Town in Norfolk, England
Great Yarmouth
A seaside town whose Nelson monument is older than the one in Trafalgar Square, and has Britannia on top instead of Nelson.
Key information
- County
- Norfolk
- Nation
- England
- Known for
- Seaside resort, herring and bloaters, the Golden Mile, the Pleasure Beach, offshore energy
- Famous people
- Anna Sewell, author of Black Beauty
- Football clubs
- Great Yarmouth Town, Gorleston
About Great Yarmouth
The Nelson column that doesn't have Nelson on it
Great Yarmouth got its Nelson monument first. The Britannia Monument, a 144-foot Doric column designed by William Wilkins, went up in 1819, a full 24 years before Nelson's Column was finished in London. The figure on top isn't the admiral. It's Britannia, gazing out over the town. Nelson's name runs round the base along with his victories, and there are 217 steps up inside. The link is real. Nelson came ashore at Yarmouth in 1800 on his way home from the Mediterranean, and the Norfolk-born hero was a local favourite. The town raised its tribute shortly after Waterloo.
A town built on a sandbank, and fuelled by herring
Yarmouth grew on a sandbank that built up at the mouth of the River Yare around a thousand years ago. Fishermen settled on it because the herring came in huge shoals each autumn. King John granted the town a charter in 1208. By the 1260s the people were building a stone wall, much of which still stands, complete with towers. By the early 1900s Yarmouth was among the great herring ports of Europe. Every autumn, Scottish herring girls followed the fleet south, gutting and packing the catch at astonishing speed. The town's best-known fishy invention is the bloater, a lightly salted, cold-smoked whole herring that's left a little plump. Its name comes from the swollen look. It was a Yarmouth speciality and is still the local dish to try.
The Rows: alleys so narrow you could touch both walls
The medieval town was crammed between river and sea, so it filled with 145 tight, numbered alleys called the Rows. They were so narrow that special handcarts were built to fit them. Kitty Witches Row was as little as 27 inches wide, which makes it one of the narrowest. Bombing in the Second World War flattened most of them, but a few survive. The Old Merchant's House on Row 111 shows how merchant families once lived there, and the Time and Tide Museum is housed in a Victorian herring-curing works.
Britain's seaside at full volume
When railways arrived in the 1840s, Yarmouth reinvented itself as a resort. Wellington Pier opened in 1853, followed by Britannia Pier in 1858, and the Golden Mile of arcades, rides and chip shops grew up along the front. The Hippodrome, built in 1903, is one of the few purpose-built circus buildings still standing in Britain. Its ring can be flooded for water shows, and it's still used for the circus. The Pleasure Beach opened in 1909 and the wooden Scenic Railway is a lasting favourite. Further down the front, Joyland's snail ride has been delighting children for generations. Norfolk's wide, sandy beach does much of the work, and Gorleston, at the south end, has a quieter stretch of sand of its own.
Black Beauty, Peggotty and a fictional boat
Great Yarmouth has produced one of the best-selling novels in the English language. Anna Sewell, author of Black Beauty, was born here in 1820, and her birthplace on Church Plain is still marked. Charles Dickens visited in 1849 and used the town in David Copperfield, where Peggotty's family live in an upturned boat on the beach. Dickens fans still look for the spot. The town also has a long racing tradition, with horse racing on the Denes since 1715, plus football at Great Yarmouth Town and Gorleston. Most locals follow Norwich City.
From herring to wind and gas
When the herring declined in the 20th century, Yarmouth turned to the sea in a different way. Gas was discovered under the North Sea in the 1960s, and the port became a hub for the offshore industry. Today that role includes wind power. The Scroby Sands wind farm, which began generating in 2004, can be seen from the beach. So the town that once lived off a silver fish is still working the same waters, now for energy as well as for holidaymakers.