Row fifty ran from
the south‑west corner of George Street, to Howard Street. At the south‑west corner, and
occupying the space southward to Row 52, there was a fine old house having a
cut‑flint front towards the quay.*1 All
the principal rooms were lined with wainscot, and there were other
decorations peculiar to mansions of
the 17th century.
In Palmer's time it
had been divided into two occupations, shop windows were inserted, and the
tiled roof had been replaced with slate.
During the 18th.century it was
owned by the Love family. They came from Ireland. Samuel Love was Mayor
of Cork in 1695. The founder of the Yarmouth family was the
Rev.Barry Love. He fled from
Ireland to London in 1689 to escape the persecution of the protestants
then occurring under
the Lord Lieutenant,
the Earl of Tyrconnel, who was in arms
for James II.
White Friars Court.
Barry Love became
lecturer in Yarmouth following the resignation of Dean Davies. He became the Vicar of Yarmouth in 1691,
and later, in 1698 married Anne,
the rich widow
of George Ward.
When St.George's Chapel was opened in 1715, he preached the first sermon
there. His first wife
dying in 1721, he then married
Mary Peters, but died himself in 1722, aged 60. His son Barry was elected Mayor
in 1733, and later that year was involved
in a dispute over election of
commoners, when he
seized Nathaniel Symonds
by the nose and was then struck
over the head by him with his cane.
The next year, when Samuel Wakeman was elected
Mayor instead of himself , he refused to dine with them, and instead, went to dine at Mrs Barnaby's. (probably the Ship
Tavern). This Barry Love married
Virtue, one of the two daughters
and co‑heiresses of Christopher
Brightin, and thereby acquired a considerable
fortune. He was a county magistrate, had a country seat at Ormesby, and was Sheriff of Norfolk in 1745. He died in 1748, aged 52,
possessed of extensive estates at Ormesby, Tunstall, Repps,
Filby and Hemsby.
A detailed history of this family is in
Palmer's Perlustration, Vol. I, p.281‑286. Subsequently this house was purchased by Charles Costerton, surgeon,
Mayor in 1825, who
lived there until his death in 1851, aged 61. He married, firstly Harriet Wenn of
Ipswich, and secondly, Suzannah
Shouldham, widow of Capt. Harmer R. N.
At the south‑west
corner of the row, was a
public house called "The
Buck", and nearby was another, called the "Sir Samuel
Hood". Between Row 50 and old Broad Row, was a house erected early in the
17th. century, with a square‑cut flint front. It was later numbered as no. 65 George Street. In 1749 it was the property of John Eules, upholder, but much later, towards the end of the century, it
was purchased by Samuel Higham Aldred, who was the Adjutant of two separate
Corps of Volunteers formed in 1798. They were increased in 1803 to six
companies, and united into a Regiment
of local Militia, under the command of Lieutenant‑colonel Gould,
Mr. Aldred retaining his post as adjutant. (the local militia was raised to
counter the Napoleonic threat, rather like the Home Guard in 1940).
The house at the
south‑west corner*2 has a long
history as a family residence. Dr.Charles Costerton,
Mayor 1825 resided here and Sir James Paget ‑ see Row 139‑ the celebrated Queen's Surgeon was apprenticed
here. There is a description of this residence, which became Bunting's grocery
store, under Row 52. "The splendid
flint fronted houses to the north‑west should be taken note of. At the
greengrocers shop with the rare window frames to the south of the east entrance, the foul murder of Mrs
Candler took place in November 1844.
Next to the south may be observed a tablet in the wall, with the initials S.W.M., 1795".*2
According to Paget,
Costerton was a "kind and helpful master, though hot of temper and sometimes indiscrete".*3
Dr. Costerton's surgeries were 9‑1, and 2‑3 or 5‑6 daily.
Patients had coughs and colds, and occasionally slight injuries. Leg ulcers were bandaged, and country working people particularly, came to
be bled twice a year. Draughts were 1/‑
(one shilling), mixtures 5/‑, leeches were 6d. (pence). Cupping cost
a guinea. For visits, only the medicine was charged, unless
insufficient. James Paget left for St.Bartholomews Hospital in October
1834. James and George Paget then lodged
at 9 Charlotte Street,
Bloomsbury. A year later James Paget
noticed the organism Trichinella Spiralis in
some dissection specimens. Until then this organism was unknown, but is
the cause of Syphilis. He presented a
paper about this to his fellow students.
In 1832 in Yarmouth there was
the first epidemic of Asian Cholera, brought to Yarmouth by sailors from
Newcastle, and very severe.*3
In 1834, Charles and
James Paget published "The Natural History of Great Yarmouth",
a complete enumeration of
botanical species, animals, birds, reptiles, fish, insects, and plants.
There were 88 printed pages, and included 766 insects, 729 flowering plants, and 456 non flowering
plants. Sir William Hooker, the famous
botanist, took a keen interest in Paget as a botanist. The Hookers were born at
Halesworth, and there is a photo of heir house in Rumbelow's Diary.*4
The 1936 survey reads‑
"Poor houses, site of proposed new road." All the houses here were removed in 1971 for a new road as
proposed in 1936‑ Stonecutter's Way.
*1- Palmer*2- Johnson*3- Paget's memoirs*4- Rumbelow's Diary