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A visitors guide to Great Yarmouth located on the
East Coast of Norfolk. Yarmouth is a seaside holiday resort with
bright lights and a festive atmosphere, there are lots of indoor and
outdoor pursuits, many places to stay and a whole host of eating
establishments.
But Yarmouth is much more than just a seaside
resort, its a place with a rich history and has much to offer the
visitor. The town sits at the mouth of the river Yare and is
surrounded by flat land and waterways complete with old windmills
and wind pumps. The river is where the town derived its name from.
The Golden Mile which runs along side the beach is the summer
holiday face of Great Yarmouth. It has everything for all ages, from
children's fun parks to the thrills of attractions in the Pleasure
Beach, there are also two piers, large bowling greens, sea life
centre and amusement arcades. The town has colourful gardens,
regular shows, nightclubs, a Nelson Museum, guided walking tours,
casinos and horse and grey hound racing. Great Yarmouth is the
largest of Norfolk’s seaside resorts and has fifteen miles of
golden sandy beaches.
It began life as a small settlement on a sand
bank, by the middle ages it was a town of some importance with a
large herring fishing industry producing endless supplies of
Yarmouth bloaters and kippers. The old quay side was filled
with open sheds and smoke houses where the fish was prepared.
Excavations in 1974 in Fullers Hill revealed large numbers of fish
bones especially those of cod and herring, this find demonstrated
Great Yarmouth’s dependency on the fishing trade, which began as
early as the 11th century but which unfortunately stopped in the
1930’s.
It is well worth wandering around the back
streets of Great Yarmouth where you will find a wealth of ancient
buildings and sections of the town wall which date from around
1300. The Yarmouth Rows built around the town in the 1200s were
deliberately made very narrow some only 27inches wide so as to fit
within the town walls. Up until the 1700’s no building was
permitted between the wall and the sea. The rows were originally
erected east west across the narrow spit of land that lies between
the Town Wall and the River Yare. If all the rows had been put end
to end they would have exceeded seven miles.
There used to be 145 rows, unfortunately with 200 air raids between
1939 and 1945 many of them were reduced to rubble. But those that
remain are certainly worth exploring. A large majority of them were
paved with pebbles from the beach and they even had their own
special carts to navigate their small dimensions. English Heritage
now maintains and preserves the remaining rows, which they open to
the public. Once described by Charles Dickens as the finest
place in the Universe.
At the end of the Market Place is the lovely church of St. Nicholas,
which lays claim to being the largest church in England. Founded in
the 12th century by Herbert de Losinga who was also the builder of
Norwich Cathedral. The Town Arms of Great Yarmouth show
both the England lion and the local herrings. There is a ghostly
tale attached to the church.
The Maritime Festival is held each September. A weekend of sea
shanties, traditional food and drink, ships and lots of nautical
displays and exhibitions. Captain
George Manby created the Manby Mortar whilst serving at Gt.
Yarmouth.
For holiday accommodation in Great Yarmouth - Hotels - Guest Houses
- Holiday Cottages - Holiday Parks and Holiday Lodges, check out our
accommodation pages.
 Near
to the church is the house that the
author of Black Beauty Anna Sewell was born in.
 Large
sections of the old town date back to the
1300’s. In the 1261 a wall was built around the town to defend it.
It took some eighty years to complete and was originally half a mile
long and seven feet thick and over twenty-three feet high. Some of
the remains of this wall can be seen today at Blackfriars Road.
Have a look at Broad Row and Market Row
with their many shops, whose shop windows almost meet across the
narrow alleyway.
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