ROW FIFTY SIX ‑ EXCISE OFFICE ROW (Palmer)
(No additional names by
Johnson)
Red House Row,
1920 (Alice Wilson)
Row fifty six from Howard
Street to the Market Place, was called excise office row from the house at
the north‑west corner,*1 which
was used by the excise officers, the excise tax having been introduced by
Sir Robert Walpole in 1773.
This house was
subsequently purchased by the Trustee Savings Bank, and they transacted
business there until they moved to new premises in the Market Place.
It was, when Palmer wrote, the property of Mr. J.W. Diboll. The house no longer
exists; here now is the entrance to the public carpark.
David Frosdick at
rear, Janice front, John on right. See below.
The house at the south‑east corner, and
fronting the Market Place, extending to the next row, no.58, was a public house, which for upwards of a century was
known as the "Elephant and Castle", and which was rebuilt in 1831.
There were formerly some good houses in the row, says Palmer, standing back and
fronting south, showing that the rows
in former times were pleasanter places to dwell than at present. (1874)
This row now runs along
the side of Palmers Store. (1993) The south side of the row
appears to have always been composed of a number of warehouses, as can
be clearly seen on the maps. The north side of the row was however residential,
like the previous row north, 54. There were nine dwellings numbered, and nine
can be counted on the map, although numbers 2 and 4 do not appear to have been
occupied as dwellings during the period 1913 to 1936. During this period the Pratts were in residence at No. 3
from 1913 to 1927, George Goodson
likewise, and right up to the
second war. W. Marshall was there at No. 9 for the whole period between the
wars.
"When Yarmouth
was less populated, the excise office was situated at the north‑west corner
of the row, and the south gable
gives evidence of the flint and brick
remains.*2 There were several old
protruding beam ends, an unique dentalled overdoor, and an old window
frame, all worthy
of notice. At the north side at nos. 3 and 4 could be seen some iron figures
‑68‑ probably the first and last letters are missing, once belonging to 17th century property". *2
In the Row Survey‑
"Excise Office Row. A good house used for employees by "Palmer's" the drapers near Market
Place, a red brick house of date approx. 1700,
with string course, and sash barred windows, well maintained. Door jamb of entrance of an earlier type, say
1650."
After her husband's
death (see row 58), Gertrude Wilson moved here in about 1918, she had a family
of four young children, and was a widow at the age of 26. She then married
Frederick Wright, and they lived at no. 5.
Alice Wilson spent most of her childhood here, and left school at the
age of fourteen. Her mother then
told her that she would be working at Johnson's on
Monday. She started there as a runabout,
and earned five shillings a week. (25 new pence) She kept one shilling, and mother needed the rest.
Frederick Wright was
a docker, and worked for Lee Barber's on the South Quay. He and Gertrude had a daughter, Irene, who
was born on 13th.Nov.1923. Fred was a modest sized
man with a moustache, who liked his drink, and was often to be
found in the Great Eastern on Howard Street. Alice was often sent to
drag him home before he got into a fight. (he usually got that way in due
course)
As a child, Alice
only went to the pictures on an "occasional" day when the children
could barter their way in for admission
with an egg. Otherwise there were no special
treats, and no birthday celebrations either.
The house at no. 5
had an entrance into a yard, with an outside toilet. There was one single room
on the ground floor, which had a range to keep the whole house warm, as well as to cook. There was a copper and a
tap under a lean‑to shelter in the yard. The main bedroom on the first
floor had a smaller bedroom behind. There was another small attic bedroom
above. In about 1928, they moved to row
55.
Next door at no. 3
was Frank Pratt, whose wife Ethel had a crippled leg, so she employed young
Alice Wilson to do her shopping, for
one shilling a week. Ada Goodson lived
at no. 6. The Goodsons had 5 children, Alice, Ada, Frankie, Georgie, and one
other. George Goodson was a baker. John
Clutton lived at no. 7 in 1926, the
house mentioned below.
"At no. 8 was
Robert Brown, with a wife, and son Robert. Most people in the row then
would stand on the doorstep
and gossip, but Mrs. Marshall at no. 9 kept herself to herself".
Janice Frosdick.
The last family to
reside in this row was that of Frederick James Frosdick, and his wife, Evelyn
Pearl. Fred was born in 1915, and died aged 67 in 1982. Evelyn at the end lived in the St. David's home in Nelson
Road South, aged 83. (until her death
in 1993). Fred was born in Halvergate. The family resided at
no. 3, which was the first of two dwellings side by side, and immediately
behind the premises of Palmer's store.
Opposite, on the south side of the row, was a long building, a warehouse
belonging to Palmer's. There were three
stone steps up from the row into the yard at the front of the house, and
the house was entered through the scullery. Outside was the doorway into the
cellar, which was as big as the house
below, and there was a steep flight of
stone steps. Along the side of the
yard was a high wall, dividing it from the next
house. Father used to paint this wall every year.
Up the row toward the
Market Place, was the back door of the property of Charles Hanton, living at
22 Row 58. He always lay in his bed in
the room there, where everyone could see him, with the door wide open. An
elderly man, he terrified the children that lived in the row.
In the Frosdick's
house there was just one main room and the scullery on the ground floor, and
two bedrooms above. Even at the end there was never electricity in this house,
but they had gas for a cooker and for a gas lamp in the living room. Washing
was done in the copper in the scullery.
There was no hot water, and no bath.
(this was in 1956) Upstairs, the
only light available was that from a candle.
There was a solitary
coal fire, with the coal kept in the cellar, though it used to flood down there
when it rained, so that the coal got wet. There was gas latterly for lighting
and cooking. When the gas was about to run out on the meter, the light began to
dim, and there was then time to rush to the
meter to put
another penny in before it went
out. Bath time was once a week in the tin bath, the water heated on the
stove, and then used again for
each child. There were three children, John, David and Janice. There is a photo
of them taken inside this dwelling. Perhaps once in six months was the great
treat of visiting the slipper baths
with their seemingly huge bath‑tubs of steaming hot water.
The children would in
those days (1950's) roam the streets
and rows seeking out the Americans, and
badgering them for chewing gum. If none
were forthcoming they would press them for pennies to buy some.
Frederick Frosdick worked at Bunn's the grain‑merchants, and walked twice
a day from row 56, over the bridge to the warehouse on the quayside, where it
still is today. In those days all the
work was done manually, and the grain was shovelled into sacks on board each
ship, and carried over the
shoulder up the gangplank to the
warehouse. This was backbreaking work,
now carried out by a mechanical
screw and suction. Fred would return home
bent over like an old man. He
worked until lunchtime
on Saturday as everyone did.
(Saturday morning work
for most businesses except shops
ceased in the sixties) Holidays did
not exist for Fred.
Leisure then was
either to visit one of the pubs‑
generally the "Great
Eastern" or to listen to the Radio. He came home to
lunch every day. The children
went to school at Runham Vauxhall, and were warmed up
by their mother before leaving,
in-front of the gas fire.
At the end of the row
was a second‑hand shop run by an
old lady called Dolly Harrison, and on the corner was the Selbourne House. It
took a long time to walk down the row from the market place to Howard Street, and the fashion for women then was to
wear high heeled shoes. The sound of the high
heels clacking away up and down this narrow row with its
concreted pavement was seemingly never‑ending, coming
gradually up to the house and then fading away again into the distance.
At night the noise as the customers
emptied from Selbourne House was enough
to waken any child. (there is more about Selbourne House under "Howard
Street") Selbourne house was then a house of ill‑repute, kept by Frank
Keller.
At the Market place
end of the row was the "Red House", kept by Teddy Moore, who had a
large gauge clockwork railway running around the inside of the pub. He was a
model-maker, and made the trains himself.
The Red House was the
pub facing the Market Place between rows 56 and 58. It had been the
"Elephant and Castle" in the 19th. century, the sign being changed
between 1904 and 1908 to the "Distillery", after which it became the
"Market Distillery". From the 1930's the feature of this public house
was a model "O" gauge railway that ran around the walls on a high
shelf. The track was more than 70 feet long, the work of the landlord, Mr.
Moore. There was a Hornby Flying Scott loco, and four illuminated carriages.
The train passed various tableaux, depicting such places as London,
Switzerland, America, and Egypt, as well as Yarmouth central! The model railway
had taken 22 weeks to build, and four days to erect. It first ran on 30th.March
1939, and the pub. closed when bought by Palmers in 1961. The site is now that
of Mackay's store.*3
In the deeds of no.
13 in this row, it was sold by Samuel Aldred
in an auction at
the Star Hotel on Thurs.April
3rd. 1884, at 7 pm. It was then described as a small freehold dwelling-house, containing sitting‑room, pantry, coal closet, yard, partable pump
of spring water, and two bedrooms, let to Mrs.Rowland at 6 pounds 10
shillings per year! In 1809 it had been sold by Mary Cameron, and John Larter,
a carpenter, also Edmund Girling, and John Fountain, to Robert Cory, and Edmund
Girling, Shopkeeper. It should be
remembered that Cory was prominent in the town, and has written a manuscript
history and extracts of the council's records,which unfortunately he never had
printed, and most importantly, made the copy of Manship's history that Palmer
used to produce the printed version.
Cory has signed the deeds of this small property. In 1861 the property then owned by Robert
David Barber, gentleman, was conveyed to Charles Burton, town
painter. (by Henry Palmer, Town solicitor). In
1884 there was an indenture between
Edmund Crisp, gentleman, and
Charles Gourlay Burton, painter, Jonathan Skipper, brewers labourer, and
William West Temple, master mariner, and
Priscilla his wife. on 9th. March 1872, with a mortgage for 200 pounds.
Most astonishingly,
when the building was sold in 1939, between Ernest Newton West, of 5 Parsons Green Lane, Fulham,
in London, and Palmers,
Gt.Yarmouth Ltd., it was sold for the mere sum of 15 pounds. Number 13 was
eventually numbered 9. The number had been changed between 1884 and 1921.
*3 Rows of Gt.Yarmouth, M.Teun.
The Occupants,
Row Fifty Six, 1886
( from Market Place to Howard Street)
Timber, E.
Stewart, Mrs.
Brighton, Mrs.
Breeze, Miss
Turrell, W.H.,
builder
Chace, B.
Beevor, M.
Sharp, V.,
chair mender
Flowers, Mrs.
High, R.
Pitchers, R.
Chesham, J.
Angell, W.
Barrow, Mrs.
Stewart,
Mrs.E.
The Occupants,
Row Fifty Six, 1913
( from Market Place to Howard Street South)
3. Pratt, Mrs.
5. Wright,
Elijah
6. Goodson,
George
8. Read,
William
9. Higgleton,
Walter
The Occupants,
Row Fifty Six, 1927
( from Market Place to Howard Street South)
1. Neve,
Thomas
3. Pratt, Mrs.
5. Wright,
Frederick
6. Goodson,
George
7. Clutton, John
Alfred
8. Brown,
Robert
9. Marshall,
William
The Occupants,
Row Fifty Six, 1936
( from Market Place to Howard Street South)
1. King, Miss
M.
3. Anderson,
Thomas
5. Plane,
William
6. Goodson,
George
7. Hamilton,
Albert
8. Brown,
Robert
9. Marshall,
William