Record Office launches exhibition celebrating 800 years of Great Yarmouth's history

Added: 14/03/2008
Category: Norfolk County Council

The Norfolk Record Office is set to celebrate 800 years of Great Yarmouth's history with a fascinating free exhibition - exactly 800 years to the day King John sealed the future of the town, making it a 'free borough for ever'.

Selected from the wealth of material contained in the borough's archives, together with other documents from the Norfolk Record Office's Designated collection, the records being put on display reflect how the town developed from a humble sandbank to a major fishing port and how it is looking forward through the exciting Outer Harbour project


The new exhibition - Great Yarmouth: A Sand in the Sea, is being formally launched on Tuesday March 18 at 3pm by the Chairman of the Norfolk Records Committee, County Councillor Christopher Lloyd Owen in the presence of the Mayor of the Borough of Great Yarmouth, Councillor Paul Garrod, 800 years to the day after King John granted the seal.

At the centre of the display is the town's first royal parchment charter, which has received expert care and attention in the Norfolk Record Office's state-of-the-art conservation studio in Norwich, which adjoins County Hall.

In return for an annual fee of £55 - a substantial sum in those days - King John leased to the town the administration of justice (in certain matters of common law and local custom), the right to establish a merchant guild, exemption from paying tolls on goods brought to other towns and cities, excluding London, and the right to appoint bailiffs to govern the town.

Many aspects of Yarmouth's rich history, as shaped by subsequent charters, are explored. Included are the Tolhouse, the oldest civic building in the town, where cases for the Court of Admiralty were heard and where the borough charters were kept for many centuries; the town walls, which took over a century to build; and the bridge spanning the Haven.

Prominent individuals, such as Thomas Damet, the man behind the famous Hutch Map, and Sarah Martin, 'the prisoner's friend', are also featured. Themes, covering the more commercial interests of the borough, include the fishing industry, silk manufacturers Grout and Co and the influx of holidaymakers to Great Yarmouth.

The Hutch Map takes its name from the Hutch or great chest in which the borough's charters and other documents were stored. The map, made around 1600, reconstructs the east coast and Broads area of Norfolk as it may have appeared in 1000 AD. In it, Yarmouth is depicted simply as a sandbank between the two Roman forts of Caister and Burgh Castle.

Sarah Martin was born in Caister in 1791 and began her philanthropic work at the jail in Yarmouth in 1819, reading The Bible to prisoners, teaching them how to read and write, and also encouraging them to make clothes, straw hats and bone spoons. Martin sold their products and used the profits to aid prisoners on their release.

Chairman of the Norfolk Records Committee, County Councillor Christopher Lloyd Owen, said: "This is a very exciting time to be celebrating the sealing of the first royal charter granted to Great Yarmouth exactly 800 years ago. As we look back at the growth and history of the borough, it is fascinating to think how the town will develop and change over the next 800 years. It is interesting to consider that such a small piece of parchment held the key to the future prosperity of the town and that it has survived throughout the last eight centuries."

County Archivist, Dr John Alban, said: "We are not sure of the exact time of day when the charter was sealed, but being able to celebrate the grant on its exact anniversary is pretty good going after such a long gap of 800 years. This is an exceptionally important document for Great Yarmouth, giving the right of self-government to a town which, in the middle ages, was one of the most important in the kingdom. It is a fitting focal point for the other items on display.

"Yarmouth has had a long, rich and exciting history, and this is reflected in this exciting exhibition of the archives which underpin the study of that long history, many of which are on public display for the first time".

*The exhibition, which is on until June 21, is open to the public at the following times: Monday, Wednesday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 5pm, Tuesday from 9.30 am. to 5pm and Saturday from 9 am to 12 noon. Admission is free.