From the quay to Howard
Street, this row was named after the bank on the quay between rows 53 and 55,
and the bank is described in the section concerning Row 53.*1
From
the west end
The house at the
south‑west corner of Row 55 was occupied for many generations as a
booksellers shop. In the early part of the 18th. century, it was in the
possession of William Eaton, who in 1728 published a Grammar examination book
for the Grammar School. After his death the house passed to Messrs.Downes and
March, who had leave to box out the shop front by 5 feet and 7 inches. Amongst
other books published there was a Materia Medica by Dr.Aikin. Several others in
due course followed in business there as listed by Palmer and included Louis
Alfred Meall, who published a map of Yarmouth in 1855., and thereafter
Messrs.Cobb, after whose retirement it ceased to be a booksellers. The next
house was a grocers for more than a century, and was Drapers, then Morgan's,
and in 1870 was at that time occupies by John Clowes. This shop had also, in
1787 been "boxed out".
"At the north‑west
corner the bank occupies the site up to Row 53. The shop at the south‑west
corner had long been noted as a printers, commencing with William Eaton in 1728
down to Cobb the printer. Clowes the grocer, one of the oldest in the trade now
occupy this shop, in 1927, and the next to the south". *2
There is no mention of this row in the Row
Survey, 1936.
In about 1928,
Frederick Wright and his family moved here from row 56. Alice Wilson was now,
together with her sister, working at Johnson's in Middlegate. The family
resided at no.3. The house here had a front room and a very small kitchen.
There was a copper outside under a lean‑to in the yard. The passage came
round behind from the row through a gate. They didn't use the front entrance at
all. In the war there was an Anderson shelter put on a small space at the back
(where it appears that no. 4 row 57 had been demolished). Alice Wilson
eventually was married from this house, in 1934, and moved to row 20. When she
worked at Johnson's she did a year as a "runabout", for five
shillings a week. Then she became a machinist, sewing dungarees on an electric
machine. Fred Wright was generally in work, but occasionally they were laid
off, and Alice was sent into Clowes' shop with twopence for bacon bones.
Sometimes they wore cast off clothes, but they never went hungry. The bedrooms
were unheated. The two older girls shared a bed. Baths were once a week in the
tin bath, with the water heated on the stove.
Next
door was Harry Shipp, but Dorothy Wilson, Fred's stepdaughter, married, and
moved in when Shipp moved out (no. 2) Her husband Herbert, was a bricklayer's
labourer. They had a son John, and a daughter, Pat., now Ellis. Nell Aldous was a widow, some steps led up
to her house, which was at the Howard Street end. There were no houses on the
bank side of the row.
The Occupants,
Row Fifty Five, 1886
( from Howard Street to Hall Quay )
1. Alden, O.,
bus driver
2. Smith J.,
carter
3. Johnson,
Mrs.H.
4. Munford, D.
5. Smith, J.,
labourer
6. Huke's
printing works
7. Baker, T.,
hotel porter
The Occupants,
Row Fifty Five, 1913
( from Hall Quay to Howard Street South )
South side
1. Futter,
Mrs.
2. Ellis,
Matthew William
3. Chapman,
William
4. Andrews,
Mrs.
5. Disney,
William
The Occupants,
Row Fifty Five, 1927
( from Hall Quay to Howard Street South )
South side
1. Buttifant,
Bert
2. Benns, John
William
3. Moore,
Richard Edward
4. Smith,
William
5. Aldous,
Mrs.
The Occupants,
Row Fifty Five, 1936
( from Hall Quay to 75 Howard Street South )
South side
1. Moore,
Richard E.
2. Shipp,
Harry
3. Wright,
Frederick
4. Smith,
William
5. Aldous,
Mrs.