Read Ebook: The History of Lynn Vol. 1 [of 2] by Richards William

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One very great inconvenience, which the inhabitants of this low country labour under, is the want of good water, especially in dry summers, owing to the scarcity of springs. Rain-water is the only water they can have for domestic uses, almost throughout the year: to preserve which they have troughs and spouts constructed and fixed under the eves of the houses, by which it is conveyed into cisterns and reservoirs for the use of their families. Even such populous towns as Boston and Wisbeach have no better means of supplying themselves with good water; which in most parts of Britain would be deemed an intolerable grievance. To Lynn, however, the above case does not apply. The country on its eastern side abounds with good springs, from which the town is plentifully supplied with excellent water, as not to be exceeded in that respect, perhaps, by any place in the kingdom.

In Marshland and other parts of the country, it is with no small difficulty that water can be procured for the cattle in very dry seasons. Instances not few, are said to have been known at such times, of their being driven daily some miles to water, as none could be procured at a nearer distance. Such is the spongy quality of the soil in these parts, that pits dug to preserve the rain water would not retain it unless they were previously bottomed with clay, by which the water is prevented from sinking into the earth. Such pits are dug almost in every field; and for all the care and expence bestowed upon them, they are often found empty and useless long before the end of a very dry summer. Thus it appears, that this country, so fertile and desirable in some respects, has its advantages greatly counter-balanced by some very serious inconveniences, from which the more hilly and sterile districts of the kingdom are happily exempted. On the whole, when the advantages and disadvantages of this low fertile country are fairly compared with those of the more barren and mountainous regions, it will probably be found that the favours of providence are much more equally distributed than we are sometimes apt to imagine.

Here it may be further observed, that the system of agriculture, and even the implements of husbandry are different in marshland and the fens from those of the higher parts of Norfolk; which is probably to be ascribed to the soil, or quality of the land being very different in the one from what it is in the other. In the former it is for the most part strong and heavy, but weak and light in the latter, so as not to require more than two horses to draw the plough, and which are uniformly managed without a driver.

The geese, during the breeding season, are lodged in the same houses with the inhabitants, and even in their very bedchambers. In every apartment are three rows of coarse wicker pens, placed one above another. Each bird has a separate lodge, divided from the other, which it keeps possession of during the time of sitting. A gozzard, or gooseherd, attends the flock, and twice a day drives the whole to water, then brings them back to their habitation, helping those that live in the upper stories to their nests, without ever misplacing a single bird.

In passing along the road through this remarkable country, a stranger, from the hilly parts, cannot help being struck at first sight with the strange appearance of gates and gate-posts erected all about, without any hedges or visible enclosures to indicate either the necessity, or yet the utility of them; for as the dikes are not perceptable at a distance, the land on every side appears in many places like a great open field. A little time and reflection, however, generally rectify the wondering traveller's judgment.

With sumptuous seats and magnificent palaces it does not appear that this country did ever much abound. Its strength might be too much exhausted in building churches, to admit of undertaking any other very expensive edifices. The Castle of Wisbeach seems to be almost the only exception; which, though situated a few yards out of the limits of Marshland, it may not be altogether improper to give here a short sketch of its history, as well as that of Wisbeach itself.

In Mary's time the place seems to have undergone some change, but whether so as to cease being an episcopal residence, or not, does not appear. But we find that some part of it, at least, was then appropriated for the confinement of heretics, that is, of protestants. The names of two of these, who were inhabitants of the town, are still upon record. One of them was William Woolsey, and the other Robert Pygot. They were for sometime confined in this Castle, and afterwards removed to Ely, where they were both burnt, and along with them a great heap of books, which seems to imply, that one of them at least was a scholar, or considerable reader, and that, probably, was Woolsey; for it appears that Pygot was by trade a painter, and therefore not very likely to be possessed of many books. He is spoken of as remarkably meek and modest, whereas Woolsey was a person of uncommon courage and boldness, viewing the impending danger without dismay, and setting his unfeeling persecutors, and even death itself at defiance. He was, it seems, somewhat fearful lest the gentleness of his fellow-sufferer should give his enemies advantage over him and occasion his recanting; but it did not prove so: Pygot stood firm to his principles; and when the commissioners presented a paper for him to sign, he said, "No, that is your faith, and not mine." They suffered, towards the latter part of the year 1555.

In the reign of Elizabeth, the then bishop, or bishops, it seems, relinquished this castle for the use and accommodation of the civil power; and it was then converted into a state prison for the papists, who were charged with conspiring against her majesty's government. Great numbers therefore of these people suffered here a long and rigorous imprisonment, and not a few of them miserably perished in its dreary dungeons. That queen amply retaliated upon the papists what her sister Mary had before inflicted upon the protestants. It is hard to say which of these crowned sisters was the most bloody. Fox has largely described the cruelties and atrocities of Mary's government. Certain popish, as well as protestant nonconformist historians have done the same in regard to that of Elizabeth: and if the intolerance, iniquity, and cruelty of the latter reign did not exceed those of the former, it seems pretty clear that they fell not short of them. As to the number of victims, or sufferers, the preponderance is evidently on the side of Elizabeth. There was a difference, indeed, in the process or mode of immolation: Mary had her victims burnt at the stake; whereas her protestant sister had hers hanged, cut down alive, emboweled, and quartered. Which of the two modes is the most humane and defensible--or rather, which of them is the most barbarous and brutal, the present writer will not attempt to determine. Nor will he pretend to say which of the two is attended with the greatest degree of animal pain, as that may depend upon circumstances. But if burning be the most cruel of all executions, as a very able living writer has observed, it argues a defect in our laws, which appoints this to be the punishment of petty treason, whilst the Catholic sufferers underwent that annexed to high treason. He also observes with respect to the greater part of those victims,--

"that the sentence of the law was strictly and literally executed upon them. After being hanged up, they were cut down alive, dismembered, ripped up, and their bowels literally burnt before their faces, after which they were beheaded and quartered. The time employed in this butchery was very considerable, and, in one instance, lasted above half an hour.--Great numbers also of these sufferers, as well as other Catholics, who did not endure capital punishment, were racked in the most severe and wanton manner, in order to extort proofs against themselves or their brethren. It appears, from the account of one of these sufferers, that the following tortures were in use against the Catholics in the Tower: 1. The common rack, in which the limbs were stretched by levers. 2. The scavenger's daughter, so called, being a hoop, in which the body was bent until the head and feet met together. 3. The chamber, called Little-Ease, being a hole so small that a person could neither stand, sit, or lie straight in it. 4. The Iron Gauntlets. In some instances needles were thrust under the prisoner's nails.--Sir Owen Hopton, lieutenant of the Tower, was commonly the immediate instrument in these cruelties there; but sometimes Elmer bishop of London directed them."

The trade of Wisbeach is said to have much increased of late years, through the improved state of the drainage and navigation of the fens, and consequent augmentation of the produce and consumption of the country: and it would, no doubt, have increased much more, but for the bad state of the harbour or river below. The average of the exports and imports amounts to 40,000 tons annually. The principal articles of traffic are coals, corn, timber, and wine. The neighbouring lands are in high cultivation, chiefly on the grazing System. The Sheep and oxen grow to a great size, and considerable numbers of them are fattened, and sent twice every week to the London market. The inhabitants are employed in commerce, there being no manufacture of any kind in the place, though the surrounding country produces immense quantities of wool, hemp, and flax. The market is abundantly supplied with poultry, fish, and butchers meat; and the trade of the town is further promoted by six small fairs, for hemp and flax, horned cattle and horses. The canal, which was completed a few years ago, extending from Wisbeach river to the river Nene at Outwell, and thence to the river Ouse at Salters-Lode Sluice, opened a communication with Norfolk, Suffolk, and other counties, and has already benefited the town considerably.

After Oliver Cromwell had been appointed governor of the Isle of Ely, for his activity in swaying it to the interest of the Parliament, he caused fortifications to be raised near the Horse-shoe on the north side of Wisbeach, to secure the passes out of Lincolnshire, which continued attached to the king. The soldiers stationed to defend them were commanded by Colonel Sir John Palgrave, and Captain William Dodson; and the ammunition, and other warlike stores, were supplied from a Dutch ship, which the Queen had dispatched from Holland for the use of the royalists, but which, very seasonably and conveniently, fell into the hands of their opponents.

The river Nene, being navigable from Wisbeach to Peterborough, and many other more distant inland parts, contributes much to the commercial importance of the former. There are also passage-boats on this river, which prove very convenient to travellers, in their progress to, or from the great north road.--Before we quit Wisbeach it may be here just hinted, that some of its inhabitants have often been heard loudly congratulating themselves, on the very superior advantages of their town, compared with Lynn and most other boroughs, where the corporation spirit is too apt to encroach and bear hard upon the unprivileged part of the community; but which, happily, never haunts, molests, or disturbs the people of Wisbeach. If that be really the case, they have, certainly, cause for boasting; and we can do no less than hail them on the occasion.--The population of Wisbeach, as ascertained by the late act, amounts to near five thousand: so that it is the most populous town in the county, except Cambridge.

Being here to quit Wisbeach, we shall now recross the ditch, and take another turn in Marshland. In this remarkable District, as has been already intimated, scarce any edifices are to be seen, either of ancient or modern date, that are worthy of very particular attention, except the parish churches; and of them it does not seem necessary to give here any further description: but it may be just hinted, that next to Walpole St-Peter's, already described, the two Terringtons, one of the Tilneys, West-Walton, and Walsoken, are deemed the most considerable and remarkable. Some account of them may be found in Parkin's History of Freebridge Hundred and half.

The Banks erected by the Romans to secure this country, appear to have been well constructed and they served probably for ages as effectual bulwarks against the encroachment of the ocean. In a long course of time, however, they would naturally fall into decay; and the Saxons, who succeeded the Romans, being never very remarkable for their attention to such matters, or their skill in the management of them, it is not to be wondered that we often hear in aftertimes of breaches in the banks; and of high tides, or great inland floods deluging and desolating the country.

After this, on the 1st of April 1607 there happened a mighty tide, which broke Catt's bank, and drowned Clenchwarton. About 1610, provision was made for draining the waters of Oldfield, Outwell, &c. without issuing them through Broken Dike into Marshland, and also for a general repair of all the banks. How far these measures were carried on, or effected, cannot now be said; but they proved entirely ineffectual to secure the country from that dreadful inundation of the sea, which happened on November 1, 1613 and which laid all Marshland and parts adjacent under water, and proved exceedingly calamitous to the whole country. In commemoration of this most disastrous event, the following rather quaint Inscription was set up on the East Wall of the south aisle in Wisbeach Church--

Dugdale in his History of Embanking has preserved--

In the months of January and February, and particularly on the 23rd of March in the ensuing year the country sustained much additional damage from the snows that had fallen, and which had occasioned vast floods from the upland countries upon their going off. A great part of Marshland, from the bank called the Edge, between the towns and Emneth, to the New Podike, was overflowed with fresh water, by divers breaches, between Salter's Lode and Downham Bridge. The country to the south of Wisbeach also suffered greatly on the occasion; as did likewise the greater part of the land within South Eaubrink in Holland, which was so overflowed and damaged, from Spalding to Tydd St. Giles, as to be almost entirely lost for that year.--From these premises it evidently appears, that the boasted fertility, and numerous advantages of Marshland and the adjacent parts have often been woefully counterbalanced by disadvantages and evils of a most serious and distressing nature; so as to leave the inhabitants but very little room to exult over their less wealthy countrymen, whose lot is fallen in the more sterile and rugged parts of the kingdom.

Of celebrated characters, or men who attained to high renown among their contemporaries, but a very moderate number appears to belong to Marshland or its vicinity. Some such, however, seem to have sprung up there, at different periods, within the last thousand years: and of them, whose names have been preserved, the first place, at least in point of seniority, seems to belong to

"A village Hampden, that with dauntless breast The little tyrants of his fields withstood."

Of the parts about Lynn, on the eastern side of the Ouse.

The Castle, as Parkin observes,--

"stands upon a hill, on the south side of the town, from whence is a fine prospect over land and an arm of the sea. Great part of the walls of the keep, or inward tower, are still standing, being a gothic pile, much resembling that of Norwich, and little inferior; the walls are about three yards thick, consisting chiefly of freestone, with iron, or car stone; encompassed with a great circular ditch, and bank of earth, on which stood also a strong stone wall, as appears by a presentment, in 31st Elizabeth, when the wall on the said bank was said to be in part, and the rest in danger of being overthrown, by the warrener's conies. This ditch, now dry, was formerly, probably, filled with water. There is but one entrance to it, on the eastside, over a strong stone bridge, about thirty paces long, and eight or nine broad, supported by a single arch, over which stood a gate-house. The inward part of the castle, or keep, is all in ruins, except the room, where the court leet of that lordship is held."

In 1340, the king and queen were here for some time, as appears from the account rolls of Adam de Reffham, and John de Newland, of Lynn, who sent his majesty, in the mean while, a present of wine. In the summer of that year workmen were employed at the Castle in making preparations, and the queen sent her precept to the Mayor of Lynn, for eight carpenters to assist on the occasion. Afterward, in 1344, the King and his court were here for some time, as appears from certain Letters which he sent from hence to the bishop of Norwich, then at Avignon, to be there delivered by him to the Pope. On the 22nd August, 1358, queen Isabel died at this Castle; and in November following her remains were taken to London, and buried there in the Church of the Grey Friars, now called Christ Church, where also her favourite Mortimer had been buried.

Castleacre was purchased, of his relations the Cecils, by lord chief justice Coke, and is now the property of his descendant, Thomas Wm. Coke Esq. of Holkham.

Besides the castles, or palaces above mentioned, there were formerly in this country many religious houses, of different orders, and some of them of considerable note: among which were Blackburgh priory, in Middleton; Castleacre priory; Westacre priory; Crab-house nunnery, by Maudlin; West Dereham Abbey; Flitcham priory; Massingham priory, and Pentney priory. Of these some were extensive and noble edifices, and had large possessions attached to them; but scarce any remains of most of them are now to be seen, and their very memory seems to be approaching fast towards oblivion. Such is the fate of the firmest fabrics: like those who constructed them, they were composed of perishing materials.

Of all the fine houses that now exist in this vicinity, and even throughout all the eastern parts of England, the precedence, in point of size and magnificence at least, is allowed to be due to

The duke of Lorrain, afterward Emperor of Germany, and husband to Maria Theresa, was once entertained by Sir Robert Walpole, at Houghton, with more than British magnificence.--Relays of horses were, in the meantime, provided on the roads, to bring rarities thither from the remotest parts of the kingdom, with all possible speed: and this extraordinary expedient, it seems, was continued all the while that august guest staid at Houghton. Sir Robert's expenses, in buildings and entertainments, must have been so very great, that one is apt to wonder how he could manage to bear them, but he was a prime minister, and prime ministers are supposed capable of doing great things in the pecuniary way, without embarrassing themselves. One of Sir Robert's successors, however, a late prime minister, seems to have been an exception to that idea: with ample means, and without any great apparent outgoings, he could by no means manage to live, or keep out of debt, and actually died insolvent!--Circumstances so dissimilar in the history of two men who stood in the same situation, must needs be deemed somewhat odd and remarkable.

The woods, or plantations, about Houghton are extensive, and thought very fine.

"In the road from Syderstone they appear we think to the greatest advantage; they are seen to a great extent, with openings left judiciously in many places, to let in the view of more distant woods; which changes the shade, and gives them that solemn brownness which has always a great effect. The flatness of the country, however, is a circumstance which, instead of setting them off, and making them appear larger than they really are, gives them a diminutive air, in comparison to the number of acres really planted. For were these vast plantations disposed upon ground with great inequalities of surface, such as hills rising one above another, or vast slopes stretching away to the right and left, they would appear to be almost boundless, and shew twenty times the extent they do at present. The woods which are seen from the south front of the house, are planted with great judgment, to remedy the effect of the country's flatness; for they are so disposed as to appear one beyond another, in different shades, and to a great extent."

Next to Houghton the very best house in all this part of the kingdom is

HOLKHAM HOUSE, the splendid Seat and residence of Thomas William Coke, Esq. the far-famed patron of the Norfolk agriculturists, and one of the representatives of the county in this and several of the preceding parliaments. Mr Coke is also a descendant of the famous Lord chief justice of that name, who was himself a Norfolk man. Holkham is not of so long standing as Houghton: it was begun in 1734 by the Earl of Leicester and completed by his dowager countess, in 1760.

"The central part of this spacious mansion, built of white brick, is accompanied by four wings, or pavilions, which are connected with it by rectilinear corridors, or galleries: each of the two fronts therefore display a centre and two wings. The south front presents an air of lightness and elegance, arising from the justness of its proportions. In the centre is a bold portico, with its entablature supported by six corinthian columns. The north front is the grand or principal entrance, and exhibits different, though handsome features. The wings which partake of similar characteristics, have been thought to diminish from the general magnificence of the building, by the want of uniformity of style with the south front, and being too much detached to be consistent with unity. The centre, which extends 345 feet in length, by 180 in depth, comprises the principal apartments: each wing has its respective destination. One contains the kitchens, servants'-hall, and some sleeping rooms. In the chapel wing is the dairy, laundry, with more sleeping rooms. Another contains the suit of family apartments; and the fourth, called the strangers' wing, is appropriated to visitors.

Nor would such a delineation be very necessary for this work, as but few of its readers can be supposed altogether unacquainted with the premises.--After Holkham, the next place is due to

Several springs of mineral water, of the chalybeate kind, are to be found in the neighbourhood of Lynn, on this eastern side; of which one is at Riffley, and another on Gaywood common, both within two miles of the town. There is also another beyond Setchey, on the Downham road. There are others in East Winch parish, one of which is much more strongly impregnated than any of the rest, and might, perhaps, be ranked, in point of medicinal virtue, with some of those springs that have acquired so much celebrity as to become places of considerable resort. This Spring is said to be strongly impregnated with what chymists and mineralogists call sulphate of iron.

Of all the eminent men who sprung up in this part of Norfolk, the precedence seems unquestionably due to

--"with his latest breath Thus shewed his ruling passion strong in death."

Before we conclude this chapter, and this first part the work, it may not be improper, or unacceptable to the reader, to take some notice of a few of the most remarkable places on this side, that have been omitted in the preceding pages. We shall begin with

This house remained for many years the only one of the kind in the United Kingdom; but about the year 1787, several others, on the same plan, were erected on the coast of Scotland, as appears by the following extracts from one of the provincial papers of that time.--

In the same paper, of Dec. 9. 1789, appeared the following passage--

Being now about to close our remarks on the country about Lynn, it may be here noted, in regard to Marshland and the fenny parts in general, that so little care appears to have been taken there to counteract, or guard against the natural insalubrity of the country, and promote the health of the inhabitants, that not a few of the older dwelling-houses, and particularly those of the cottagers, and lower classes, have their floors actually underground, or below the surface of the land on the outside. This can be said to furnish but a very indifferent sample or specimen of the boasted wisdom of our ancestors. Those of the present generation, however, cannot with much good grace blame them on this occasion, while they are themselves at the expence and pains of keeping up and repairing those same unhealthful dwellings. Our new houses indeed are generally, if not always constructed upon a much better plan; and that may be said to be one of the few things in which we appear to exceed our forefathers. In other things we certainly fall short of them, and act our parts much worse than they would have done--even so much worse, that they would unquestionably have blushed for, and despised us, and that very justly, had they foreseen some of our recent proceedings.

OF THE ORIGIN AND ANTIQUITY OF LYNN, WITH A SKETCH OF ITS HISTORY FROM ITS FIRST RISE TO THE NORMAN CONQUEST.

Of Lynn while Britain formed a part of the Roman Empire.

Having, at the close of the preceding section, suggested an opinion that the origin of Lynn was coeval with the first Introduction of Christianity into this country, it will not, it is presumed, be any way improper, or unacceptable to the reader to offer here a few observations toward ascertaining the time when the last mentioned event took place, especially as all our English writers and antiquaries have left the matter very much in the dark.

Lynn, as has been already suggested, was, in all probability, the very first town built by the above mentioned colonists, and so the mother town of that extensive country, which they were the means of recovering, improving, and securing from the annoyance of the salt and stagnant waters. Being their original dwelling place, it may naturally be supposed, that it would continue afterward to be their principal habitation or settlement, although in the progress of their work, and as they advanced further on, other dwellings and villages would of course be constructed and inhabited. Considering these people as originally from Belgium or Batavia, than which nothing is more likely, it may from thence be inferred, that the intercourse between Lynn and the Low Countries must have been of very early origin. Some connection or traffick between these colonists and their mother country may fairly be supposed to have commenced from their very first settlement here: so that the trade and intercourse between Lynn and the Netherlands may be concluded to be now of above seventeen hundred years standing.

The improvements begun in and about the fens, as well as in other parts of the country, were probably in some measure attended to during the whole continuance of the Roman power in this island. On the decline of that power, and especially after the departure of the Roman legions, there is reason to believe that they were neglected and relinquished. The grievous and calamitous scenes which then ensued, would leave no room or opportunity for such pursuits as could be attended to only in the happy seasons of internal tranquillity.

Although we have considered the original inhabitants of Lynn, Marshland, and the Fens, as consisting for the most part of colonists from the continent, we are probably not warranted to conclude, that they were in fact, a Roman Colony, or invested with the rights and immunities of Roman citizens. It may, however, be very reasonably supposed, that they were favoured with some particular privileges, to which, indeed, they appear to have been very justly entitled. But whatever they might be, it is not likely that they enjoyed them for any great length of time after the dissolution of the Roman government here: the country then soon fell a prey to foreign and merciless invaders, and everything was involved in universal confusion and ruin.

On the immediate consequences of the abdication of the country by the Romans, and the probable fate of Lynn.

How much happier had it been for the Britons to have been invaded by Theodorick than by the Saxons!

That Lynn had become a place of considerable trade in the Saxon times, or before the Norman invasion, is evident from unquestionable existing documents. It had then a toll-booth, and enjoyed certain duties and customs, payable on the arrival of any goods or merchandise, of which the bishop was in full possession of a moiety. This episcopal privilege is supposed to have been as early as the conversion of the East Angles, and establishment of Christianity among them. The town continued daily to flourish and acquire increasing importance; and at an early period after the conquest, one of the writers of that time calls it, "a noble city," on account of its trading and commercial magnificence. This was at a period when Hull did not exist, and when Liverpool, if it did exist, was but a very obscure and insignificant place.

In attempting to give an account of the state of things at Lynn during the period which we are now contemplating, almost all our light must be borrowed from the general history of the kingdom in the mean while, as the paucity of materials, relating particularly to this town, leaves us, for the most part, no other clew for our guidance. The reader must not therefore be displeased with the method here generally pursued, in exhibiting the state or history of Lynn under its East-Anglian and Anglo-Saxon sovereigns.

Of the religious profession of the first Anglian inhabitants of Lynn--their renouncing heathenism, and assuming the christian name--account of their conversion, and character of their Christianity.

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