VGY Accomm Guide 2024 - Edition 1.0 - Flipbook - Page 27
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Behind the long seaside resort
history, lies a rich heritage
of Great Yarmouth at the
heart of international trade
through its port. Its incredible
Architecture tells its story.
Medieval town walls, a Scheduled Ancient
Monument - with its origins traced back
to 1261 – a herring 昀椀shing industry, its
unique rows, surviving today, and its
impressive architecture.
You can explore its history as a seaside
resort, 昀椀shing port and market town on
regular immersive guided heritage walks.
Its sea heritage can be traced and enjoyed at
the Time and Tide Museum of Great
Yarmouth Life, where the herring industry
is outlined in a converted Victorian herring
curing works where you can wander through
a Victorian ‘Row’ and see inside a 昀椀sherman’s
home and even smell the herring aroma that
once hung across the area.
Transport yourself back to a 1950s quayside,
steer a coastal Drifter and hear fascinating
tales of wreck and rescue on the high seas.
The Time and Tide Museum has regular
exhibitions but you can also enjoy interactive
activities, puzzles, 昀椀lm shows, free audio
guides and a multitude of children’s activities
during the holiday seasons. Its cafe is always
a treat.
The National Trust’s Elizabethan House
Museum on South Quay is a must visit.
Moored on the South Quay is one of
Britain’s most signi昀椀cant historic vessels,
the 92-year-old Lydia Eva, the last surviving
steam drifter of the herring 昀椀shing 昀氀eet
based in Great Yarmouth.
Listed as part of the National Historic Fleet,
in 2022 the Lydia Eva played a major role in
the prequel 昀椀lm to Charlie and the Chocolate
Factory. She is open to visitors at weekends
between March and October.
Great Yarmouth’s Medieval town wall,
believed to be the second most complete
medieval wall in the country, is just more
than a mile long with 11 surviving towers.
Work started on the wall in 1276 and took
more than a century to complete. It was
more than 23 feet high and 2,280 yards long,
with 10 gates and 16 towers.
Explore Great Yarmouth’s historic Rows, the
series of narrow condensed streets in Great
Yarmouth that ran from east to west - the
direction of the coastline and towards the
river at South Quay and housed families in
cramped dwellings. It is commonly stated
that there were 145 Rows with the 昀椀rst
mention as early as 1198.
Burgh Castle’s Roman fort, one of the best
preserved Roman monuments in Britain,
dates back to the late 3rd century as part of
the Roman network of coastal defences. Its
three surviving walls are almost their
original height.
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