The Walls, Towers, and fortifications

Sketch by Pococke of SW Tower, original in Rumbelow’s Diary.

 

 

King Henry’s Tower, 1987, MR.

 

The licence for a wall and ditch, was granted in 1260 by Henry III, by letters patent, on 28th Sept. in the 45th. year of his reign.

Swinden thought that the work was started in about the 13th. year of the reign of Edward I, and finished 126 years later, in the tenth year of Richard II.

The building of the wall was much delayed by the great plague of 1349.

The Wall in Maygrove at the site of long gone ancient fortifications. MR, 1987.

 

Relevant here is a quotation from Swinden's History, page 80:

"Besides, whereas for the aforesaid wall, there is granted by consent of the commonality of the town aforesaid, a certain old wall, without the said town, for the augmentation an expedition of the work aforesaid. There is paid by the hand  of the sad wardens, the same year to Thomas Wency, Robert King and John Mole, breakers down of the said wall, at times, 40 shillings."

This certainly substantiates the presence of some sort of stone wall, constructed prior to 1260, at least. "And for the stones broken down the same year for the new wall, £1/19/10".

The wall at Rampart Row, cleared of buildings, before demolition.

 

The town wall ran for about 2238 yards, with ten gates and fifteen towers.

The wall and tower at Maygrove (Town Wall Road)

 

Swinden quoted Manship page 99, saying (about the moat) "passable with boats and keels which did convey things necessary for such as did inhabit upon the Deneside or east part of Yarmouth". Just what this may be inferred to mean in terms of the ditch or moat seems to me to be unclear. There is no original document referred to in this matter. Swinden also states that a number of fines were levied upon persons for filling up the ditch with stones or rubbish, but again doesn't quote any actual documents, although from the details given, it seems reasonable that they did indeed exist.

Swinden (p.92), says that in the 36th. of Henry VIII, war having been proclaimed against France and Scotland, a special commission was directed to Thomas, Duke of Norfolk to examine the fortifications of Yarmouth, and he ordered all the gardens adjacent to the wall to be laid open, and caused a great part of the walls to be rampired or backed up with earth to strengthen them. (perhaps this could be a reference to why there was so much imported earth within the town- for the gardens for the growing of crops- market gardening!)

 

Duke Thomas caused all the little sand-hills on the Denes to be brought into the town and laid at the back of the walls, and the whole town was thus strongly fortified against France and  Scotland within the space of 14 weeks.

 

This additional work was improved in 1557, (5th year of the reign of Queen Mary), with work three days a week, but the walls were not completely rampired until 1587, by which time*3 they were banked on the inside from Blackfriars to the Market Gate.

Blackfriars Tower

 

A year later the Blackfriars and Priory were rampired also, and a ravelin on the east side of the Blackfriars was constructed. (Which had been removed again long before Swinden described it.)

There is a drawing of these extra fortifications at Hatfield House, but one has to wonder whether some of this was planned rather than executed. The moat outside the town walls was said to be "digged and completed also", but there has been no sign of one archaeologically, south of the new gate at least.

In 1588, a boom was constructed across the Haven, between two jetties.

 

In 1590, east of the boom, and outside of the South Gate, was built a mound of earth, much higher than the town wall, to command the river and the denes, and on which was placed several large cannon. The cost of raising this mound was £125. This information appears to have been gleaned by Swinden directly from Manship. Manship is quoted as saying that the ruins of the charnel house of St.Nicholas church, was used to build the lower walls of the mount in 1588.

 

The Gates and Towers

Proceeding around the wall from the Northwest, I have numbered each tower and gate.

  1. The North-West Tower, described earlier, is still standing

The wall down Rampart Row before demolition

  1. The Rampart Tower (my name) is an intermediate tower, not often described. It was half way along Ramp Row at an early date. Rampart Road is not a main thoroughfare, and my suggestion is that it could be excavated to reveal the ruins that are still present below, as a tourist attraction. Even better would be to rebuild the missing walls and towers, and even the gates, with traffic routed through an underpass to an underground carpark, whilst the town above is for pedestrians. This Rampart tower, demolished at an early date, was seen as a round tower with two storeys of windows and a castellated battlement in the Elizabethan picture.

  

  1. The North Gate had stout doors and a double portcullis. Demolished in 1837, it had presented a fine sight when entered on the Norwich Road, then through the Northern villages, with its two stout towers.

  1. The Corner Tower is still standing in Maygrove.

  1. The Elizabethan Fortress (my name). Just south of the above tower still standing, there was seen on the Elizabethan map a set of towers never described in any work that I have seen and which looks to have been a medieval or Elizabethan Castle. There is the possibility from the design of the wall, which was surely this shape to incorporate some structure from the earliest date, that there may be Roman origins below that. This site begs archaeological investigation.

  1. The Elizabethan Towers. (my name) There were two towers further along toward King Henry’s Tower, one small one built against another that looks as though it could have been inhabited. These are depicted on the Elizabethan map. (below)

  1. King Henry’s Tower, still standing, once had a crenellated top, windows, a curtain wall and a fence. The lower part of the tower survives and is still filled with old bones from the churchyard. When new graves were dug in ancient times, the bones disturbed were thrown in a heap into the tower.

  1. St Nicholas’ Tower and gate, long demolished, is seen due East of St Nicholas Church on the Elizabethan map. This second Gate was also a tower, and the gateway was through the centre. It had flying butresses with small towers (mainly decorative?) attached.

  1. The Priory Tower (my name) was a tower adjacent to the Dominican Priory. It is clearly shown on the Elizabethan map, but not described by Swinden so presumably was demolished between 1600 and 1730. (Tower in the centre of the picture).

  1. The Pudding Gate/Tower, was on the route out of the town now known as St Nicholas Road. It was a plain square tower with a gate in its centre.

  1. The Hospital Tower is still in a good state of preservation and to be found within the dissenter’s graveyard, up a passage North of the Co-op store. In Palmer’s time, this tower had house upon it. Alcoholics and drug addicts, and rough sleepers have used the graveyard. It has therefore had to be locked most of the time now.

 

  1. The Market Tower, still visible in Cooper’s carpark.

  1. The Market Gate, on Market Road, immediately North of the “Market Gates” shopping precinct. This part of the wall was demolished in 1830, although a small part remained until 1874, when the road was again widened.

  1. The Guard Tower is a small tower, still to be found on the portion of wall preserved in the middle of the market gates shopping complex. How splendid a full reconstruction would look. It was attached to a small garrison, just inside the wall.

    

  1. The Theatre Gate was demolished in 1776, and stood across the road that is now Regent Road. Again a reconstruction would be an enormous attraction. At different times it was Called Oxney’s Gate, Steele’s Gate and Mitchelson’s Gate.

  1. The Tower in the Park, still standing, has a conical roof and a weather vane with the date 1680. It is to be found at the back of the car park of Park House residential home for the elderly, Alexandra Road.

  1. New Gate also had a tower beside it. Having been new built in Elizabethan times, hence the name. It was opposite the East end of Yarmouth way, and a small portion of the tower can still be seen beside the road at the South end of Alexandra Road.

The new gate is not here but was inserted in this part of the wall between the park tower and Harris’ tower.

  1. New building around the West end of St George’s Road has absorbed Ravelin Tower. The ravelin here was constructed in 1569, and a second small ravelin outside it, in 1577. see the Yorke map.

This shows the ravelin, but no gate to the South (left).

 

  1. Ravelin Gate (my name). A gate on the South side of the ravelin, was walled up before 1643.

Not on the Elizabethan map, inserted after.

  1. Ames’ Gate, Harris’ Gate, Little Mount Gate, Appleby’s or Norfor’s Gate, demolished in 1804, then know as Drum, or York opening. (Drum Public House, York Road) not on the Elizabethan map, inserted after to create York Road.
  2. Harris’ Tower Still Present on the East wall of Woodhall Hotel or the old vicarage, to the North of Lancaster Road, the top was taken down in 1642.

  1. White Lion Gate or Ropemaker’s Gate, once known as Symond’s Gate from the family of the name, who owned land and property here, including the Old White Lion Inn. It was situated on Jetty Road, which has been re-named as St Peter’s Road. It was demolished in 1745, by William Norfor, given permission because some nails were sticking out and catching on and tearing nets carried through it (they could have removed the nails!)

  1. Garden Gate, at the end of Alma Road, has the Jews cemetary beside it on the outside of the wall. The wall around the Jews cemetary has been re-built in 2001. The building on Blackfriars Road opposite was the Victoria Garden Public House, denoting the splendid gardens to be found here in the 19th century. Even the pub has been demolished and replaced by three very ordinary modern terraced houses (1999/2000). This gate was known as Moyse’s Colby’s and Stephenson’s Gate at different times, and demolished in 1776.

 

This part of the Elizabethan map shows the wall very shortened, and garden gate was a later insertion.

  1. South-East Tower, attached to the pottery and an old disused smoke-house, has a well that it still useable in it. An old lady who at one time lived in the tower, was a candle maker, and the tallow was found to have dripped through the floorboards and into the well below. The tower is well worth a visit, and the pottery contains a museum, all run by Mr Childs, who makes all sorts of Yarmouth decorative mugs as well as other gifts.

In the picture, my two youngest daughters, Samantha and Sheena are seen peering into the well in 1984.

  1. Blackfriars Tower was always known as such from the adjacent monastery. Nowadays there is a gateway through the tower, but this is a modern feature. There was once a guard tower on the first floor. Ten skeletons were discovered near here in decayed wooden coffins, in 1850, some 70 yards to the South of the tower.

 

  1. South Tower (my name) was the last before reaching the South Gate. Some 18 feet in breadth, it is still standing, but was once taller.

 

  1. South Gate or Great Gate. This was a splendid edifice. There are many well-known prints depicting both outside faces. The main structure was demolished in 1812, but there is a little known picture of the remains, when it had been purchased and was prior to demolition of the West tower in 1867. The original of this drawing is in Rumbelow’s diary.

From the Elizabethan map.

 

The dimensions of parts of the walls were given by Swinden as follows:

The breadth of the 7th. (Swinden’s numbering and running South to North – the reverse way) tower- 9 yards.

To the 6th gate, (Oxney's, or Steele's Gate)- 83 yds. from the 7th. The breadth of Oxney's Gate, being also a tower- including both the gate and tower, 7 yards.

Steel's gate to the guard tower, 76 yds., this tower 8 yds. broad, where there was an enclosure inside the town walls, called the "main guard".

From that gate to the Market gate, 68 yds. The market gate, with a square tower, was about 18 yds. in breadth.

From the market gate to the hospital tower was 78 yds., and the latter tower was 8 yds. broad.

From the hospital tower to the Pudding Gate was 78 Yards, which, with its tower was 8 yards broad. On the east of that was the burial ground for those who died of the plague in 1579, at which time some 43 persons died in one day.

The Pudding Gate

 

From the pudding gate to st.Nicholas tower, was 198 yards. The Pudding Gate has been considered recently to take its name from the slaughter houses nearby, where they made blood pudding.

The St.Nicholas tower also had its own gate, 8 yards wide, but which when Swinden described it had already been walled up for many years.

From St. Nicholas tower to King Henry's tower was measured as being 34 yds., and Swinden gives the circumference of King Henry's tower as 20 yds.

From there to the next corner of the wall was 136 yds., and from there to the next tower and corner, 86 yds.

The distance from that corner to the North Gate is given as 48 yds., and the breadth of the gate, with its tower, 22 yards. The breadth of the gate within the tower, 4 yards.

 

The North Gate

 

From the north gate to the intermediate tower was 96 yards, with the distance from

there to the north-west tower 93 yds, leaving a further 11 yards to the end of the wall beside the river. The whole distance then made 2238 yards, plus or minus errors.

The South East Tower

 

When Southey visited Yarmouth in 1798, all of the old walls, towers, and gates were still standing. What a magnificent sight that must have been! Although they are also on Swinden's map, those features are depicted on the Elizabethan pictorial map, which can be found tightly rolled in a cardboard box in the manuscript room at the British Museum. It is part of the Cottonian collection. Sir Robert Cotton was an Elizabethan collector, whose great collection actually formed the basis of the inauguration of that museum. Although pictorial rather than a modern type of map, and certainly not to any scale, it shows a number of features that are not readily if at all appreciated elsewhere. Even though it may not be scale, it certainly looks as though the sixth haven is about the position of the power station on the south denes. The two market crosses are evident, also the stocks, the windmills, the castle, and the ducking stool. The towers show considerable accuracy of rendition, with their striking brickwork. Features as known today seem well represented, and so I think that we should take particular note of those that are now missing.             

 

*3 This fits well with the 15/16th.century pottery finds below the imported soil.       

Napoleonic Fortifications

An interesting report was made on these fortifications by Captain Whitmore, the Officer Commanding in 1811, it is full of useful detail, as is a further report (possibly later the same year) by Charles Frederick, the surveyor of the ordnance.

Both of these are given in full as follows-

1.  A report on a condition of the South and North Star Batteries, made (on) the 15th.May 1811, by George Whitmore, Captain Commanding, Royal Engineers. Sent from the Royal Engineers Office, Colchester:

 

 Sir,

 

  As I find it possible to prepare the report of the various works here and military in the eastern district, without more delay than would be injurious to the necessary repairs of the Yarmouth redoubts. I consider it my duty to make an immediate report on them, and to request your opinion as to then mode of re-establishment which should be adopted. The north and south redoubts at Yarmouth were established in the year 1795, by Capt.Sir J.Page, they contain each 12 pieces of ordnance, and are in such a general state of decay that I do not apprehend any partial repair could render them completely effective.

The old work from its exposure to the sea air and the shifting of the land is destroyed, the lower floors of the block-houses which stood within the works house, should make it become

page 15

necessary to fill up the ditches which surround them in order to pressure the building from falling. Both floors were originally intended for the reception of stores, and the upper ones are still employed as guard rooms.The ditches which surround the redoubts are filled up every winter with sand*6, which is now level with the sills of the entrances and has completely filled the stockade, and the wooden platforms are generally insufficient.

 Under these circumstances/ and if the probation of these fences deemed advisable it is evident they must be restored rather than repaired, and as the heavy guard  employed on the batteries are now raised on **** platforms, perhaps it would be necessary to remove the works altogether.

 I understand **** are not to be procured, and consequently the revetment must be of brickwork and instead of this seems the more essential as the perpetual juggling against the scarp counterscarp and parapets to clear away the sand destroys any less permanent facing as effectually as the sea breeze*7. If therefore it is the pleasure of the board to repair these works, I shall be happy on their instruction to forward the necessary projects and estimates. I beg however to observe that **? towers seem to be particularly applicable to this situation that I should prefer them to any other ? form of defence, and that the two pictures which accompany this report represent the batteries in their original state rather than the present one.

 

      I have the honour to be Sir,

        Your obedient humble servant,

                Geo. Whitmore,

                 Officer Commanding.

 

*6,*7 References the inexorable build-up of the sand blown across the Denes.

Another document, headed "Remarks" , all written in copper-plate handwriting, as was the previous letter, this one written on a journey to view the fortifications at Yarmouth and the Languard Fort. (Harwich)

 

 16th October       from the Honourable Charles Frederick Esq.,                            Lawyer and Surveyor General of                                   (?his) Majesties Ordnance.

 

 

At Mr.Lateliers near Epping Forest from whence we proceeded through Rumford (Romford) and Ingatestone to Witham. On 17th. we passed through Colchester, and lay at Ipswich. (on) the 18th. visited Languard fort situated at the entrance of the harbour at Harwich, from whence we proceeded that evening to woodbridge, and the 19th. went to Beckles (Beccles). The next day got to north Yarmouth where we stopped two days to view the town and  castle. The tow of Yarmouth is encompassed with a kind of Roman wall*8 on every side except the west, where it is secured by the river Brayden(Breydon)which forms its haven. This old fortification or rampart has towers about 300 yards distance from each other, with an arched line which serves as a banquette for small arms and is about one mile in length from south to north wherein there are nine gateways leading to a common called the Denes towards the seashore which runs parallel with the town at a distance of a quarter of a mile.

 On two of the towers and on east mount are mounted 12 twelve- pounders, of which the Surveyor General took a particular account. This ancient wall has a modern bastion built there to flank the old wall, but it being at too great a distance to defend the remaining length on both sides, I humbly think that two new bastions should be added, the one at the south, the other at the north which would greatly secure this wealthy and populous trading town*9 from the insult of an enemy to which they are very much exposed in time of war.

 I have mentioned in a former report that the corporation of Great Yarmouth have obtained a grant from the Crown to be exempt from quartering soldiers, except in time of need. In consideration thereof they are obliged to be at the charge of keeping the fortifications of the town in good repairs and three companies  of well exercised militia of 60 men each to mount guard and do service when required, and although we are now in peace, a constable and 15 men mount guard and patrol round the rampart and town in the night.*9

 Going through the town the Surveyor General viewed the Officer of Ordnance. Here there were formerly kept in a side train, small arms and ammunitions to supply the town militia. This store-house has in front towards the market place 22 feet in breadth, 105 feet in length, which the corporation keep in good repair, to whom I am informed, the office of ordnance has granted leave to make a workhouse of it for the poor, on the condition to have it again when required, or such spot of ground in the town as the office shall think proper.

 Two miles south from this town lies Yarmouth Castle*10. Situated at the point of a narrow neck of land near the entrance of the harbour between Yarmouth road and its haven. The castle, or properly a sea battery, of fifteen guns, is very small. The inside then being only a square of seventy-six feet. The two half-moon platforms are raised eleven feet above the horizon with merlons and embrasures, and the scarp wall is sixteen foot high with bad bricks of a smaller size than common which continually moulder away.

 It has no ditch or flanks to defend it on the land side, but the two half-moon batteries are very well calculated to protect the entrance of the harbour and to secure ships in that part of Yarmouth road.

 The buildings within are only a barrack-room for the gunners, of two rooms on a floor, a powder magazine and store room under the small platform of the west saillant(salient)angle. This castle was thoroughly repaired in 1746, is now in good condition except the brick **** of the powder magazine. The rainwater comes in and spoils the powder. To prevent this the

 

extra from p.16

stone platform above must be taken up, a cement of Terras to cover the arch, and the pavements to be re-laid with a better cement. Is also wanted, a 100 foot awning of pallisadoes(palisades)to prevent people from throwing stones into the arches.

 On 22nd. we went back to Beckles, the 23rd. stopped at Ipswich, and returned to London on 24th.

 

*8 an interesting thought of his!  (though obviously it wasn't, but I think that he means  its typical shape).*9 I have highlighted these notable descriptions.*10 more properly called the fort, so as not to confuse it with the castle keep that was once at row 9.