A HISTORY OF SUFFOLK 



boat going to sea.' * In 1566 the dole of every 

 ship was worth i to the vicar. In 1786 the 

 receipts were as follows : ' By the Herring 

 Fishery, 16 5*. bd. The Mackerel Fare, 



Mortuaries * were paid to the vicar of Gorles- 

 ton ; every herring-boat lOs. 6d., every mackerel- 

 boat a consideration. 4 



' The arrows in saltier piercing the crown 

 between two dolphins naiant ' on the seal of 

 Southwold declares the town, asserts Gardner, 

 to have been from the earliest times, ' of note 

 for the fishery.' 5 Held by the abbot of Bury 

 for one manor for the victualling of the monks, 

 before the Conquest the town was paying 2O,OOO 

 herrings ; after the Domesday Survey, the num- 

 ber was 25,ooo. 6 In 10 Henry IV we find 

 Southwold was exempted from paying any cus- 

 toms or tolls for their small boats passing in or 

 out of the river or port of Dunwich. The 

 annual payment of herrings was among the 

 properties held by Richard Plantagenet, duke of 

 York, and Cecily, his wife, together with the 

 manor and township. Henry VII, as a reward 

 for the ' industry and good service ' of the in- 

 habitants, the greater part of whom were at this 

 date certainly engaged in the fishery, made the 

 town a free burgh, with remission of all dues 

 and customs payable to Dunwich, conferring on 

 them besides the privileges of the haven. 

 Henry VIII confirmed his predecessor's grants, 

 and added thereto many gifts, franchises, im- 

 munities, &c. 7 The royal favours gave a great 

 impetus to trade and navigation, 'whereof the 

 Fishery was no small part.' 8 Many barks and 

 vessels were annually fitted out in Tudor times 

 for the cod-fishing as far as Iceland, Faroe, and 

 Westmona. 



The herring fishery was ' esteemed of such 

 consequence ' at Southwold 9 that the following 

 enactments with regard to it were made by the 

 town's council : 



No dogger, hoy, or crayer, 10 should lie at the 

 Key (unless to load or unload goods) during the 



1 According to an inquisition in the reign of Eliza- 

 beth, ' Christ's dole ' for Lowestoft was of every 

 fisherman going to the North Sea half a dole, of 

 every ship bound for Iceland, half a dole (Gilling- 

 water, Hist. Lowestoft, 266). At Lowestoft in 1845, 

 a case was tried in which the vicar sought to recover 

 from a fisherman, John Roberts, his tithe of fish. 

 The testimony of several witnesses on this occasion 

 was to the effect that the demand was a perfectly 

 legal one, and had never been disputed within 

 memory. * Suckling, Hist. Buff, ii, 98. 



5 'A sort of ecclesiastical heriots due to a minister 

 on the death of any of his parishioners, a child, a 

 wayfaring person, and a married woman being ex- 

 empt.' H. J. Stephen, New Com. Lams Engl. iii, 98. 



4 Suckling, Hist. Suf. i, 372. 



6 Gardner, Hist. Dunwich, 187. 6 Ibid. 189. 

 'Ibid. 191. 'Ibid. 192. "Ibid. 



10 Crayer = a small coasting vessel. Gardner, Hist. 

 Dunwich, Gloss. 



Mart, viz. from Michaelmas to Martinmas, under 

 penalty of 20*. 



And any person shipped for Iceland, Farra, West- 

 mona, or North-Seas, before St. Andrew's Day, for- 

 feited 5. 



Also every master hired before that time, 40^. 



And each common man, zos. 



Also, every person going to sea with sperling " nets, 

 or line laying before 12 of the Clock on Sundays, 

 and not first been at Church to hear Divine Service, 



* 



Also, every boat laying, or setting sperling-nets, 

 or laying lines, between one o'clock on Sunday morn- 

 ing, and one o'clock on Monday morning, each 

 owner thereof, los. And every common man, 1 2^." 



Every master from Iceland, Farra, Westmona, and 

 North Seas, making false presentments, los. 



Every person going to the herring-fare making 

 false presentments, los." 



Every master, mate, and boatmaster shipped for 

 the Iceland fishery, or for the North Seas, paid to the 

 fee-farm T.S. fid. And each common man 2s. Every 

 man's dole in the fishery was 8^. The penalty for 

 non-payment was 4O/. U 



The will of William Godell of Southwold, 

 made in 1509, points to the testator having been 

 a fairly prosperous shipmaster and fish-merchant, 

 judging from the following extracts : 



Item, I give to Margaret my wife one of my two 

 ships, the Cecily or the Andrew, whether of them she 

 will. Item, I will that all mine other ships be sold 

 by mine executors, as well those that be in Iceland 

 as those that be at home. And also those that I have 

 part in, except that ship that Margaret my wife shall 

 have. And also I will that all the fish that God 

 shall send me out of Iceland be sold by mine execu- 

 tors in performing of this my last will . . . Item, I 

 will that my said wife Margaret have my nets and all 

 manner of nets, with the ropes belonging to them. 

 Item, I give to my wife Margaret a boat tailed the 

 Platiole." 



Southwold, in common with other centres of 

 the fish-supply of the kingdom, suffered greatly 

 from the rupture between Henry VIII and the 

 pope, which resulted in a consequent laxity with 

 regard to the rules as to fasting or fish-days in 

 the community. 



The Elizabethan fisherman had little cause 

 for complaint as to the zeal and sympathy with 

 which his interests were safe-guarded by the 

 shrewdness of his sovereign, who never ceased to 

 see in his craft that nursery for her navy which 

 she rightly believed to be indispensable to the 

 firm foundations of her empire. Suffolk fisher- 

 men, no doubt, participated in the benefits 

 which were likely to accrue from the strict 

 enactments with regard to the observation of 



11 Sperling = sprats. Ibid. 



11 Gardner, Hist. Dunwich, 193. 



" Ibid. 



" Ibid. 



15 Ibid. 248-50. William Godell was appointed 

 first bailiff of Southwold by charter of Henry VII, 

 Feb. 1490. 



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