Herring anyone?
Posted: Sun Nov 17, 2019 5:23 pm
The Herring festival is next weekend so here is some background information:
A short history of why Cinque Ports (Portsmen) were allowed
rights/privileges over herring in Great Yarmouth:
Great Yarmouth owes both its origins and its growth to the North Sea
herring. The town’s origins go back to the tenth century when this
coastal sand-bank was first settled by herring fishermen from Kentish
Ports. The fishing was good and Yarmouth gets a mention in the
Domesday Book (1086) as the centre of the herring industry. At this
time, over the border in Suffolk, the Manor of Beccles paid an annual
tribute of 30,000 herring to the Abbey of St Edmund which was
increased to 60,000 after the Norman Conquest. Henry 1 declared
Yarmouth a burgh in 1108 for an annual payment of ‘ten milliards
herring’.
In the Middle Ages the prosperity of Great Yarmouth was still based on
herring fishing and by the 12th century a herring fair was held at
Yarmouth. (Fairs were like markets but they were held only once a
year. Merchants came from all over Europe to buy herrings at Great
Yarmouth fair). However certain ports in Kent called the Cinque Ports
were given jurisdiction over the Yarmouth fair. That might seem
surprising but ships from the Kentish ports had privileges owing to
their custom of providing ships to the Navy to fight in disputes,
often with foreign countries. Also Great Yarmouth had not yet been
given a charter and was not yet self-governing. So the Kentish towns
ran the fair, which caused much resentment among the people of Great
Yarmouth.
https://doverhistorian.com/2013/09/02/c ... -yarmouth/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/norfolk/content/ar ... age6.shtml
A short history of why Cinque Ports (Portsmen) were allowed
rights/privileges over herring in Great Yarmouth:
Great Yarmouth owes both its origins and its growth to the North Sea
herring. The town’s origins go back to the tenth century when this
coastal sand-bank was first settled by herring fishermen from Kentish
Ports. The fishing was good and Yarmouth gets a mention in the
Domesday Book (1086) as the centre of the herring industry. At this
time, over the border in Suffolk, the Manor of Beccles paid an annual
tribute of 30,000 herring to the Abbey of St Edmund which was
increased to 60,000 after the Norman Conquest. Henry 1 declared
Yarmouth a burgh in 1108 for an annual payment of ‘ten milliards
herring’.
In the Middle Ages the prosperity of Great Yarmouth was still based on
herring fishing and by the 12th century a herring fair was held at
Yarmouth. (Fairs were like markets but they were held only once a
year. Merchants came from all over Europe to buy herrings at Great
Yarmouth fair). However certain ports in Kent called the Cinque Ports
were given jurisdiction over the Yarmouth fair. That might seem
surprising but ships from the Kentish ports had privileges owing to
their custom of providing ships to the Navy to fight in disputes,
often with foreign countries. Also Great Yarmouth had not yet been
given a charter and was not yet self-governing. So the Kentish towns
ran the fair, which caused much resentment among the people of Great
Yarmouth.
https://doverhistorian.com/2013/09/02/c ... -yarmouth/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/norfolk/content/ar ... age6.shtml