St. John’s Church, Lancaster Road, Great Yarmouth
Posted: August 8th, 2011 | Author: eastcoastnet | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: heritage, historic Great Yarmouth, St. John's Church | 2 Comments »
St. John’s Church, Great Yarmouth, nave, photograph by B.Heriz, 2011
Dr. Paul Davies gave members of the Great Yarmouth and District Local History and Archaeology Society a guided tour around St. John’s Church in Lancaster Road, Great Yarmouth on Sunday 7th August . English Heritage has agreed to contribute towards the cost of reroofing this interesting church, designed by the Victorian architect J.H.Hakewill in an unusually resonant Early English style. The carving of the capitals on the pillars supporting the bold brick arches is very fine, each capital displaying a different design.
St. John’s Church, Great Yarmouth, photograph by Derek Jackson, 2011
The corner-stone of St. John’s Church was laid in June 1857 and the building cost £2,000, paid for with the support of the Ecclesiastical Commission – treasury money made available for the construction of new churches in an effort to promote good social behaviour in this country after the scare of the revolution in France!
Photograph by Derek Jackson, 2011
The church was intended for the fishermen who used the beach nearby – the site was originally a rope maker’s laying ground, as Dr. Davies explained. Pews reserved for fishermen and their families were free for them to use – which meant a reduction in pew rent and consequent financial problems for the church.
Poppy Head, photographed by Derek Jackson, 2011
There are a few remaining examples of the finely carved poppy heads which were unfortunately sawn off the pew ends at one point in the history of the church. Dr. Paul Davies explained that these were carved in the mid to late 19th Century and, very unusually, by a woman artist, a Miss Lovell. Her father served at Trafalgar and ended up an Admiral (Wm. Stanhope Lovell) who used to stay at Britannia Terrace for the summer.
The church was opened in Feb. 7th, 1858 and consecrated on April 22nd, 1858. In 1859, the southern aisle was added as a memorial to the late Miss Maurice, and the church was enlarged again in 1878 with the addition of a north aisle. The Octagon, which forms very much part of the character of the church from the outside, was added in 1883.
The church is ornamented with original designs displaying text from the Bible, and the rose chancel was embellished with new windows decorated with bright red columns in 1907 when the St. John’s went through a high church phase. There are also some very fine stained glass windows.
The Chancel, St. John’s, Derek Jackson, 2011
Ceiling of chancel, B.Heriz, 2011
St. John’s is yet another of Great Yarmouth’s heritage jewels and it is wonderful to learn that it is going to be conserved and used. Dr. Paul Davies is currently writing a history of the church and its role within past communities of Great Yarmouth.
Fishermen had long preferred to land their catches on the beach rather than journey up the River Yare to the town of Great Yarmouth. A jetty was built in 1560 to facilitate beach landings and a community of fishermen’s cottages with sheds and and beerhouses gradually grew along the beach around the jetty above the high water mark. This became known as the Beach Town.
The beachmen made their living by fishing, piloting and ferrying goods and men out to ships anchored in the Yarmouth Roads, and also salvage when opportunity rose. They set up beach companies who owned boats specifically for the purpose of rescue and salvage. From the 18th Century many of their activities were documented in the records of the Admiralty Court in Great Yarmouth. By 1860 there were seven companies, each with its own headquarters and look out on the beach.
The decline of the beach community began in the mid-19th Century when the new Fish Market was opened in 1867 on Fish Wharf. By that time steam tugs were available to tow the trawlers into the river and many fisher people relocated to Great Yarmouth and commercial activity on the new wharf. By the 20th century activity on the seafront was centred on seaside holiday business and the beach companies declined, their lookouts and sheds demolished. The sea front was redeveloped for the holiday trade.
For more information on the beach communities in Great Yarmouth and other locations along the coast, see “The Beachmen” by David Higgins, published by Terence Dalton Ltd., Lavenham, 1987, ISBN 0 86138 047 9. To illustrate the text, the author has published his marvellous collection of prints depicting the men, boats and buildings of the beach communities over the centuries.
Patricia Wills-Jones B.Sc. (Hons) MA His., PGCE, is also interested in St. John’s in connection with her research on women in the fishing industry, soon to be published under the title “Beatsters, Braiders and Ransackers”. She noted that the beach community in Great Yarmouth was as large as that in Lowestoft and, living outside the town wall, used to vote in it’s own representative whom it called ‘mayor’.
Font, St. John’s, Derek Jackson, 2011
Ref: The Beachmen’s Church, St. John’s Church, Great Yarmouth, by Dr. Paul P. Davies. This well-researched softback book with full colour photographs, printed by RPD Litho Printers , costs only £10, and is available from St. Nicholas Minster Church or from the author. Dr. Davies is the archivist at St. Nicholas Minster Church.
