Great Yarmouth

There's a bit of a climatic crisis called the Little Ice Age.

So if you're reliant on fishing, say, as the people are in Great Yarmouth where there's also a witch hunt, you might find the fish shoals don't turn up as they should do.

So the dissolution of the monasteries is really important.

And then there's all sorts of other economic crises as well, which I think encourages people to find scapegoats for their poverty and their sense that everything is broken and nothing works anymore and wasn't it better in the good old days.

to go along and find witches in their community.

There are a couple of examples of these.

The people of Great Yarmouth in Norfolk, they write to the witch finder to say, can you come to our town as well? We've heard you've had great success in finding witches in Essex and Suffolk.

We're concerned that we've got witches here.

Again, just to reiterate, Rupert Lowe was your MP.

he was your MP and you kicked him out alleged that he'd done a bunch of stuff and the police were like we don't agree with that and then you have the temerity to come out and say he won't be on 1% anywhere even in Great Yarmouth

and now it's ok well he will win Great Yarmouth but he'll be 1% everywhere else ok well actually it's 3% ok now we're seeing polls of like 11% ok but but but it's just going to carry on like that that is exactly what's going to happen so and

this this begging it's like look please don't go so well what happened to the haughty contemptuous attitude you won't be on one percent anywhere and that and that's why i made the

point about the energy earlier on so so that's why it's sucked

Anyway, like I said, it's all quite ironic, and I just wanted to play this again.

The party isn't even registered.

He won't be on 1% anywhere, not even probably in Great Yarmouth.

They weren't there to say, get off our land.

LAUGHTER When they arrive in Great Yarmouth and Mystique come out, it's not, you know, they're not going, no, not in our backyard.

Join us in

two weeks where we'll be coming from.

And I can remember specifically there was an attraction.

Was it in Great Yarmouth? Yeah, yeah.

Um, it was called terror castle and it was a walk around haunts and we'd go without mom and dad.

We'd go to campsites and holiday around the UK.

The North River section is, as I have already said, very much the most extensive.

connected directly with this stream is a line of broads stretching from south walsham to wroxham a distance of ten miles the ant drains a beautiful lake called barton and a very much smaller one named after the village of stalham from which it is separated by a dyke the thurn or hundred stream receives the waters of hickling hawsey mere higham sounds somerton womack etc last for our consideration is the filby ormsby and rollsby section which finds outlet to the bure below acle bridge through a channel called the muck fleet having gained a little idea of some of the waterways of norfolk and suffolk and made up his mind to spend his holiday thereon the reader will probably inquire where he is to go for a ship in which to make the journeys Alton, Norwich, Yarmouth and Wroxham are the chief letting centres, and a yacht to accommodate three or four with all the necessary culinary utensils, plate, table linen, etc., may be hired for five guineas or £5.05 a week, which, I should add, includes the man's wages and use of dinghy.

if a large party is being made up of say ten or a dozen the norfolk wherry is the most suitable craft afloat these barges are as comfortable as a thames houseboat with the great added advantage of affording extreme facility for getting from place to place the charm which female society adds to everything can also by their means be enjoyed as in all the wherries separate apartments are devoted to ladies use in the main cabins i had almost written state cabins so nicely are some furnished and decorated i know of one which is actually panelled in oak a piano is generally to be found and on the inevitable wet day a capital stove provides the good companionable friend which afloat as well as ashore is so much appreciated by comfort-loving englishmen of course as a yacht owner i very much prefer the fun of sailing a cutter to a wherry although even in the latter i have enjoyed great excitement sometimes but on one point i am bound to admit our larger rivals beat us this consists in their ability to explore the most remote parts of the district in my own craft i can go almost everywhere but must confess myself outdone in this particular by many a wherry of three or four times the buttercup's tonnage the way in which the number of wherry yachts has multiplied within the last three seasons is excellent proof of their popularity and a description of the best if not the largest specimen of these floating hotels may be deemed of interest the craft i refer to is called the zoe and is forty tons burden unlike most of the pleasure wherries she is not used for trading purposes during the winter months indeed all her oak fittings are permanent fixtures six or eight persons would find ample accommodation but for a lengthened cruise a party of six would be recommended this is however purely a matter of taste as the following details of her interior arrangements will show the ladies cabin is fitted with two brass bedsteads with wire spring mattresses and is furnished with a wash-hand stand water laid on writing desk plenty of drawers c should more than two ladies be in the party there are additional mattresses to accommodate the same number which fix on the cabin floor the lavatory on board is complete with every modern yacht appliance so that the sanitary arrangements are perfect in the main hatchway a bath is fitted when required this is supplied with water from tanks on board and through a tap fixed for the purpose all waste runs into the village the main cabin is fifteen feet long by eleven wide and has six feet head-room in this apartment particularly luxury is combined with comfort and in fact it may more properly be called the saloon the men's quarters and cooking galley are at the stern the stove i should say is easily capable of cooking for twelve and are entirely separate from the rest of the vessel although communication is rendered easy by aid of electric bells i have recently had the pleasure of inspecting this beautiful craft and her owner took particular pains to explain the various points To all of these, I fear, I may not have done justice, but it will be gathered, from what I have written, that a trip on the Norfolk waters in such a craft is attended with no loss of any of the comforts of life.

End of chapter 1 chapter two of notes on the broads and rivers of norfolk and suffolk by harry britton norwich to lowestoft there's no mistake about it i am counting on my holiday this year this was the remark addressed to the skipper of the yacht buttercup at the end of a long controversy as to vittling the yacht, for certainly the 20th time, by Jack Why.

it will make another item for the

diary it's all very well to talk of items i replied my book must have an enormous sale to justify an outlay of four shillings and sixpence per incident after this casualty we decided to tempt the fates no longer so we lay to and again reefed our sails That this was quite necessary was abundantly proved when a little later we reached the most risky of all Norfolk waters, Borough Flats.

We had hoped to be able to land and inspect the famous ruins of Borough, but by the time we passed the old castle the wind was blowing half a gale, so we decided to keep on for Yarmouth.

circumstances permitting i strongly advise stopping at borough as the ruins are very extensive some idea of this will be gained when i say they enclose a space of five acres although more than eighteen centuries have elapsed since the castle was built some of the walls which are three yards through yet rise to a height of fourteen feet in leaving the waveney i ought perhaps to say that it is not by any means usual to take the course we did the general plan is to sail through the cut to readham and then follow the river yare by this means the bother of lowering the mast is saved and although it is about a mile and a half further i advised the adoption of the more customary route in point of fact my only reason for sailing down the waveney from st oliv's was because it happened to be the one stretch of norfolk river i had not previously navigated as i had already intimated the beccles river as it is technically styled empties through borough flats and opening from the latter is the glorious expanse of breydon water this tidal lake is about five miles long by a mile broad and a sail over its surface with a strong wind is a treat not soon forgotten perhaps in the present instance we had a little too much for comfort as every now and again the water came rushing over the sides like a mill-race the lanyards of the main shrouds cut the water into a fine spray and on the port side of the yacht a perfect shower poured along the plankways and into the well when about half-way across we met the city of norwich a large screw passenger steamer and the people on board crowded to the side as we passed the wind as we neared yarmouth appeared to increase and personally i felt much relieved when george cleverly shot the buttercup alongside another yacht lying by lakin's stores by this time it was past ten o'clock and as we had started without breakfast we were as hungry as hunters directly we could get away jack and i started to the post-office for letters as the tide would be two or three hours before it made up the north river as the bure is generally called we continued our walk through regent street to the market-place and made several purchases the town of great yarmouth as is generally known is a great centre of the fishing industry in a list published in the first part of the new journal of the national fish culture association i learn that yarmouth sent by railway in the year eighteen eighty five twenty nine thousand six hundred and fifty eight tons of fish this grand total is the largest published except in grimsby and the neighbouring town of lowestoft stands third with twenty four thousand seven hundred and ninety nine tons in the autumn of last year the catch of herrings alone by yarmouth boats reached the enormous total of two hundred and forty thousand barrels Whilst the fishing of Yarmouth is on the increase, the general trade of the port is decidedly retrograde, and customs dues have fallen from £69,726 in 1841 to £31,110 in 1881, visitors to the place cannot fail to be struck by the peculiar system of narrow lanes called rows which are certainly the feature of the town there are one hundred and fifty six of these alleys and their total length is about eight miles some of them are so narrow that two people would find a difficulty in passing each other without a certain amount of dodging that this is literally a fact will be more easily credited when i add that one of the rows does not exceed two feet three inches in width the average breadth of the entire system is about two yards and one cannot help wondering what the early builders of the town had in view in economising space to such a remarkable degree there are of course several conjectures but the one most probable is that in the old time the fisher-folk in spreading out their nets to dry left a clear space of three to six feet between in time these passages became so sharply defined that they were perpetuated in their present curious form so says one theory and i give it for what it is worth but yarmouth can in any case claim to possess what is probably the narrowest system of streets in the world amongst the buildings in the town worthy of a visit the fine old church appropriately dedicated to the fisherman's patron st nicholas stands first and foremost it is the largest parish church in england and exceeds in dimensions several of the cathedrals it was founded by herbert de licinia bishop of norwich about twenty-seven years after the same prelate had laid the foundation-stone of his cathedral much as i should like to give a lengthened description of this magnificent church i fear it would be going beyond the scope of this work to do so so i will hurry on to another attraction the old toll-house which stands at the end of row one o eight in middlegate street this old building was for centuries used as a prison and has been recently converted to the uses of a free library it must not be missed as it is one of the features of this quaint old town the municipal buildings on the hall quay are very fine the original cost of this pile was forty thousand pounds but a large additional sum is about to be spent to ensure its safety as unfortunately the foundations proved to be insecure besides the three buildings i have mentioned yarmouth does not possess many lions although the nelson column on the south deans is worthy of notice it rises to a height of 144 feet and is a very prominent landmark after all the sands are the town's crowning glory and if one does not object to seeing a certain amount of rough horseplay a stroll along its far-reaching extent will certainly amuse i am afraid i cannot speak for edifying results however mr walter rye in his history of norfolk says without any exception yarmouth is the beastliest hole any boating man can have to stay at the bowling green is the best mooring place but bad is the best and if by luck one can in coming from the norwich river to the north river or vice versa catch the tide one should certainly do so and not wait a night here i entirely agree with this and advise any who may wish to see the town and it is really well worth seeing to run over by rail from some station on the rivers for this purpose reedham oulton st oliv's acle or potterhyam would be equally suitable it had been arranged when we left the buttercup that she should be taken into the north end as the mouth of the bure is called to our surprise when we returned we found the yacht had only just been quanted through the two bridges and that everything was in the confusion which always follows lowering the mast now we were expecting a visitor by the next train and i had particularly wished to have the boat in order by the time he arrived so i inquired of george what had caused the delay very sorry sir we couldn't possibly get through afore the tide has only just turned was the answer have you been to the station for the hampers no sir hadn't had the time you mean to say but the finish of the sentence was stopped by jack suggesting that we should make a run for the station which was a very little distance away whilst george tidied up as well as he could to our disgust there was not a soul to be seen when we arrived on the platform and the parcel's office was locked presently a solitary porter dawned on the scene and our impatient inquiries as to where the clerks had stowed themselves were answered by a cool rejoinder of gone to dinner a little persuasion made all the more eloquent by well never mind what induced the solitary representative of the great eastern railway company to go for the key a minute or so later a junior clerk turned up and after we had signed for our packages he offered to send them to the yacht our answer was simply to shoulder a hamper apiece and before he had time to recover from his surprise we were out of the station the contents of the baskets were hastily transferred to the lockers and i managed to get back to the station just as the train ran in

So many books dealing with natural history subjects have of late years been written that a preface has become as necessary as an apology for adding to the number as for briefly setting forth the subject matter of a book.

While claiming the forbearance of the reader, I would like to state that the following notes and observations are taken from the many entries made in my notebooks during a period of a quarter of a century and relate to the fauna of the neighborhood of Great Yarmouth.

It is possible that some of the entries may prove interesting as recording certain traits and habits of the birds and animals of that locality previously unnoticed by naturalists.

There may be some originality worthy of notice.

I want to start this video with a clip from this interview between the far-right British politician Rupert Lowe and a small podcaster you might have heard of called Joe Rogan.

To catch you up, Rupert Lowe is the Member of Parliament for a town called Great Yarmouth, which is a coastal town in the southeast of England.

It's the sort of place that used to be a popular holiday resort, which has had a lot of that industry die back because of international flights becoming cheaper and people choosing to go abroad for their holidays rather than travelling within the UK.

It's now fairly deprived as a town.

Those medieval powerhouses, places like Norwich and York, were no longer numbers two, three, four on the list of the large settlements.

Towns like Great Yarmouth and Thetford and Dunwich, which we've seen before in the Middle Ages, would have been top or in the top 20 or so, started to drop away because they weren't major industrial settlements.

Overall, London undoubtedly remained dominant.

other towns and cities began to diversify and specialize.