Southwold, and its vicinity, ancient and modern

Front matter

SOUTHWOLD, ANCIENT AND MODERN. I SOUTHWOLD, AND ITS VICINITY, ANCIENT AND MODERN, 1!*! ROBERT WAKE, M.R. C. S.L. YARMOUTH : PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY F. SKILL. SOLD IN LONDON BY MESSRS. S1MPKIN, MARSHALL, AND CO., AND OTHER BOOKSELLERS. 1839. [FRINTED BY F* SKILL, YARMOUTH.] DEDICATION. TO ALFRED LILLINGSTON, ESQ., THE RIGHT WORSHIPFUL THE MAYOR OF SOUTHWOLD, AND ONE OF THE MAGISTRATES FOR THE COUNTY OF SUFFOLK. My Dear Sir, Aster all the roughs of a medical education, followed by extensive practice, and during a residence of nearly twenty years in London, where all my energies were devoted to a most arduous profession, I resolved to retire from a scene of so much excite ment : and retired accordingly with an intention of travelling — so that after having visited the principal medical institutions, I might seek comfort and quiet where they were most likely to be found — without altogether relinquishing my profession, or ceasing entirely from efforts of usefulness.

That I fixed on Southwold as my residence — an event which occasioned all my plans to be changed — DEDICATION. IV is to be attributed to the existence of that friendship between us, which I hold to be not a privilege only, but an honor to possess ; — and this, not simply from your station in society, nor yet from your near con nection with many excellent and exalted persons ; — but also from my knowledge of the anxiety with which you devote yourself to the support of the valuable institutions of your country, and to the promotion of the best interests of your fellow creatures. Under these convictions, and as soon as I heard of your intention to comply with the requisition made to you by the principal burgesses to accept of the office of mayor of this borough, I contemplated the work on which I have been employed, with a view to its dedication to you; if it should serve no other purpose than as a testimony of my friendship and esteem : not doubting but that it would be gratifying to you to be put into possession of as much information, as I might be able to collect, with respect to the town and neighborhood in which you have been induced to fix your residence, and which became not less interesting from the circumstance which induced me to adopt it as mine.

That the work is altogether what it might have been, I am not vain enough to think. Limiting my self to the period of your mayoralty for the collection DEDICATION. V of materials, and for every intermediate step to its appearance in print, little time has been afforded from my professional avocations for any precision of arrangement or study of composition. But you, my dear Sir, are fully aware that I have stopped at no exertion, nor spared any expense to attain what was attainable ; and which, although it be not all that is required, will be found, I trust, of sufficient importance to warrant my hope that I have not labored altogether in vain. Believe me to remain, with sin cere esteem and regard, My dear Sir, Yours most truly, ROBERT WAKE. Tamarisk Villa, Southwold, Suffolk, 1st October, 1839.

Chapter I

In undertaking the History of Ancient and Modern Southwold, we feel ourselves committed to a task which is in no ordinary degree arduous. The expectations of the public, with which the announcement of our purpose has been so largely and flatteringly greeted — the noble, learned, and highly-distinguished names which have accordingly swebed our subscription-bst and have honored us with their encouraging patronage — and the deep sense of consequent responsibibty under which we have not unwibingly pursued our researches and labors, have conspbed to impose a tribute upon us — for the discharge of which we acknowledge our best exertions and ab our resources to be but bttle competent. Of so high-minded a class, however, are the friends who have come forward to cheer and support us under our difficulties, that we can freely trust to their indulgence, where any want of ability on our part may occasion such failure as too often results even to the sincerest wishes and efforts. £ [ Subjects SOUTHWOLD, 2 The work before us involves a variety of subjects ; and the order in which we propose to consider them may be here briefly submitted.

The localities and situation of our interesting town, with the advantages which it com mands for sea-bathing and visitors, whether in quest of recreation or health, will be taken as matter for this opening article. Our beautiful Church— the foundation of whieh connects the history of Southwold with that of six centuries, and which is so striking an object as to challenge the admiration of all beholders — will naturally follow and afford us the opportunity of noticing such other Places of Worship, and Schools attached to them, as are in present operation. The Corporate History of this ancient Borough — the memorable Sole-bay Fight — the Na tural Productions common to the place and its vicinity — such Local Incidents, chronologicaby arranged, as seem deserving of record— wib be respectively treated of.

The sea-destroyed but not-forgotten celebrity and importance of Dunwich, Covehithe, Easton Bavent, &c. — -whose close proximity to Southwold must attach veneration to it, if for their sakes only, will next engage our attention. And having conducted our visitors through such Rides and Drives in the Hundred of Blything as are, locally and his toricaby, deserving attention ; submitting as we pass, brief notices of the several Churches and the principal adjoining Towns; — we shall sum up the whole by a compiled and connected view of such East Anglian Associations as have combined, from remoter tunes, to commingle the records of our neighborhood with most of the leading events of British history. With this preliminary announcement of the plan which we propose to pursue, we are perfectly well aware to what an unenviable extent, in the way of research and responsibility, we are voluntarily committing ourselves. introduced.]

ANCIENT AND MODERN. 3 Moreover, we are far from being insensible to the objections which may be raised to that part of our plan which seems to be the very reverse of beginning at the beginning. But to such of our indulgent readers as are acquainted with the fact of the loss, by fire and otherwise, of some of our ancient Southwold documents — the reverting, as best we may, from the present to the past, will peradventure appear as constituting no smab part of our difficulty. Without further preamble, therefore, and with a desue to enter at once into the locabties and circumstances which the position of Southwold at present exhibits, it may be well to apprise our readers, that the lordship of it was originally in clerical hands and its produce exclusively devoted to clerical purposes. Transferred by bishop Alfric to the reverend fathers of Bury St. Edmunds, its fair and fertile fields, and its fish-replenished waters, were equally ploughed to supply the tables of its monastic proprietors ; or, as it is quaintly expressed in Domesday, " ad victum monachorum" (for feeding the Monks).

The Domesday-Valuation of Southwold, to which we have just alluded, may not be intelligible to the generality of our readers. But the historian — however simple and commonly-readable he would labor to make his narrative — has to deal with this ancient document, and is not at liberty to dispense with it. In the present case, the necessity of its production is less avoidable, because it involves another which is still more paurful ; — we mean the stern and ungra cious necessity of correcting an unaccountable inaccuracy of our venerable predecessor, Mr. Gardner, respecting the dimensions of our town and his mistaken translation of them. There are but two passages hi the Conqueror's sur vey which bear allusion to Southwold; in quoting which we shab do ourselves the favor of disengaging them from b2 SOUTHWOLD, [ Domesday 4 the old-fashioned marks of contraction, under which they usually make their somewhat uninviting appearance.

We have also thought it best — though it may look like a school boy exercise — to translate, " for the sake of the ladies," as we go on, and to submit as plain an explanation as possible of the phrases, which we feel compelled to obtrude upon their fair and forgiving inspection. " Blidinga Hundreda " — (Hundred of Blything.) " Sudwoldam tenet Sanctus Edmundus" (Saint Edmund, that is, the monastery at Bury holds Southwold,) " pro manerio " (as a manor) " ad victum monachorum " (for the victualling of the monks.) "Una carucata terræ" (there is one carucate, or carve, of land :) " et quinque villani et quatuor bordarii " ( and five villani and four bordarii :) " et una carucata in dominio " (and in demesne is one carucate :) " et quatuor hominum," (and the land of four tenants:) "et quatuor acræ prati" (and four acres of meadow :) "et unus runcinus" (and onerowney, or, pack-horse :) " et quatuor animalia " (and four cows:) " et tres porci et TRIGINTA oves " (and three hogs and thirty sheep.)

" Medietas unius heiemaris" (the moiety also of one sea-hedge, viz : what is now called a pitched net or choll net : ) "et quarta pars alterius medietatis" (and the fourth part of the other moiety:) " tunc reddebat" (then, in the Confessor's days, it yielded) " viginta millia alletium" (twenty thousand herrings:) " Modo viginta quinque millia" (Now, in the Conqueror's time, twenty five thousand.) " Sanctus Edmundus socam et sacam" (Saint Edmund has the soe and sac) . The other extract alluded to may be deciphered as follows ; — " Sudholda habet " (Southwold has) " novem quarentenas " (nine furlongs) " in longitudine " (in length) "et quinque in latitudine" (and five in Valuation. ] ANCIENT AND MODERN. 5 breadth :) " hæc divisio " (this measurement) " a mari usque" — used as equivalent to versus — "Jernesmua" (is from the sea towards Yarmouth :) " et duos denarios et obolum de gelto " (and pays twopence half-penny for gelt — viz. landtax).

By comparing the above with Mr. Gardner's version — as it appears in page 189 of his His tory — and by affording the slighest attention to the facts of the case, every one must perceive bow widely the respected historian of Dunwich has erred from the right impression of the Domesday measurement. It wib be equally evident that the strange mistake arose from his having supposed that qr, with its mark of contraction, was expressive of "quar terias, (quarters of miles) instead of quarentenas, (fur longs) — the proper term : and hence he was betrayed, we must believe, against his own better convictions, into the easby-detected inaccuracy of representing the Domesday measurement to be double, in both the directions, of what it really is. A cursory explanation of some of the technicalities which occur in the foregoing specimens of not Augustan latinity may be here excusable.

" The carve of land," denominated " carucata" from caruca (a plough) contained, as some writers suppose, a hundred acres ; — and, according to others, such an extent of ground as might have been tibed by a single plough in a year and a day. This method of calculation began to supersede, in the time of William the Conqueror, another which was far more antient — namely, the method of divid ing and assessing land "per Hildas" or by hides, which obtained among the Saxons, though it must be traced to remoter times. We have Virgil's authority for the fact, that the same method was in use among the Phœnicians 950 years before the christian era. He informs us that Dido, when driven upon the African coast, and having pur- [Domesday SOUTHWOLD, 6 chased from the inhabitants as much land as could be en closed within a bull's hide, cut the hide into small thongs ; and having thus enclosed, (the poet does not say how honestly,) for a small sum a sufficiently large site— she pro ceeded to build upon it the city Byrsa, or the Hide.

" At last they landed where from far your eyes " May view the turrets of New Carthage rise ; " There bought a space of ground (which Byrsa called " From the bull's hide,) they first enclosed and walled." Bryden't Virgil Æneis I. 505. But without any intention to digress, we would add another remark, which may be of use to the reader when he meets with further allusions to this subject. According to the arrangement which the Conqueror adopted in measuring land by its Carves, the King's army became thenceforward recruited with men in the proportion of " Knight's fees;" that is, two plough-lands or Carves to every Knight. And what may seem yet more to our point, the influence of our clerical lords of Wangford and Southwold in those days, may be estimated by an extract quoted from " the Black Register of Bury St. Edmunds," by Henry Swinden, the erudite historian of Great Yarmouth.

" Wibiam the Conqueror gave to Baldwin the Abbot of Bury fourscore carucates or carves wherewith to constitute forty Knights." The term " Villani " in our extract from Domesday is the same as now we use when we would convey the idea of Boors. They generally constituted that class of farm laborers who yielded to the monastic lords of this manor work, instead of rent, for the outlands which they hired of them in Southwold. The four Bordarii, who were under the vassalage of Saint Bury in his manor at Southwold, denoted those occupiers of cottages or such tenants of small allotments, as bound themselves to supply the table of their Valuation."] ANCIENT AND MODERN. 7 reverend landlords with such appendages as eggs and poultry ; and who, upon needful occasions, should be ready to act as hangmen or executioners.

Soe and Sac which, with the rest of the lordship of Southwold, were in the possession of the monks of Bury, are terms used of old to describe certain immunities or peculiar jurisdiction usually enjoyed as chartered rights. Thus Soe (in the Saxon language to make inquisition) originally meant the power to minister justice, or the authority to execute laws. But subsequently it came to express the custom or rent which was payable, by merchants or freemen or landowners, to the proprietors under whom they held, in respect to their tenure, or in sign of their freedom, and perhaps in acknow ledgment of the protection and liberty they derived from their patrons. While Sac (which is the same in English as sake or cause,) implies the possession of a royalty or privilege to hold plea in causes and to impose fines and penal ties in such causes.

As to the land-tax or gelt or more commonly " Dane-gelt " — it became descriptive of that impost or custom or tribute which was assessed, at the rate of twelvepence on every hide or hundred acres of land; and was payable to the King or to the Danes previous to their expulsion A. D. 1080. And finaby, as to. Domesday itself — in which the specification of St. Edmund's possessions at Southwold is detailed with such monkish precision — it simply means the ancient survey which was made of the kingdom in the days of the Conqueror. It was commenced A. D. 1081 and finished A. D. 1086, with a view to serve as a register whereby to determine the tenure of estates. Fabing gladly in with a smoother current, and with a fairer wind, and with a brighter sea-view, than the fogs and frosts of Domesday, and the frequent rifts of rocks among which its antiquated definitions are so perdously, because [ Domesday SOUTHWOLD, 8 invisibly, imbedded— and which are therefore so much to be feared by the tyro-navigator in the ocean of history; — we merely observe further, in passing, that Southwold, as a manorial appendage to Bury St. Edmunds antecedently to the thirteenth century, was far from being a profitless tenure.

Our readers wib have seen that, in addition to one carve of land, with its adjuncts of vassals and border-men held as a manor — and another carve of land with its grass-land and stock and laborers reserved in demesne — the lord abbot and his fraternity, for the time being, were further possessed of such a portion of the sea at Southwold (namely one half of the manor and a quarter of the other hab,) as sufficed to furnish their dinner-courses with the yearly supply of twenty thousand head of fish, before the days of the Con queror, and after that time, with five thousand head more. The place then must have been of some importance to " their Reverences," since it afforded them the means of enriching their bib of fare any day in the year, and in the article of fish alone, with no less a number than three score and eight.

One of the succeeding Abbots, notwithstanding, induced we may suppose by grave and weighty considerations, exchanged the lordship of Southwold with the Earl of Gloucester (Richard de Clare). It is no doubt to this nobleman that reference is made in an article which we have extracted from the Harleian Miscellany, and which our readers wib find in the Appendix concerning the proprie torship of the wreck of the sea. It would seem, however, as if the rebgious Southwolders had proved somewhat refractory upon theu change of landlords. For we find the same Richard de Clare craving and receiving permission, in the 44th year of the reign of the third Henry, to convert his house at Southwold into a strong castle. Our conjecture as to the predilection of our townsmen in favor of Valuation. ] ANCIENT AND MODERN. 9 clerical lords of the manor may be borne out by the fact, that, in the twelfth year of Edward the Fourth, so much of the manor of Southwold, as is now in the hands of the Corporation, was then in the possession of the Prior and monks of Wangford.

But not to recur too often to, and stib less to dwell upon, topics — which peradventure may not be quite as interesting to our readers as the pleasure of research has made them to us — we shall turn aside from the mass of matter which surrounds us on ab sides to set forth, as they now present themselves : — The Local Associations and peculiar features of the town of South wold. Standing upon an elevation peculiarly striking and picturesque — commanding the glorious prospect of the great German ocean which so often transported the in vaders of our territories from the opposite shores — nearly insulated by its majestic waters on the one part, and those of the devious Blyth, which flows into it from the parish of Laxfield, on the other parts — at a distance, north east from London, of 104 miles by land and 121 miles by water, with which most convenient communication may be held through means of steam vessels or land con veyance — and with high-roads and bye-roads diverging from it in ab directions through an undulating, cultivated, and richly-wooded country, which abounds with noblemen's and gentlemen's seats — the neighborhood which Southwold commands, and the salubrity and local pleasantness and sea-bathing advantages which it affords, must be sufficiently obvious.

The name, as is generally known, was written Sudwald or Southwood. " Probably," writes the accomplished author of the beauties of England and Wales, "it was thus named from a wood near it — as the western confines stib retain the appellation of " Woods-end Marshes " and Woods -end Creek." On this point which b3 [Local SOUTHWOLD, 10 the classical pen of Frederic Shoberl seems to have placed among the probabilities of mere conjecture, we are enabled to adduce authorities. The extract from the Harleian Mis cellany, adduced in the Appendix, wib prove that " the wood Bovens, as it seems to have been called," supplied to its occupier, Thomas Barrowe, who held it on account of " services done to the King, no less than twenty acres of meadow, as well as one knight's fee." The advantages, in the way of diversified scenery and extent, which Southwold once enjoyed may be thus decided — as its maritime impor tance has certainly been by the competition with, and indeed superiority over, her more ancient neighbors Dun wich and Blythburgh, in the way of traffic and navigation, to which the royal favors conferred upon her, from time to time, and her well-frequented fisheries had not a little contributed.

These latter (Shoberl remarks,) were carried on by merchants who annually fitted out numerous vessels — tradition says upwards of fifty, for taking Cod and other fish in the North Sea. Our own herring fishery, however, independently alto gether of the " Free British Fishery," which has now been lost to us for nearly 70 years, must have been " highly conducive " (as the same writer expresses it,) " to the prosperity of the town." And to what extent of prosperity Southwold might have attained when, notwithstanding the reverses with which she was visited in consequence of the subversion of papal supremacy, she still maintained her trade — surpassing her neighbors in shipping and enter prise — may now be considered as a question of fruitless speculation. Historically certain it is, and as lamentable as it is certain, that the elements of fire and water com bined their mighty energies to arrest her progress.

Among Tanners Suffolk Manuscripts, we find that "Southwold was pitifuby defaced by fire on a Friday, 1596 " — an occurence Associations. ] ANCIENT AND MODERN. 11 of which Mr. Gardner had taken no notice. And as to the fire which broke out on the 20th of April, 1659, Mr. Swinden writes as follows : — " three parts of the houses of Southwold, in Suffolk, were burnt down — when this town (Yarmouth,) sent the poor of that place 20 combs of wheat, 10 combs of rye, and £10. in money." The destructive fury of the conflagration in the latter instance having been heightened by a violent wind, is re presented by those who write of it as the greatest calamity which ever befel Southwold. So devastating was its progress and so disastrous its effects, that, in the space of four short •hours, town hall— market hall — market place and prison — shops — warehouses — granaries- — buildings, and 238 dwelling houses, were utterly consumed.

Nor was this all. The greatest part of the movable goods belonging to the afflicted inhabitants — the very tackling and nets which they used in their fisheries — their corn, malt, barley, fish, coals, and mer chandize, feb like sacrifices under the devouring flames. The loss of property on the mournful occasion was estimated at above forty thousand pounds. The ruin of more than three hundred families was involved in the sad catas trophe. Numbers of respectable persons were forced to relinquish the scenes of thefr earliest associations and happiness- — and to bury, in self-inflicted exile from their native place, ab the painful reminiscences of the comforts they had so long enjoyed in it, but which were so suddenly torn from them. Among the other injuries which the town and its traffick suffered from the dispensation, was the destruction of ab the Court Baron Robs — one of the consequences of which was that the copyholders of the Corporation in pro gress of time became freeholders.

In the town chest there are two minute books containing entries of admission to various copyholds of the manor of Southwold, which are concurrent testimonies, notonly of the existence of copyholds [ Local SOUTHWOLD, 12 in the manor, but, from their number within the limited period to which the books relate, would lead to the conclusion that the copyholds must have been numerous. The following extract from the treasurer's cash book, containing the town accounts, will shew that there is some land in the town held under the manor of Reydon — " In the Easter ending 1830, paid fine to Earl Stradbroke admission of four new feoffees to copyhold land, part of Woods-end marsh, sixty-five pounds, twelve shillings, and sixpence " — The sum of one shilling and sixpence is yearly paid to Lord Stradbroke, as " quit-rent Reydon manor."

Query, whether this land held of the manor of Reydon was not a part of the manor, of which the monks of Bury held one moiety and a fourth of the other moiety. The melancholy results of such wide-wasting calamities, as those just alluded to, were not quickly to be retrieved. The rapid advances which Southwold had begun to make towards a flourishing maritime state were not merely suspended. The very prospect of resuming them was abandoned for an entbe century. "About the middle of the last century" as Shoberl informs us, " the commerce of this place received a fresh impulse. The entrance to the haven which is on the south side of the town was subject to be choked up, till an act of parliament was obtained for repauing and improving it, and piers were erected at the haven's mouth. The establishment of the Free British Fishery in 1 750 also contributed greatly to the prosperity of the town ; when two docks were constructed and various buildings erected for the making and tanning of nets, and for the depositing of stores."

Among the other buddings raised at this period was one of large and spacious dimensions, which was formerly known and is stib remembered by the name of " the Net House." It stood at the south-west of the town, near that part of Associations.] ANCIENT AND MODERN. 13 the common where are the gravel-pits and bme-kiln, supported by well-formed arches, the foundations of whose piers, or rather the marks of their excavations — nine on each side and three at both the ends — are yet discernible. In 1753, "the British Fishery Company" obtained for the site 20 feet of ground, which they proceeded to enclose for their purpose with pabngs and fences. And in the following year they were further permitted to enlarge their " Net House " to the extent of 20 feet granted to them on each side, and 30 feet at each end.

The advantages consequent upon such proceedings may be easily imagined. As the facts connected with these subjects will be detailed in other parts of our work, we shab proceed to notice the many agreeable objects, and — Picturesque Scenery of the "sea-washed" Southwold. The most pleasant point for enjoying as well as observing them is unquestionably " the Marine Parade." Along the entire range of it aredebghtful walks, andespeciaby along St. Edmund's Hill, the Gun-hill, and the Ladies' Walk in front of the Marine Villa onwards to the North Cbff. Here, whether on sand or sward, the lover of nature may saunter at wib ; and when he feels disposed to sit, there are commodiously -placed benches where he can pursue his medi tations as placidly, as yon sweet ripple dances so lightly under the sunbeams.

How extensive and beautiful is the view which now presents itself! The splendid grandeur of the German ocean on the one side — with its ever-heaving bosom — its hundreds of vessels, moving in ab directions, from the sbgbt fishing-boat and single-masted skiff to the gallant gun-ship and adventurous Foreigner, forms a scene of admiration which is quite as untiring as it is refreshing and various. On the other hand, residence after residence pre sents itself— ivy-clad, or flower-fronted, or tree-embowered, SOUTHWOLD, [ Picturesque 14 as it may be — in fair and fantastic perspective. Neatly latticed windows, impending balconies, picturesque garden plots, closely-shaven lawns, interspersed shrubs, distant plantation clumps, and gbding parties of fashionable company, afford attractions to the sea-side musings at Southwold which never fail to beguile listlessness or to enchant the imagination.

But the deep and dark blue ocean — Oh, there is repose upon its vast expanse and enjoyment in its unmeasured subbmity which the pen cannot portray, and the tongue cannot enunciate. How complacently can the thoughts compose themselves into soothingly-grateful contemplations of that High and Holy- One, who while He "inhabits eternity, gives the sea His com mandment " and commissions the tributary waves and waters ■ — whether in calm or storm — to enrich, protect, and beautify the heaven-favored circumference of Britain's sea-girt isle ! What thankful and heartfelt acknowledg ments of those long-continued favors and unnumbered advantages which have been providentially employed to distinguish his native land, and to honor it so greatly, can the Briton experience — while he gazes upon the com manding prospect of the ever-changing deep, which the over-hanging Cliff" at Southwold spreads magnificently before him ■ — while he sees such numerous and various-sized vessels "occupying their business in the great waters;" some laden with the profits and speculations of commerce, others peradventure entrusted with the nobler freightage of translated editions of the volume of Inspiration, and with self-devoted missionaries to make it known to the idol worshipping occupiers of some yet-unvisited territory ; — and while he watches the motions of some of the men on board who have tacked so close to the shore, and are so clearly developed in their engagements among the sunny rigging, as to be discernible to the naked eye.

Scenery.] ANCIENT AND MODERN. 15 The picture which the ship-studded surface presents to the organ of sight, and those crowding objects which it conveys to the mental vision, are ever-changing and never unprofitable. How soothing and enchanting is that soft intermingbng of light and shade, with which the airy movements of the gold-fringed clouds have diversified the far-off rippling and ruffling, occasioned so quickly by the murmuring breeze. Equally inspiriting it is, however, whether it prepares for the outburst of the springing gale, or whispers but a threat to be succeeded by stillness which may not be broken, save by the breezy approach of the reciprocating wave stealing pantingly along, as with a lover's solicitude, to the expecting beach, where it sinks and hides itself, as in the fulness of enjoyment, in the peaceful retreat it so ardently sought for.