ROW ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY SIX (Palmer gives no name)
Robins' Half Row
Kemp's Row
St.Peter's Half Alley (Johnson)
Capt.Press' Row
Row One Hundred and Twenty Six map
From
King Street to Deneside:
No.51
King Street, now the property of the labour club, was erected in 1678 by Robert
Robins, a local merchant. It contained excellent panelling, some good chimney
pieces, and the site of the 1927 billiard hall had been an unique old English
garden. *2
Robert Crowe cycling
past the East end of Row 126, 1987
To the
north of, and partly adjoining this row, which has been paved with flagstones, is a large house, no.51,
extending from King Street to Deneside.
In 1678 the site, part of the town waste, was granted by the corporation
to Robert Robins, merchant, who built a house there, which in 1680, he gave to
his daughter Sarah, the wife of Johnathan Calthorpe. Mrs Calthorpe, after the
death of her husband, married Mr.Saunderson, but left this property to Sarah Irene Calthorpe, her daughter by her
first marriage, who became the wife of the Rev.Johnathan Mercer of Swindell in
Westmorland. He in 1745 conveyed it to Thomas Clifton, merchant, by whom this
present dwelling‑house was probably erected, as in 1772 it was described
as a "new built messuage" (another clear demonstration of Palmer's
access to old deeds), then in the occupation of Henry Mayes, and afterwards of
the Rev.George Walker. In 1799 the house was conveyed to Miss Matilda Church,
who in 1802 sold it to Francis Riddell Reynolds, the only surviving son of John
Reynolds (previously mentioned of row 101) (There is a good deal about the
Church family in P.P. under row 115, which row is the next one north.) Reynolds
was a Lawyer in his father's practice initially from 1799, and continued until
his death, a lawyer for 55 years. He married Ann, daughter of Jacob Preston,
entered the corporation, and was elected Mayor in 1804, and again in 1823. He
was Deputy Lieutenant for the County of Norfolk, and Vice President of the
Yarmouth Hospital, of which he was one of the original and most zealous
promoters. He died in 1846, and the house passed to his eldest daughter, Anne,
who married the Rev.Edward Curtis Kemp.
*1
There
are photos of the house taken in the spring of 1915. Miss Kemp had left for
Folkestone, (where I resided as a teenager at no.2 Bathurst Rd.) A girl's
friendly society ran the house after Miss Kemp left. After that it was taken by
the Labour Club, who are still there.
After the death of Mr.Reynolds, the house was for some years occupied by
Dr.Impey, (prev.mentioned under Fuller's Hill), who here collected a good
medical library. Subsequently the same house had been occupied by the Rev.Mark
Waters. Further south, facing King
Street, was a building erected as a school of Industry, but afterwards occupied
as a Chapel by the latter‑day saints, and then converted into dwelling
houses (nos.56 and 56a.), now the site of the surgery waiting room. The name of Captain Press' Row came from the
occupants of the house, no.53, on the south side of the row. Thomas Crisp Press, a shipowner, purchased
no.53 in June 1864, and lived there with his wife Mary. In April 1919, his
heir, Joseph Crisp Press, sold the property on.
In
the "new" cemetery is to be found a memorial to Eliza, wife of Thomas
C.Press, who died on May 3rd.1883, aged 56 years. There is another good
memorial stone to Jane Bacchus, wife of Thomas Crisp Press.
It is clear from the deeds of 53 King Street
that Jane was an earlier wife than Mary, of this Thomas Press, and she has much
the larger and more splendid memorial.
On the 1906 map the house at no.53, on the south side of the row, was
set back about 3 feet from the pavement, with I think, a small iron railed
fence in front.
The Occupants, Row 126, 1886, Press, Captain T.C. (no
residents listed at the later dates)