Historical Snippets

Great Yarmouth and Gorleston owe their original economic existence to the herring. As early as 1000 A.D.the towns were used as a base for the fishermen who followed the migrating shoals. With the herring fishing came the associated fish curing industry and of course the famous Yarmouth bloater. The local ship building industry was a direct result of the herring trade.

1209 - King John's Charter granting Yarmouth the status of free borough.

1427 - The river has always been the focus of life for these two towns. The first bridge across the Yare at Yarmouth Haven was built in 1427 to link Yarmouth to what is now Southtown and consequently Gorleston. Southtown and Gorleston have only latterly become part of Norfolk. For most of their existences they were part of Suffolk.

1854 - Another Haven Bridge was completed on the 21st October and it cost £60,000. This bridge was eventually closed on the 20th February 1928 and dismantled to make way for the present bridge which was opened in late 1930. During the construction period of two years, a temporary wooden bridge was put up to allow access into Great Yarmouth.

1887 - This year saw the building of the Gorleston Lighthouse which is along Brush Quay. This was the Storm Company's headquarters. The Beach companies as they were known were there to lend assistance to ships entering and leaving the harbour. They also provided ferry services across the river. The men of the beach companies manned the volunteer lifeboats located at Gorleston.

1905 - There has been much made of the storms, which in 1953, resulted in widespread flooding along the East Coast. In early January 1905 after strong northerly winds had persisted for a couple of days there was a tidal surge which left the Brush Quay area of Gorleston under several feet of water.

1908 - The Royal Navy came to town on May 17th to show off four submarines to the public. It ended in red faces for two of the submarine commanders. They lost control of their boats in a strong tide whilst trying to berth alongside Hall Quay. The pair of them ended up wedged under Haven Bridge awaiting rescue.

1962 - saw work started on the South Pier at Gorleston. The Old Dutch Pier, which was being replaced, was itself 300 years old, being started in 1650. Joas Johnson a dutch engineer was consulted in the design stage to try to create a more stable harbour entrance, which he achieved. However in 1962, the original design was not followed and the result was that Gorleston lost part of its beach. I suspect the modern designers of the South Pier must be working for the Highways Agency, another mob who go round making things worse

Until the 20th century the marshes surrounding Great Yarmouth and Gorleston were drained by windpump, after which electrical pumps were used. Two windpumps have been restored, one at The Stracey Arms which is alongside the Acle Straight and the other at The Berney Arms which is at the confluence of the River Yare and Breydon Water at its most westerly point. If you see me at either of these windpumps or more likely in the pubs - mines a pint. Interestingly the original function of the 'windpump' at the Berney Arms was not to pump water but to grind clinker for the now defunct cement works, which were nearby.

Sheep and cattle have grazed on the marshes located on either side of the Acle Straight since medieval times. By the 18th century cattle from as far away as Scotland were fattened on these marshes before going to market.

The Coastguard lookout was situated at the end of the South Pier, Gorleston. Along the length of the Pier were capstans which were used to help sailing vessels to get into the harbour against the winds and tides.

The pilot house was situated at the beginning of the South Pier, Gorleston. The pilots were there to help the safe passage of vessels past the narrow entrance to the river and the bend at Brush Quay. This valuable service is still in operation and used today. The pilot station is now situated on Riverside Road.

Great Yarmouth and Gorleston became favourite to the "well to do" in the 18th century. The masses arrived in the 19th century with the advent of the railways and cheap travel.

The "cosies" located on the south side of the Old Dutch Pier at Gorleston were a sunny spot where many a person passed away a summers day fishing, watching boats coming into the harbour or watching one of the staged rescues carried out by the local lifeboat.

From the Victorian period until the 1970's boat trips from Great Yarmouth were extremely popular. There were many steamers running excursion trips to such locations as St Olaves, Oulton Broad, Norwich, Wroxham and Beccles. These boats ran from South Quay /Stonecutters Quay as did a regular service to London. There were also boats to Gorleston and Lowestoft during the 'season'. Going to Gorleston by boat and returning by Tram must have been a pleasant way to spend a summers day. Alas no more, still you can have a trip along the front in a Landau ..... not quite the same somehow.

The gap created by the ultimate disappearance of the herring industry has been replaced in part by the North Sea oil and gas industries which are serviced from Great Yarmouth. The wharfs and quays along the River Yare now host the many vessels that service the North Sea oil rigs.