ROW TWENTY SEVEN ‑ WELL ROW *1
Well Row, 1639 *2
Doughty the Leather Cutters South Row, 1829*2
Tom Bircham with
chicken, at the cattle market.
At one time this was called "Well Row", from a deep well of good water,
situated in an adjacent yard, and of
good repute with the inhabitants. David Service, a Scotsman and poet, lived in
this row, and died aged 52 in the Yarmouth workhouse. (now Northgate
Hospital).*1
In 1995 the west end of this row can be found to run
along the south boundary of an old warehouse, and the path of the row can be
traversedwith only a slight deviation to where it emerged into Howard Street
beside the modern flat, no. 35 Howard Street.
At no. 8 in row 27 were some carved door‑jambs
and high doorsteps.*2
No mention of this row is made in the 1936 Row
Survey.
There is only one known ancient view of row 27, an old
glass slide with a watermark on it, showing a silhouetted figure passing down
the narrow row.
The Bircham family lived at no.7 in this row. Thomas James Bircham came here with his parents when he was a baby. His father was Charles, whose name appears on the list for 1913. The other children of Charles Bircham were Charlie, Herbert, William (Bungy), Eddie; and Harriet, who lived in the house with Thomas and helped look after the young family there for many years.
The
Bircham family originated
near Aylsham, and several villages were called "Birch‑Hamlet". Above is
a picture of Thomas and his
young wife during the first World War. He was in the Royal Artillery, and was made up to Sergeant in the field for
conspicuous bravery. After the war,
Thomas was yardman for the Great Yarmouth cattle‑market. The market was run by
Maddison, Miles, and Sutton, whose office was in Regent Street, next to
Baird's Shoe shop. (?11a.) Thomas worked there until he retired in the 1970's,
having started there in 1926. The
cattle market was on the corner of Stafford Road and Station Road.
Playing in a pen at the cattle market.
The market took place
every Wednesday. The bullocks were weighed
on a weighbridge with a big dial
showing everyone the weight, and then they were led into the ring. There were
iron pens for the bullocks at the front of
the yard, that could hold 20‑30 bullocks. There were also, some
covered pig‑pens, double pens with a dividing gate, and perhaps four or
five pigs in one pen. There were four water‑pumps for cleaning the pens
and yard, but all the water was brackish, so Thomas had to bring a jug of water for
the clerks to drink, all the way from
the row, when he came into work. The sheep pens were all wooden, and made of oak.
There were also ramps for the animals to
come off the horse‑drawn carts.
Separately there were cages for hens, cockerels,
rabbits and ferrets. These pens were positioned at a height for easy viewing.
There was also a roofed‑over house
for calves, with their own saleyard.
In another area was sold the "dead‑stock", which was all
sorts of miscellaneous items,
furniture, bicycles, sugar‑beet,
swedes, even motorcars. One
day when young Wilfred Bircham
was playing about in the yard, he drove a car all round the yard using its
foot-operated starter motor! All the water pumps in the yard had
to be primed before use, so that
a bucket of water was always kept back for this purpose.
In the yard at no.7.
No.7 was the first
house into the row on the right-hand (south) side, from George Street. There
were entrances into the yard, and into the house, off the row. Out in the yard
was a tap,the only water supply. There was also an outside toilet. In a small
tiled and pitched roof wash‑house was a washing copper. The yard seems to
have been square and a good size, so that I think this occupied the space where
the first narrow house had once been on the 1906 map.
Downstairs in the
house was a front (living) room, about 15 feet wide, and a kitchen. Upstairs on the first floor was a
single large bedroom, and up some more stairs was an attic bedroom. There was
no electricity, and no range nor oven in the house, only open fires.
Any baking was done
at the
bakers‑ Downing's, in George Street. At the other end of row 27,
in Howard Street, was Beevor's Bakery. The bake‑house was at the back
of Beevor's, and the wall behind was then commonly known as the
"hot wall".
A little passage
further into the row behind Beevor's bake‑house was the way into the
properties of the Huggins family, and the back ways to the Lissamore's and the
Salmon family's houses. Also down this passage was a communal wash‑house,
and two toilets. Fred Lissamore and his wife Emily Louisa, had two boys, Harry
and Louis. Fred Lissamore worked as a builder for Mr.Grimble, as did Harry. Two
girls in the family were Maud, and May
(now Clough), another
was Violet, who settled in Rhodesia.
After the clearance, this family moved to Madden
Avenue. Maud, was an avid dancer. Unwell as a child, she was looked after by her mother until she died,
and then by her
sister May. Both survive in extreme old age at a home in Apsley Road.
Harry joined a rescue squad in London
in the war. Frank, another son, was in the army, and contracted malaria in
India. At one time he was in the T.A., and a keen footballer and boxer in
his spare time. Louis ("Joe")
was in the R.A.F. in the war, and worked for Middleton the newsagent for a
while.
Bertie Salmon had
a son, also called Bertie, who worked for Buckle the printer;
there was also Johnnie, Pamela and Queenie. Johnnie Salmon had a stall on the
market. Further up the row was Old Oscar Gray, living next to Lissamore,
with Olley and Traynier further
up. Oscar Gray was "well to do", and always well dressed. At number 11 lived William Hodds, and
at 10, Robert Thacker, a
docker, with daughter Marjorie, whose
son later ran Middleton's
bookshop in the Market Place. Together with the Birchams they attended
St.Stephen's Mission in Howard Street, run by Captain Tippler.
Robert Gallant lived next to the Birchams, at no.6.
Alice was his
daughter, who had a daughter also Alice, now Howard. Opposite to no.7,
the Bircham's house, was in the 20's, a large open space, where earlier houses
had already been cleared.
Martha and baby in the
cleared area out the back of no.7.
There were then six houses left on the north side,
and there was a passage between the houses of Mrs.Caulk's house, and that of
the Horsleys. Then there was a row of houses, with at no. 4, John
Winter; at no. 3, Francis George; at no. 2, James Grimmer,
and at no. 1, Samuel Curry.
The attic at no. 7 had
a roof with sloping eaves, and the rats
and mice ran in the space under the tiles. In the attic slept Thomas Bircham and his wife and the baby, in a double
bed. In the same attic room were two
cots, with Leslie in
one, and Geoffrey in another. In the next
corner of the room was a single bed occupied by Wilfred and Tommy. Later
babies were Margaret and Marjory then Grace,
who were the girls that mother had following the eight boys, and succeeded by a final boy. The room
below on the middle floor, was divided by a blue curtain. Harriet, the spinster
sister of Thomas snr., occupied the greater part of this room. Two boys were in
one bed in the other part. Gracie slept later in her aunt's room. Latterly,
mother became anaemic, and Harriet did
much of the looking after of the children. Wilfred had charge of baby John, the
last child, born in 1933.
Wilfred and his wife,
May (prev. Edwards,
see Row 4) May_Edwards
*1 Palmer
*2 Johnson