Part II.—Lowestoft and Yarmouth at the End of the 16th Century.
Two hundred years had passed since the termination of the Parliamentary contest about the grant of Edward the III’s. Charter. Lowestoft had not only established her right to exist, but was becoming an old town, and the events of the old contest had become matters of ancient history.
The Yarmouth bailiffs were still exercising their right to take tolls from ships loading or unloading in “Kirkley Road;” but the amount received from these tolls during a whole year, as entered in the Town Ledger, was very small, varying from a few pounds in one year to a few shillings in another. It seems that this demand had been confined to vessels trading in general merchandise, apart altogether from the claim to take tolls from fishing boats anchored off Lowestoft.
During these two hundred years Yarmouth had retained and even increased her trade, and had recovered her population, though her progress had been much retarded by the persistent action of the sea in blocking up her harbour.
The very existence of Yarmouth depended on her harbour. Her anomalous privilege of taking tolls from ships anchored in the North Sea could be no substitute for a harbour. This she knew well, and within two years of her obtaining her Charter, on the ground that her harbour was blocked up, she commenced opening another mouth.
Between 1393 and 1565 she had five times strained her resources to meet the expense of making new mouths, all of which had been blocked up; some almost immediately; one had been kept open for several years, but not without a constant expenditure of money and labour. At length in 1565 she undertook for the seventh time the work of making a new mouth. On this occasion, the assistance of a Dutch engineer was obtained, who knew how these things were done in Holland. Under his advice and superintendance a mouth was constructed, fortified by piles and stonework, and involving a much larger outlay than any of the previous works. The relief from taxes, and the reduction of her fee farm rent, which every King had granted from Richard II. to Elizabeth, was supplemented by special grants to assist the town in this undertaking. After some years of persevering effort, the work was completed and the existing Gorleston harbour was made. Ships could now freely enter her harbour and bring their cargos to the “Crane Key.” A revival of her trade followed, and the wealth of her merchants rapidly increased. It was now that those houses were built along the Quay, the remains of many of which still survive to shew the grandeur of their original structure. One of the finest of these old houses is the venerable Star Hotel in which the room, called Nelson’s room, retains its original character:—its richly carved oak pannelling, embossed ceiling, and large stone fireplace. But while her trade in general merchandise and in fish curing had increased, there had been no proportionate revival of her old fishing fleet. When Elizabeth was calling upon her subjects to supply ships to fight against the Spanish Armada, Yarmouth was joined with Lowestoft in a demand for one ship and one pinnace. The ship supplied was the “Grace” of Yarmouth, of 120 tons, and carrying 70 men. The “pinnace” was supplied by Lowestoft at the cost of £100. Such a contribution from Yarmouth was very different to that of the 43 ships and 1075 sailors, with which she supplied Edward the III. at the siege of Calais.
Meanwhile with the assistance of the Dutch and French fishermen the Free Fair at Yarmouth was going on as merrily as ever, and the Barons of the Cinque Ports still paid their annual visit to take part in its management. Even in the Armada year their visit was not withheld, as appears from the following amusing account of the termination of their journey, when coming to Yarmouth in the autumn of that year.
“The next day after we had dined at Layestoff, we took horse, and proceeded on the rest of our journey, and drawing towards Yarmouth Bridge, there attended our coming divers sorts of poor, lame and distressed people, who cried out for some relief, on whom we bestowed some pieces of money, and so riding over the Bridge about 2 o’clock in the afternoon we arrived sooner than our coming was expected. Notwithstanding there gathered and flocked together a great store of people, who very friendly bade us welcome; to whom we gave thanks and passed forward unto the town along the Quay, and there took our lodging, which had been provided for us at one Mr. Dameth’s house, where we were very courteously entertained.” [77]
At this time the Yarmouth bailiffs were possessed of an admiralty jurisdiction, with special powers for taking cognizance of offences committed in “Kirkley Road” or as it was now called “Lestoff Road” (as spelt in the town ledger of the period). At this time moreover (about 1595) the mouth of the harbour was in a better condition than it ever had been, and the Yarmouth fish merchants had no longer any need to transgress the Statute of Herrings themselves by unloading their fish outside the harbour. It was under these circumstances that the Bailiffs determined to attempt a revival of the almost obsolete provisions of their ancient charter which prohibited the buying of Herrings in Kirkley Road.
It appears that for some years previously fish merchants from other towns in the Eastern counties had been in the habit of visiting these roads in the autumn season and filling their “Ketches” with herrings from the foreign fishing boats. It was against these men that the Yarmouth bailiffs now directed their attacks.
We hear of their proceedings from “The Complaint of the Ketchmen against Yarmouth” submitted to the Privy Council in 1595, signed by the bailiffs and inhabitants of Ipswich, Southwold, Manningtree, Dunwich, Colchester, and Aldborough.
It appears that the Yarmouth Bailiffs had not only sent their officers into the roads off Lowestoft to require the foreign fishermen to carry their fish into Yarmouth, but that they had taken active measures against the buyers, and had carried off “seven men’s goods which they have brought thither to be sold and have committed the owners thereof to prison and constrained them to buy their goods again.”
Lowestoft merchants were also warned to discontinue the illegal practice of buying fish in Kirkley Road. They at once joined in the petition of the Ketchman to the Privy Council, and a suit against Yarmouth was commenced in the Court of the Star chamber. The managers of the Lowestoft case retained the services of Mr. Counsellor Bacon, then a rising barrister, afterwards the great Lord Bacon. In conjunction with two senior counsel he gave the following very decided opinion in favour of Lowestoft;—
“That by the statutes and charters aforesaid any man may sell or buy herrings in the road called Kirkley Road, without the lawful let or hindrance of the town of Yarmouth; and if any proclamation be made by the said men of Yarmouth, or any other of the subjects of this realm to the contrary, the same, in our opinion, is unlawful, whether it be within or without this time of the Fair.”
Chas. Drew; Ja. Bargrave; Fr. Bacon.
The case was referred by the Star Chamber to the judges for their opinion on the questions of law involved. They at once cut the knot by deciding that the old statutes and charters were still in force, but that the “7 leuks” mentioned in them, could only mean 7 miles; the measure recently established by statute, and the only legal measure which the word “leuca” could then mean. Such a decision would at once settle the appeal in favour of Lowestoft. The Star Chamber however refused to accept this interpretation, and sent the case back to the Judges. The Judges adhered to their construction of the word “leuca,” but advised that question should be referred to Parliament for settlement. The decision of the Judges was convenient, but in holding that the word “leuca” in the old charters meant a “mile” as determined by the recent statute, they clearly ignored the whole purport and intention of the enactment against which Lowestoft had fought in the Parliaments of Edward and Richard. A Bill appears to have been prepared to be introduced into the following Session (1597) for giving Parliamentary sanction to this construction, and ordering that the distance of 7 miles should be measured along the shore from Yarmouth towards Lowestoft, and that a mark should be set up at the end of that distance. This Bill, although set out by Gillingwater, does not appear to have been passed. The result however, of these proceedings was that in pursuance of the advice of the judges, the distance was measured, and a pole set up at the end of the 7 miles on Gunton Denes. Although recognised by Lowestoft men as marking the boundary beyond which they might not land herrings, it was ignored altogether by Yarmouth; as it had not been placed in pursuance of any legal order. The Yarmouth bailiffs however abstained from any further assertion of their claims at this time, and the Lowestoft merchants and the Suffolk Ketchmen continued to carry on their dealings with the fishing boats in the Roads as before.
Why the Act of Parliament, advised by the judges, was not introduced, or, if introduced, was not passed, we are not told. Probably the influence of Yarmouth in the House of Commons was very different at this time from what it was when the “Commons” supported Lowestoft against the Crown in the times of Edward and Richard.
The death of Elizabeth, and the succession of James I., gave Yarmouth an opportunity to procure a new charter from the Crown, which contained provisions for removing the doubts that had been raised as to the whereabouts and extent of Kirkley Road.
It contained a new grant of Kirkley Road, and actually revived the obsolete “leuca,” as a measure of 2 miles, so as to make the new grant include “Lestoff” Road, and the whole stretch of Roads, “from Winterton Ness to Easton Ness, containing in length 14 leuks or thereabouts, and in breadth into the sea 7 leuks from every part of the shore within those places.”
For this charter they undertook to pay the Crown an additional rent of £5 per annum. [80] Having thus repaired their armour they waited for a convenient occasion to renew the contest. But some 50 years or more were to pass, and another war was to be waged, before Yarmouth’s opportunity arrived for testing the strength of her new weapon.