “larking” with each other is the throwing handfuls of sand.  Country bumpkins find special delight in this.  Such a Tom Tiddler’s ground would not be overlooked by gipsies; three of the tribe are present with keen eyes for clients, and a sharp look out for policemen.  One of the gipsies tries to effect a capture, but the desired coin is not forth-coming.  But gipsies have not a monopoly in fortune-telling.  A bronzed peasant from the sunny south is here, with birds and papers, ready to make p. 30any ninny-hammer giggle at the small charge of one penny.  “Ladies and gentlemens, these Indian birds will take a planet of your fortune.”  The next moment, and we find yet another opportunity of peering into futurity, being invited to “try the Fairy Press for your fortune” to be announced in the form of an Instantaneous Photograph of your future partner; this also for one penny.  Photographers, without future pretences, of course, are here, and appear to be in eager demand.  Edwins and Harrys, who have already selected their Angelinas, are prepared to pose placidly with them by their sides, under the searching scrutiny of the Photographers’ lens.  At the al fresco concert a small and select company are informed by the singer, in connection with his song that his “wife was gone where briny breezes blow, after being married four years and sixteen months.”  At an Electric Battery an interested group are watching a sturdy individual, who declines to cry “peccavi” to the evident surprise of the electrician.  The next who submits himself is soon satisfied with his pennyworth.  The open door of the Camera Obscura invites those who prefer less excitable pleasures to enter within its calm and retired seclusion, and there see what is to be seen.  The Happy Family is at hand to throw more entertainment into the morning’s programme, and to give a lesson in social and domestic felicity.  Then the familiar face presents itself, of one who is on excellent terms with himself, and with all around.  Our Beach friend, an illusionist, has just planted his little table upon the sands, placed his guinea pig upon it, and is gratified to see the circle of expectant admirers who immediately gather round.  After widening the circumference of the circle a second time, turning up his sleeves, etc., he prefaces his usual performance with “Ladies and gentlemen, I shall have much pleasure in showing you some entirely new tricks.”  Before performing the culminating trick, which is really extremely clever, he favours the company with what he terms his “shell trick,” collecting contributions first from the outsiders, whom he names “the gallery,” and next from those within “the stalls.”  For those desirous of being told something about their own craniums and capabilities, there are three Professors ready to enlighten them.  The first we reach is delineating a most unsatisfactory skull.  He is advising the young woman, if she is in the habit of drinking tea, to give it up, and to drink Cocoa instead, to eat plenty of fruit, and to take all the out-door exercise she can, and be in the sunshine as much as possible.  He says, with much frankness, “Her head is a large one; she has little respect for other people, will tell them what p. 31she thinks of them, and will say much more than they like.  She thinks herself as good as other people.  When anything happens she does not like, she will go down in the dumps, and be like a dying duck in a thunderstorm.  She is not generous, and has not much confidence in herself.  She will be influenced more by love of approbation than by religious influence.  She is inclined to be severe to people, and I would advise her to keep her monkey down, as when it is up it is a very warm monkey indeed.  She has a keen sense of the ridiculous, and can appreciate it, and I would advise her to read Dickens’ works.  She can reason well and criticise well, and her tongue could go nineteen to the dozen.”  We find that Palmistry is being practised by the next Professor upon the hand of a female.  We hear him inform her that her fingers are long; that she does not achieve all that she would like to achieve; that her thoughts and imaginations are of a romantic kind; that her character is flexible; that she has a disposition for a broad circle of friends, and so on.  The seat when vacated, is soon filled by a man.  “This is the hand of a mechanic, large, broad, takes a broad grasp.  He would do very well as a Civil Engineer.  He does not confine his thoughts to every-day life.  He has a love of home, and a fondness of seeing the world very broadly.  He likes to know, and he will know; he will stir up the water till the mud rises but what he will know.  He is a type of man who could command as a general in the Army.  In mercantile life he would succeed in everything he undertakes.  In politics he takes rather a broad range.  He is not an eloquent exponent of his own thoughts.  He has a good memory, can tell a story he has heard, and add a little to it.  Imaginativeness is well developed in his nature.  He has the hand of one that is tolerably cool; were he a gentleman with nothing in his pocket, he would push on until he had made a fortune.”  All this, and more the Professor saw with the aid of a powerful magnifying glass.  The third professor, a lady, is endeavouring to get an occupant for an empty seat.  “If any lady be present who doesn’t wish to take her bonnet off, I am as able to read her face as her head; or, if there are any persons present who would like to have their hands read, I am quite prepared to do it.”  How very accommodating!

All these things are going on within a comparatively small compass, between the Britannia Tier and the Jetty.  And now without being allured into the “Skylark Tea Saloon,” where “small parties are catered for on the Sands;” whether small parties of skylarks, or skylarking parties, we p. 32were left to imagine; or, pausing to scan the Roadstead through the telescope placed in readiness, or indulging in a seat in the weighing machine, we pass on to a calmer region, where gratifications of a less exciting character may be enjoyed.  For this we had not to travel far.  Passing the boundary line of the Jetty we instantly find, between that greatly improved structure and the Wellington Pier, a great transformation scene has taken place.  Loose sand and shingle have given place to a capacious and beautifully terraced garden artistically laid, adorned with vases and fountains, and with a bandstand in the centre.  While the young, the healthy and the boisterous may find the fullest opportunities for thorough enjoyment elsewhere; here the quiet, the weakly and the meditative may get away from the madding crowd and calmly indulge in reflection.  Between this garden and the sea, an Esplanade of magnificent proportions has been made, and provided with sitting accommodation along the entire length, where Visitors may, free of charge, recline, facing the sea; and, whilst taking rest, may take in the strains of sweet operatic music discoursed p. 33by the Military Band upon their instruments; or, while perusing their favourite books, inhale the fragrance of the flowers, or the ozone from the sea.  When promenading upon this Esplanade, we overheard the remark made by a Visitor (which is probably often to be heard), “I don’t think Lowestoft is a patch upon this place.”

To lovers of peace and solitude, Yarmouth can hold forth an inviting hand, and point to its miles of Marine Drive and its level Beach, with its soft sands, rendered agreeably smooth and firm by the retreating tide and dried by the sun.  Seats and shelters in abundance have been provided upon the Drive and the Jetty.  A short rest in one of these agreeable shelters will now be welcome, and, while resting, the visitor will find ample food for reflection in observing the infinite variety in the p. 34appearance and bearing of the many passers by.  One thing is obvious: there is unmistakable evidence of enjoyment stamped upon them all.

By the Jetty are numerous Drags, awaiting the time to convey into the country their complements of passengers.  Persons fond of variety are willing, for a short time, to leave the attractions of the Beach and Jetty in exchange for a pleasant drive.  A good choice of destinations is given, Caister Castle, Ormesby Broad, Fritton Lake, Somerleyton Park and Lowestoft being amongst the number.

As we perambulate our spacious and recently much-improved Promenade on the Marine Drive, we cannot fail to notice how great is the supply of vehicles provided for all classes; numerous well-appointed carriages meet our view; omnibuses, brakes, traps, bicycles, tricycles, goat chaises, perambulators, Bath chairs, and donkeys are in readiness for all who desire them.  On the latter, venturesome visitors may feel perfectly safe.

Much more might be said, but we must now close and allow the second Beach Garden, the Jetty, the two Piers, the Aquarium, the Tower, the Switchback and Bicycle Railways, and the Sailors’ Home Museum to speak for themselves.  All we need remark is that each and all of these have special attractions that are sought out and enjoyed by multitudes of delighted Visitors.

The busy scene we have depicted, of life and animation, of good temper and well-earned enjoyment may be witnessed through the entire season in propitious weather.  The whole assembled multitude may be divided into two classes, the pleasure seekers and those who minister to their gratifications.  Were some of the latter more considerate, and less persistent in their endeavours “to make hay while the sun shines,” and bear well in mind the fact that the enjoyment of seaside visitors (although the bracing air conduces to appetite) does not altogether consist in eating chocolate, sucking sweets, cracking nuts, drinking half-pints of milk, consuming penny buns, or munching “beautiful Williams:” our lovely and much resorted-to Beach, attractive as it is, in spite of all these unnecessary drawbacks, would be more thoroughly enjoyed and appreciated by the tens of thousands of Visitors who resort to it year after year.

By the same Author.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A New and “Up-to-date” Edition of the

FRIENDLY GUIDE TO YARMOUTH,

A pleasant companion to Visitors when making an intelligent
perambulation of the interesting Old Town.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Fully Illustrated                TWOPENCE.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

May be had at the Parish Clerk’s Office, by the Parish Church
Gates, and at many shops in the Town.

ADVERTISEMENTS. [0]

p. 2ESTABLISHED OVER A CENTURY.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

ALDRED & SON,
Gold & Silversmiths,

WATCHMAKERS,

Jewellers & Opticians.

1837–1899
Diamond Jubilee
Souvenirs
IN GOLD & GEM JEWELLRY.

FLAG BROOCHES,
Yacht Club Badges,
PINS, &c.

56, GEORGE STREET,
GREAT YARMOUTH,
(BETWEEN THE QUAY AND BROAD ROW.)

p. 18BY THE SAME AUTHOR

JUST PUBLISHED.

A NEW EDITION OF THE
History of St. Nicholas’ Church
GREAT YARMOUTH,

Containing many new and interesting additions.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The tendency of this book is to entertain, and aid in brightening dull hours at home.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To persons desirous of presenting friends with something really connected with Yarmouth, in preference to an article made in Germany, this book affords a favourable opportunity for so doing.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In Paper Wrapper, 1/=.  In Cloth, 2/- nett.

Postage 3d.  Or sent to any address in the town on receipt of the published price, by the Author,

E. J. LUPSON, Parish Clerk’s Office (Near the Church Gate.)

p. 19FREEMAN, HARDY & WILLIS
THE GREAT BOOT PROVIDERS,

Have the Largest and Best Assorted Stock of
TAN & BEACH
BOOTS & SHOES
IN YARMOUTH.

103, MARKET ROAD,
AND
36, REGENT STREET.

p. 20

Visitors wishing to have their PHOTOGRAPHS artistically taken should go to MILLER’S ROYAL PHOTOGRAPHIC STUDIO, and Fine Art Repository,14a, King Street (corner of Regent Road), Great Yarmouth.  A large stock of views of the Town and Neighbourhood.

p. 22VISITORS

CAN OBTAIN SINGLE BOTTLES OF

WINE,
SPIRITS,
BEER,
CIDER,

AT WHOLESALE PRICES,
AT
WILLIAMS, FRERE & Co’s.

Old Established Stores,
148, KING STREET,
GREAT YARMOUTH.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

PRICE LISTS ON APPLICATION.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

GOODS DELIVERED AT GORLESTON DAILY.

p. 28The Pioneer Screw Steamer
‘LILY,’

This popular Boat not only originated those delightful trips to Gorleston, but is still the favourite, and is patronised, during the season by

THOUSANDS OF VISITORS,
And Inhabitants of the Town.

The Boat leaves the Town Hall Quay, hourly, every day (except Sundays), commencing at 10 a.m.

FARES:—TWOPENCE; Children under 12
ONE PENNY.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Special arrangements for Parties: See Conductor
on board, or by letter, Mr. W. C. Harrison,
69, Southtown, Yarmouth.

p. 35WHERE SHALL WE DINE?
AT
Randell’s

New Cafe Central Restaurant

AND

TEMPERANCE HOTEL,

42, MARKET PLACE,
GREAT YARMOUTH.

Central Situation.            Commanding Position.

Terms Moderate.    No Charge for Attendance.

CONTRACTS FOR LARGE OR SMALL PARTIES.
ACCOMMODATION FOR CYCLISTS.

BED AND BREAKFAST 2/6.

Comfort, Cleanliness & Economy.

p. 36R. & T. MARTINS,
PRACTICAL TAILORS,
OUTFITTERS,
HATTERS AND HOSIERS.

OUR CLOTH PURCHASES for the Present Season are from the Newest and most Fashionable Shades and Colourings.

SCOTCH AND IRISH Tweed Suitings.

BLACK AND BLUE SERGES specially noted for Fast Colour and great durability.

OUR READY-MADE STOCK comprises Gentlemen’s Overcoats, Morning and Lounge Suits, Vests and Trousers.

ALSO Ready for immediate wear, Youths’ School Suits in Norfolk and Rugby shapes.

SAILOR SUITS in Serges and other materials.

TENNIS AND BOATING SUITS.

WATERPROOF of the best manufacture.

Latest Styles in Paris & Felt Hats & Caps.

GENTLEMEN’S HOSIERY IN PURE WOOL, MERINO,
GAUZE, COTTON, &c.

White and Coloured Shirts.  The Newest Dress Shirts.

NOVELTIES IN TIES, SCARFS, COLLARS, GLOVES.
UMBRELLAS.

MARKET ROW, Great Yarmouth.

p. 37THE GREAT YARMOUTH CARPET WAREHOUSE.

H. BIDDLECOMBE & Co.,

Linen & Woollen Drapers,
SILK MERCERS & CARPET WAREHOUSEMEN.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The latest styles in MANTLES, JACKETS & CAPES.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Special shows during the Season of the Latest Styles
in English and French Millinery.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

An immense Stock of the NEWEST MATERIALS FOR DRESSES, COSTUME TWEEDS, COVERT COATINGS, SERGES, HABIT CLOTHS.

WELSH FREIZE FOR CYCLING COSTUMES.

THE YARMOUTH LINEN WAREHOUSE,
HOUSEHOLD LINENS, CALICOES, SHEETINGS,
BLANKETS, QUILTS, FLANNELS, &c.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Design Book of Lace Curtains for 1897 Free on Application.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

THE YARMOUTH CARPET WAREHOUSE

The Cheapest House in the Eastern Counties for FLOOR CLOTHS, LINOLEUMS, all kinds of CARPETS, HEARTHRUGS and BLINDS.  An
immense stock to select from.

Linoleums, Carpets, &c., fitted and planned by Experienced Workmen.

H. BIDDLECOMBE & Co.,

Pay Carriage on parcels of Drapery, to the value of Twenty Shillings and upwards, when ordered by post and remittance sent same time.

Anything supplied in this manner and not approved can be exchanged.

3, 4, 5, 6, KING STREET, GREAT YARMOUTH.

p. 38Visitors when in Yarmouth should
not fail to visit the

RIVERS & BROADS

OF NORFOLK,
THE ONLY CIRCULAR ROUTE,
(65 Miles change of Scenery), is by
THE YARMOUTH & GORLESTON
Steamboat Company, Ltd.,
(BRADLEY’S)

WELL-APPOINTED STEAMERS, THE

‘YARMOUTH BELLE,’
‘Queen of the Broads,’
AND
‘PRIDE OF THE YARE.’

Fares - 3/-, 2/6, 2/-.

Refreshments on Board.  Separate Saloon for Ladies.

p. 39ESTABLISHED 22 YEARS.

The Noted Fish Establishment,
FROG’S HALL,
SOUTH MARKET ROAD
GREAT YARMOUTH.

J. FLERTY.

Having purchased the Good-will, Premises, and Plant of the above Business, begs to inform the inhabitants of Great Yarmouth and surrounding district that he will be daily receiving large consignments of Soles, Turbot, Brill, Cod, &c., also Salmon, Trout, and all kinds of Shell Fish in Season, which will be supplied at strictly moderate prices, and trusts, by strict attention to all orders, promptitude of despatch, and the supplying of Fish of the best quality only, to merit a continuance of the support bestowed upon his predecessors.

Bloaters, Kippers, and Smoked Haddocks of the finest quality.  Hotels, Visitors and Families waited upon daily.  Fresh Fish carefully cleaned, packed and sent to all parts of the kingdom.

ESTABLISHED 1880.

THE
‘YARMOUTH MERCURY,’
GORLESTON HERALD & EAST NORFOLK ADVERTISER.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Best Penny Local Paper.

LARGEST CIRCULATION.

OFFICES:
36, King Street, Great Yarmouth.
Branch: High Street, Gorleston.

p. 40THE
STORES,

Opposite the Bridge,
QUAY, GT. YARMOUTH.

AT
CO-OPERATIVE PRICES.

J. E. CLOWES,
PROPRIETOR.

FOOTNOTES.

[0]  In the printed pamphlet the advertisements are scattered throughout the pamphlet, but in this transcription they have been moved to the end to make the whole more readable.  They retain their original page numbers.—DP.

[4]  “The menne of Yarmouthe at that tyme beganne to growe in greate strengthe and estimacion, for it appearethe by the Records in the Tower, that in those daies there was some controversy between the men of the Synque Portes of the one parte, and the men of Yarmouth on the other parte, insomuch as the men of Yarmouthe prevayled in the sea greatlie agenste the men of the Synque Portes, and did burn and take and spoyle divers of there shippes, for which the Synque Portes compleyned to King Edward Second.”

In the year 1545, “Warres being betwene England and France, there were in Yarmouthe Rode two Shippes laden with wheat to goe for Bolleyn” (to Bolougne), “for the King’s Maties provisions, and upon Saint Andrews Daye there came two Frenche Schippes of Warre throughe the Roade and boarded the said two Englishe Shippes and cutte their cables, and were carreyenge them away, whereof when tidenge was brought to Mr. Bailifes in the Church” (it being a Saints day, the Corporation was attending morning service at St. Nicholas’ Church).  “All the whole Townsmen went out and got there weapons and manned two other Shippes and rescued the said King’s provisions and took six Frenchmen in the prises, and brought them to Yarmouthe, and the two French Shippes did very hardlie escape the takinge, but yet got awaye in the nyght tyme.”—Manship’s Foundation and Antiquitye of Greate Yarmouthe.

[11]  In Swinden’s History, page 823, we find, “In the name of God Amen; I, William Okey of Great Yarmouth, &c., bequeath to the beadmen of the Church of St. Nicholas. 2s. of silver annually, to be received for ever, out of my capital messuage, with the edifices and appurtenances, the beer-house and ale-house in Great Yarmouth, &c., that the said beadmen shall be chargeable to keep the anniversary of me, Juliana, my late wife; Margaret, my wife; William, my brother; and Robert, my father; and Maud, my mother; and for the faithful deceased, and for them pray annually for ever at every head of a row in the town of Great Yarmouth.”  The date of this will appears to be 1349.

[25]  The following is inserted for the behoof of ardent admirers of the “good old times,” when the Yarmouth Rows were in their meridian glory.  No better period for reflection could be selected than when in the full glow of an enjoyable dip in the briny; the mind could then fully realise the degeneracy of the present times as compared with the year 1571.  “On May 8th, 1571, Dr. Whitgift, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge, and the Heads of Colleges, for many and weighty reasons, decreed that if any scholar should go into any river, pool or other water in the County of Cambridge, by day or night, to swim or wash, he should, if under the degree of Bachelor of Arts, for the first offence, be sharply and severely whipped publicly in the common hall of the College, and on the next day should be again openly whipped in the public school where he was, or ought to be, an auditor before all the auditors, by one of the proctors, or some other assigned by the Vice-Chancellor; and for the second offence every such delinquent shall be expelled his college and the University for ever.  But if he should be a Bachelor of Arts, then for the first offence he should be put in the stocks for a whole day, in the common hall of his College, and should, before he was liberated, pay ten shillings towards the Commons of the College, and for the second offence he should be expelled his College and the University.  And if he should be a Master of Arts, or Bachelor of Law, physic, or music, or of superior degree, he should be severely punished, at the judgment and discretion of the Master of his College, or, in his absence, of the President and one of the Deans.”  Cooper’s Annals of Cambridge Vol. ii. p. 377.