YARMOUTH (GREAT YARMOUTH), a municipal, county and parliamentary borough, watering-place, and seaport of Norfolk, England (with a small portion in Suffolk), 121 m. N.E. from London by the L.N.E.R., served also by the M. and G.N.R. Pop.
(1931) 56,769.
Yarmouth (Magna Gernemutha), which lies near the site of the Roman camp of Garianonum, is believed to have been the landing place of Cerdic in the 5th century. Not long afterwards, the con venience of its situation having attracted many fishermen from the Cinque Ports, a permanent settlement was made, and the town numbered 7o burgesses before the Conquest. Henry I. placed it under the rule of a reeve. The charter of King John (1208), which gave his burgesses of Yarmouth general liberties according to the customs of Oxford, a gild merchant and weekly hustings, was amplified by several later charters asserting the rights of the borough. In 1552 Elizabeth granted a charter of admiralty juris diction, afterwards confirmed and extended by James I. In 1668 Charles II. incorporated Little Yarmouth in the borough by a charter which with one brief exception remained in force till 1703, when Anne replaced the two bailiffs by a mayor, reducing the aldermen and common councilmen to 18 and 36. Yarmouth re turned two members to parliament from 1300 to 1868, when it was disfranchised until 1885. The borough now returns one mem ber. The herring trade, which has always been the main industry of Yarmouth, used to be carried on at an annual fair between Michaelmas and Martinmas.
Yarmouth lies on a long and narrow peninsula of sand, between the North sea and the Breydon Water (formed by the rivers Yare and Waveney) and the river Bure. The old town of Great Yar
mouth was built chiefly along the east bank of the Yare, but the modern town has extended beyond its ancient walls, of which some remains exist, to the seashore. On the landward or Suffolk side i of the estuary is the suburb of Southtown, and farther south that of Gorleston. The principal features of Yarmouth are the north and south quays, and the straight narrow lanes called "rows," 145 in number, running at right angles to them. The old town is connected with Little Yarmouth by a bridge across the Yare of stone and iron, erected in 1854. The church of St. Nicholas, founded in 110i by Herbert Losinga, and consecrated in 1119, is the largest parish church in England.
Yarmouth roads, off the coast, afford excellent anchorage ex cept in E. or N.E. winds. The channel to the quays was made by Joost Jansen, a Dutch engineer, in 1567, and affords a depth at the bar of 12 ft. at low water. The herring and mackerel fish eries are most important, and fish-curing is an extensive indus try, Yarmouth bloaters being widely famous. The fishing fleet numbers some 500 vessels of 20,000 tons, and employs about 3,000 hands. The principal imports are coal, timber and seeds, and ex ports are grain and fish.
See Victoria County History, Norfolk; H. Swinden, History of Great Yarmouth (1772) ; C. J. Palmer, History of Great Yarmouth (1854) Marlowe, People and Places in Marshland (1927)