ROW EIGHTY TWO ‑WORSHIPS
SOUTH ROW [1]
Swinden the
Historian's Row, 1770[2]
Baptist Meeting
North Row
From
Middlegate Street to King Street:
"Henry
Swinden's History of Yarmouth is a valuable work and reference. It contains
much about our 25 charters. He was a bookseller and land surveyor, and
schoolmaster, residing at the
south‑west corner in a house extending to row 85. He died
11th.Jan.1772. On the south side of
this Row, and extending to row eighty
five, was a chapel belonging to the
general Baptists, called Bethabara Chapel".[3]
At
the south‑west corner*1 of this row and occupying the space between it
and row 85 was a small house fronting
west, and Blind Middle Street, which was the residence of Henry Swinden, the
historian of Yarmouth. He was a bookseller, a schoolmaster, and a land
surveyor, but these occupations it is to be feared brought him but a scanty
income. Originally the book was issued in weekly parts containing three pages
of letter press at six pence each, William Eaton being the Yarmouth bookseller
by whom the parts were distributed to
the subscribers.
Swinden
did not live to see the completion of that which had been the cherished object
of his thoughts for many years. He died on the eleventh of January, 1772, being
then only in his 56th. year. Swinden in his capacity as land surveyor prepared
a plan of the town on a scale of thirty
three yards to one inch. The whole measured four feet nine inches by two
feet four inches. I eventually saw the original of this map,
later copied by Armstrong, which smaller copies as printed, I have adjusted in scale to coincide with later maps for
comparison.
"The
map was after his death purchased by the corporation, who in 1779 permitted
Mr.Armstrong to make a copy, which on a reduced scale is usually to be found
bound up with Swinden's history"*1.
The
house at the north‑west corner of
the row, once the property of John Fisher, has a high parapet at the front that
obscures the roof from the street. Behind the parapet, and visible from the
back, is however a steeply pitched pintiled roof, rather a fine one. As can be
seen from the row, the house was built
of small 18th. century bricks, though
possibly a slightly earlier
date of about 1680 may be appropriate. The house is "L" shaped,
with a wooden faced extension added inside the L, along the row. Round
into Deneside there can be found an old flint and brick built
"fisherman's" cottage, built
between this house and no.54 Deneside, and accessed by a passage and
doorway leading underneath the building from
Deneside, to the north of 54
Deneside, the cottage being numbered
54a Deneside. This looks to be a
very old and original property, at
least externally. The house with the
parapet had been at some time divided into two occupations, with "Waveney
Insurance" in the southern half until late 1992, when they moved next to
Vauxhall Station, and
"Bananas" the fruiterer, in the northern half.
*1
Palmer gives this date, though I have generally appended the date of Swinden's
publishing, with which the map usually appears. The date of the small engraved
version was no doubt later still.
The Occupants,
Row Eighty two, 1886
( from King
Street to Howard Street )
Sewell, Mrs.
Wells, R.,
labourer
Jessop, Miss
Hodds, W.,
stonemason
McCord, Mrs
Staines, Mrs
Betts, Mrs.
Lawrence, R.
The Occupants,
Row Eighty two, 1913
( from 167 King
Street to 32 Howard Street South )
north side
Bramble, P.O.,
iron monger
1. Sutton, Mrs.
2. Jackaman,
Joseph William
3. Etheridge,
John Albert
south side
11. Nobbs,
Alfred
The Occupants,
Row Eighty two, 1927
( from 167 King
Street to 32 Howard Street South )
north side
1. Nicholson,
Mrs.
2. Levell, Mrs.
3. Ellis,
Matthew, William
Eaves, W.J.E., cabinet maker
5. Thrower,
Harry
south side
9. Leavold,
Albert
10. Collins, Mrs
Arcadian Sports Club, A.Wilson, sec.
The Occupants,
Row Eighty two, 1936
( from 167 King
Street to 32 Howard Street South )
north side
1. Duck, Harry
2. Turner,
Charles
3. Dugdale,
Walter
Durrant Bros., French Polishers
south side
10. Artis,
Ernest
Arcadian Sports Club, Walter Dougal
Secretary.
11. Lawson,
Walter
The Occupants,
Row Eighty One, 1886
( from Deneside
to King Street )
Lettis, T., surgery