Gillingwater's History of Lowestoft / a reprint: with a chapter of more recent events

by Edmund Gillingwater

In consequence of this reference, an Act of parliament was passed in the year 1597, directing that an actual admeasurement of the said seven miles (eight furlongs to every mile) should immediately take place, and begin to be measured from the crane key in Yarmouth, and to proceed the directest way towards the roading place, near the sea shore, where the fishermen usually anchor for the sale of their herrings; and at the end of the said seven miles, a post or some other apparent mark, should be erected near the sea shore, to signify to all persons whom it may concern the termination of the said seven miles, prescribing the boundary of the liberties of Yarmouth. [82]

In this defence of their rights and liberties, the town of Lowestoft expended £120 which was collected from a voluntary subscription of the inhabitants; some subscribing £10, some £6, some £4, and others lesser sums, according as their abilities enabled them. But exclusive of the above expenditure, the inhabitants were under the necessity of contracting a debt of upwards of £50 which, by reason of their distressed situation they were utterly unable to discharge any other way than by appropriating a part of the rents and profits of the town lands; for it had always been an established maxim of the town to support and maintain the free trade of buying and selling herrings in Lowestoft roads; therefore, at a general meeting of the inhabitants, it was resolved that as a large sum had already been expended in support of this right, that out of 200 persons who reaped advantages from this fishery, many were unable to contribute towards the above expense; and that if the fishery was not supported, the town would be inevitably ruined. Therefore, the state of the town being thus considered, and the affair regarded as a case of necessity and charity, and of the utmost utility to the inhabitants; they agreed, That, it was a very justifiable application of the rents of the town lands, in the present emergency, in discharging the said debt.

An Act of the 39th of Elizabeth, for the measuring of seven miles from the town and haven of Great Yarmouth, in the county of Norfolk, mentioned in the statute made in the 31st year of King Edward III, and certain letters patent, granted by the same king unto the bailiff and burgesses of the said town of Yarmouth.

Whereas, King Edward the Third, at the parliament holden at Westminister the Monday after the week of Easter, in the 31st year of his reign, amongst other things, ordained, that none hang herrings in no place about the haven of Yarmouth, by seven miles, except in the three towns of Yarmouth, that is to say, Easton, Weston and Southton, unless it be the herrings of their own fishing. And whereas, the said King, by his letters patent, in the 46th year of his reign, among other things did grant unto the bailiffs, burgesses, and good men of Great Yarmouth, in the county of Norfolk, in the time of herring fishing, no fair should be kept, nor buying nor selling by way of merchandise, should be had anywhere within the space of seven miles about the said town, of herrings or other merchandise. The which letters patent and grant were afterwards revived and confirmed by act of parliament in the 10th of Richard II. And by colour and pretence of the aforesaid statute and letters patent the aforesaid bailiffs and burgesses of the said town of Yarmouth, have of late years, practised, in the principal time of herring fishing viz., from the feast of St. Michael the Archangel, forty days then next following, to restrain buying and selling of herrings, and making of white and red herrings, in other towns and places on the sea cost of Suffolk and Norfolk, above seven miles from the said town, and the place where the fair of herrings is yearly kept, contrary to the true meaning of the statute and letters patent above mentioned; by means whereof great debates and controversies have been moved, the trade of taking herrings greatly decayed in the coast of Suffolk and Norfolk, and likewise the trade of making of red herrings, which was more proper to that part of the realm than to any part of the world else, is now transferred into the parts beyond the seas, to the great hurt and undoing of the inhabitants of divers coast towns in the said counties, and to the general hurt of all fishermen using the trade of herring fishing; for that by means of this restraint there is nothing so many herrings taken as otherwise might be; and of these that be taken, the fishermen, to avoid this restraint, endeavour themselves to utter some greater quantities of herrings unto Hollanders, Zealanders, and Frenchmen, than they were wont to do, whereby the price of herring, red and white, is more than double increased, to the hurt of all the commonalty of the realm of England. Now, therefore, for the avoiding of the above mentioned and other inconvenience that in time to come may ensue, if remedy be not herein provided, be it enacted by the queen’s most excellent majesty, the lords spiritual and temporal, and the commons in this present parliament assembled and by authority of the same, that the aforesaid seven miles, mentioned in the aforesaid statute, shall be measured from that part of the said town of Yarmouth whereabout the fair of herrings is kept, which is the crane key, within the said town; from thence the usual ways southwards and northwards by the sea shore; and at the end of either of the said seven miles, apparant marks shall be fixed, such as may be seen as well upon the sea as upon the land, as a manifest declaration how far the liberties claimed by bailiffs and burgesses of Yarmouth shall extend upon the sea coast of Suffolk and Norfolk, either by sea or by land, concerning the buying, selling and hanging of herrings; and that either of the said seven miles shall be accounted to contain eight furlongs, and every furlong to contain in length, forty poles or perches, and every pole or perch to contain sixteen feet and a half; and that the high sheriffs of the counties of Norfolk and Suffolk, or their deputies, shall before the feast of St. Batholomew the apostle, now next coming, measure seven miles, in manner and form aforesaid from the said crane key, over the haven, thence southwards, and at the end of the said seven miles six apparent marks as aforesaid; and so before the said feast of St. Batholomew, measure seven miles in manner and form aforesaid, from the said crane key and at the end of the said seven miles six apparent marks as aforesaid; and that either of the said sheriffs of the said counties of Suffolk and Norfolk, for the time being, shall take such orders from time to time in their several counties, that the said marks shall be continued for ever. And the aforesaid bailiffs, burgesses, and community of the said town of Yarmouth, or the barons of the five ports, or any of them, shall not, at any time hereafter by colour of any manner of liberties, jurisdictions or privilege, claimed to belong to them or any of them, by reason of the aforesaid statute or letters patent, or any other statute, charter, usage, or rescription, restrain or inhibite any person whatsoever, buying, selling, changing, or discharging of herrings, in any place or places whatsoever, being without the compass of the said seven miles.

Thus was this litigious and long-disputed difference, which had subsisted between Yarmouth and Lowestoft for a great many years, and had been prosecuted with the utmost vehemence, at length happily concluded. Nevertheless it afterwards appeared, that during these dissensions the seeds of animosity had been so profusely scattered and became so deeply rooted in the breasts of the contending parties, that it was impossible to eradicate them even by the most lenient and conciliating measures; and, consequently, the apparent reconciliation proved, in reality, little better than a truce, in order that the parties might be enabled to renew their differences with greater vigour.

In the year 1659 we find, that the former disputes between Yarmouth and Lowestoft respecting Kirkley road and the admeasurement of the seven miles, the boundary of the liberties of Yarmouth, were again revived. During the further prosecution of this affair, the burgesses of Yarmouth traversed the same ground as they had done before; and insisted that Kirkley road, which was united to their haven by the statute of the 46th of Edward III. was opposite to the town of Kirkley, and consequently to the south of Lowestoft; and that the seven miles which circumscribed their liberties were not to be measured from the Crane quay, but from the haven’s mouth; and the better to obviate every objection that might be alleged against them, and that their new pretensions might carry the greater appearance of justice, they had provided, that in the recital of the statute of the 46th of Edward III, in the renewal of their charter in the reign of James I. to have the situation of Kirkley road described as opposite to the town of Kirkley, notwithstanding it is represented in the original statute as being contiguous to the haven’s mouth; and having thus removed the greatest obstacle to a successful renewal of their pretensions, they only waited for a favourable opportunity of carrying their designs into execution. In the year 1659, this desirable and much-wished-for opportunity presented itself. A time when the inhabitants of Lowestoft were overwhelmed with the greatest misfortunes; when their unshaken loyalty, during the late rebellion, had exposed them to all the distresses which soldiers living in free quarters could involve them in; when their principal inhabitants (whom they wanted to defend their rights) were employed as commanders of the royal navy, and their sailors were absent in manning the fleet; when they were reduced to the greatest poverty and distress by a terrible fire, which consumed in the town, houses and merchandise to the amount of £10,000; whilst they were thus struggling under the accumulated miseries of war, fire, and oppression, and sinking under the insupportable burden of those grievous calamities, then it was that the Yarmouth men, imagining that the happy period had arrived when they might renew their pretensions without opposition, and pursue them with success, contrary to all legal authority, renewed their unjust and unreasonable claims, and attacked the almost-ruined and defenceless town of Lowestoft with an armed vessel, which was termed a man-of-war.

In this unhappy situation, when almost every avenue to redress was shut against them, and nothing but the ghastly spectres of poverty and ruin were continually presenting themselves to their alarmed imaginations, no other remedy was left but to implore the assistance of the legislative powers of their country, and to lay before them a true representation of their unfortunate state, which was done in the following complaint, shortly after presented to the lords of the privy council.

A COMPLAINT of the town of LOWESTOFT in the County of Suffolk, to the lords of the Privy Council.

Whereas the Yarmouth men under pretence of a privilege granted them in their charter, that no fishers should deliver any herrings within seven miles of their town during the time of their free fair, which beginneth at Michaelmas, and continues till Martinmas, have, on one day of the year, come rowing in small boats into the roads before Lowestoft, and there have exacted anchorage, although eight or nine miles distant from Yarmouth; and if they refuse to pay it they violently take their goods, cruelly beat the fishermen and their assistants, confiscate their vessels and set grievous fines on them, on purpose to prevent their delivering any herrings at Lowestoft to the great damage of the poor fishers and injury of the said town; who, if compelled to deliver all their herrings at Yarmouth, must lose at least one third part of their time; and when they do proceed to Yarmouth, by an ordinance of that town, the first freeman that comes on board must be his host, and will set the price of the fisher’s herrings without their knowledge or consent, which commonly is 20s. to 50s. a last cheaper than they give to their own townsmen, which the fishers are ready to make appear by certificates, or other ways; whilst at this town they are free to sell to whom they please, and are furnished with such necessaries as they want; and if they like not this market, they are free to sell their fish to any other, and return to sea again at their own pleasures.

OBSERVATIONS on the ADMEASUREMENT of the SEVEN MILES and the place called KIRKLEY ROAD.

The Yarmouth men alleged that Lowestoft south road was within the compass of seven miles from the town and herring fair of Yarmouth, although upon an admeasurement it was found, that only Corton road and part of Lowestoft north road were within the limits of the said seven miles and that the greatest part of even Lowestoft north road is beyond the said seven miles, the boundary of the liberties of Yarmouth, yearly proclaimed. Yet, notwithstanding, the Yarmouth men have made a practice of coming one day in the year, in the time of their fair, only into Corton and Lowestoft north road, but also into Lowestoft south road and have there unjustly extorted anchorage under the colour of a grant of Kirkley road being united unto their town and haven, and was situated off the town of Kirkley, which place so granted was found (before the granting), by two inquisitions of record, to be at the mouth of the haven of Yarmouth, and nothing distant; which inquisitions agreed with no other place but that now called Yarmouth road; and there they have enjoyed all those things mentioned in the said inquisitions, and grant of the 10th of Richard II. until the first of Queen Elizabeth, and then they obtained a new grant of Yarmouth road which until that time they held by the name of Kirkley road, and by no other name or grant; and though they have come wrongfully into the roads of Lowestoft one day in the year, exacting anchorage, they leave all other profits, jurisdictions, and government, all other parts of the year, unto the Vice-Admiral of Suffolk; for admiralty causes, and concerning wreck of the sea, things found in the roads, flotsom and jotsom, and all other casualties in the said roads and shores of the same, all that they leave to the lord of the manor of Lothingland, Lowestoft, and Mutford all along the shores as far as Kessingland, which is three miles southward of Lowestoft; but they never had any part of the same in use or possession but as before mentioned. It appears by copies of letters patent in the 9th of Richard II. and by an edict of the extent of the manor of Lowestoft, taken the 10th of Richard II. and returned into the Exchequer in the term of St. Michael, that the lords of the manor of Lowestoft have had and enjoyed from time to time in the roads before Lowestoft, and all shores of the same; and also had, and still have, all petty customs of all goods there landed, (which was much in those days), and all casualties happening in the said roads, and upon the shores thereof; and the trade of merchandising herrings and other merchandise have continued ever since; as the great number of herring houses, warehouses, and other buildings do now remain, as monuments, to prove the use of the said trades at Lowestoft. And likewise there have been of antient time, and still continue, officers for the collecting such customs as should be due to the lord, etc., and a deputy searcher for the king’s customs; and although the aforesaid trade of merchandising, loading, and unloading of ships and boats continued there, and never any of the customs claimed by the town of Yarmouth were either taken or demanded for such loading or unloading; and although the statute of the 31st of Edward III. concerning the prohibition of discharging any more herrings in the road of Kirkley, but for the charge of the pickers, was never in use etc., yet, under the pretence of the grant (46th Edward III.) of a place in the sea, then called Kirkley road, which no ways agreeth to be Lowestoft roads, they have of late used to come into the said roads before Lowestoft, which is above seven miles from the town of Yarmouth, and fair of herrings kept in the said town; and have compelled the fishers to sail to Yarmouth and sell their herrings, etc.; and likewise have exacted anchorage, tending greatly to the breach of the peace, and without any material profit to Yarmouth, and which tends only to the disturbing and diminishing of the trade of merchandising herrings at Lowestoft.

But now the Yarmouth men, as if all their former injuries were not sufficient, have sent a vessel, a man-of-war ship as they term it, with a flag on the main-top-mast head, having 25 men aboard, armed with swords, half-pikes, muskets, and great store of stones, which sail into the roads of Corton, Lowestoft and Kirkley, to ride there at anchor, and to act as above by virtue of a commission under the hands of the bailiffs and three justices of the Peace, and the seal of the said town, so that the fishers may not deliver any herrings at all, which before they never practised.