442 MB. T. SOUTHWELL ON SOME ANCIENT CUSTOMS WITH 
aboutes : and the other fyshing of eles wyth settes, and grounde 
nettes, hath bene of long tyme used in this kind of severaltie ” 
namely, the bailiffs for the time being upon the Monday next after 
the feast of “ St. Baruabie the Bright,” granted these eel-sets from 
j^ear to year to the fishermen for one penny each set. Through the 
illness of the town clerk as before said, neither was the lease to 
Everest executed, nor were the licenses renewed, hence the plea of 
Clement and William Paston on behalf of the fishermen that the 
right to lease was forfeited, to the consternation of the townspeople, 
who on the plea of poverty, begged that they might be allowed to 
carry out their arrangement with Everest, and that the Fastens bo 
cited “ to answer concerning their said dealings.” In the Fastens’ 
reply, some further particulars of the customs pertaining to the 
eel-sets are revealed. It ajjpears that the eel-sets Avere held from 
the owners of the soil on either bank of the river free, except that 
they yielded to them a “ reasonable composycion of eles, as 
customablie hathe bene used” for the privilege of staking their 
poles and drying their nets on the river banks ; their custom witli 
regard to claiming the fishing stations being as follows : — “ Yerlie in 
the daye of St. Margaret, every fysherman, that could that daye, 
after the rysinge, firste come to anye of the said ele settes in anye of 
the said ryvers, and there stayed, and pytche a bowghe at the said 
ele-sett the same fysherman should have and enjoye the same ele- 
sett that year,” subject only to the complimentary contribution to 
the owner of the soil before mentioned. This custom of “ who 
collide first come and set his bowghe in and upon any of the said 
settes ” the Fastens affirm, the setts being few and the fishermen 
many, led to contentions, and that under this pretense and that of 
insuring a more equitable distribution of the good and bad setbs, 
the bailiffs of Yarmouth some thirty years before had applied to the 
Quarter Sessions of the County for poiver to regulate the fisheries 
by assigning to the fishermen each one his particular set, which was 
registered in his name for the time being, the charge of one penny 
being made for the same. The Fastens further urge that in course 
of time the bailiffs of Yarmouth seeing the profit which could bo 
made out of the letting of the fisheries, began to charge for the 
best eel-sets “ such greato rewardes ” that the fishermen began to 
Avithdraiv from presenting themselves to the bailifi's at all, and 
reverted to their old customs, which the bailiffs discovering, and 
