James Woodforde and Yarmouth
James Woodforde visited Norfolk, Norwich, and Yarmouth for the first time in 1775 when he journeyed from Oxford to his new parish of Weston Longville.
Norwich: 'The fairest City in England'
14 April 1775 . . . We took a Walk over the City in the morning & we both agreed that it was the fairest City in England by far, in the Center of it is a high Hill and on that a prodigious old Castle almost perfect & forms a compleat Square, round it is a fine Terrass Walk which commands the Whole City – There are in the City 36. noble Churches mostly built with Flint, besides many meeting Houses of divers Sects – A noble River runs almost thro' the Center of the City – The City Walls are also very perfect and all round the City but where the River is – On the Hills round the City, stand many Windmills about a dozen to be seen from Castle-Mount
South East View of Norwich, after John Ryland, 1764 [Private collection]Norwich was to become not just the ecclesiastical centre of his life, but also the city he regularly visited for entertainment, banking, and shopping, and in whose affairs he took a great interest over the following twenty-nine years.
Shortly after arriving in Norfolk, and having familiarised himself with his new parish of Weston, he and Cooke set off for Yarmouth. Why he chose Yarmouth for his first Norfolk expedition is not explained. Woodforde's diary rarely answers the question why. It presents a factual account, often with supporting detail, but seldom with interpretation. The reader must piece together the evidence.
Perhaps he simply wished to see the sea. We cannot be certain, but coming from rural Somerset via Winchester and Oxford, Yarmouth may have been his first opportunity. Although there is no known record of his daily life before the first diary entry in 1759, it is possible that he had visited Bridgwater Bay. He certainly revelled in walking and in taking a 'coach' along the long Yarmouth beach, and in witnessing the aftermath of a storm. Perhaps his first conversations at Weston suggested the expedition to Yarmouth, or perhaps Cooke, who had Suffolk connections, recommended it.
Yarmouth: 'A sweet place'
Yarmouth was certainly a borough of some distinction having received its first charter from King John in 1208, which included an important provision for encouraging trade that was to become the cornerstone of its fortunes:
We have also granted them a merchant's guild. Moreover, for the amendment of the said Burgh of Yarmouth we have granted, that whatever merchants shall come to the Burgh of Yarmouth with their ware, of whatever place they shall be, whether foreigners or others, who are at peace with us or by our permission shall come into our land, they may come, stay and depart in our safe peace paying the due customs of that burgh.
When Woodforde visited, over five centuries later, Yarmouth was a bustling port and trading town with links to the Baltic as far as Russia, and to Spain and Italy. Fishing was – and remained until the twentieth century – a key element of its prosperity. As the diary records, the arrival of the herring fleet from Holland was an important annual occasion. By Woodforde's time, the fashion for sea bathing had also reached Yarmouth, as Richard Beatniffe reported in The Norfolk Tour, 1777:
A traveller, wishing to see this town to advantage with respect to amusements, should make a visit in the bathing-season, during the months of July, August, or September, when a great deal of genteel company from London, most parts of the county, and Suffolk, assemble here either for the purpose of health or pleasure.
Woodforde did not indulge in sea bathing, but he was interested in conversing with the people he and Cooke met during their three-day stay, including the guardian of the Harbour Fort and the mariners aboard the colliers (coal ships) taking shelter at Yarmouth Quay en route from Sunderland to London.
South-West Prospect of Yarmouth, after Samuel and Nathaniel Buck, 1741 [Private collection]Perhaps Woodforde was simply interested in experiencing and learning about Yarmouth – the sea, its fishing fleet and trade, and perhaps also its growing reputation as a health resort for the Norfolk gentry.
There is a thread of entries in the diary that speak of a curious, if not enquiring, mind, interested in geography and astronomy. At Oxford he had purchased a pair of pocket globes – one terrestrial and the other celestial. On 3 June 1769, when Joseph Banks and James Cook were observing the Transit of Venus at Tahiti, James Woodforde was in Somerset, where he too observed the transit and noted that Venus appeared as a 'black-Patch upon a fair Lady's Face'. He owned an Atlas Minimus – 'my little Book of Mapps' – as we know from the diary, which records that he gave it to his nephew Samuel Clarke in 1780 at the end of his stay at Weston parsonage. This was the same Sam Clarke who, as a clumsy twelve-year-old, broke the window glass of the telescope in 1769 and spoiled Woodforde's view of the Transit.
When, in 1785, the opportunity arose to witness a balloon ascent by Mr Decker, Woodforde went twice to Quantrelle's Gardens in Norwich and wrote a detailed account in his diary on each occasion. He was especially interested in the effect of the weather on the ascents.
Later that same year Mr Walker's famous eidouranion came to Norwich:
1 December 1785 . . . I walked to the Assembly–Room near Chapel Field and heard an excellent Lecture on Astronomy &c. spoken by One Walker with a View of his Eidouranion or transparent Orrery - was highly pleased with it . . . I paid – 0 : 2 : 6 [two shillings and sixpence]
Evidence of Woodforde's curious mind is apparent in his explorations of Yarmouth. He made six visits and enjoyed showing the town and its attractions to family and friends.
Yarmouth's literary associations
Woodforde's first visit in 1775
Woodforde's first visit in 1775 – Washbourne Cooke
Woodforde's second visit in 1776
Woodforde's third visit in 1778
Woodforde's third visit in 1778 – the journey to Yarmouth
Woodforde's fourth visit in 1779