Great Yarmouth coastal defences (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
St Nicholas Gat; South Mount

In the civil parish of Great Yarmouth.
In the historic county of Norfolk.
Modern Authority of Norfolk.
1974 county of Norfolk.
Medieval County of Norfolk.

OS Map Grid Reference: TG525067
Latitude 52.59959° Longitude 1.72720°

Great Yarmouth coastal defences has been described as a certain Artillery Fort, and also as a probable Chain Tower.

There are no visible remains.

Comments

Several 'bulwarkes of earth' built in 1539 along beach from mouth of the Yare (St Nicholas's Gat) to the town. One of these may have been the base for the South Mount, a rectangular mound erected in 1590 at the South-west corner of the town wall, between the South Gate and the River Yare, to cover the southern approach to the town and the boom over the river. It mounted 7 heavy guns on its summit. This was removed in C19.
There seems to be some confusion in some records between the South Mount and the New Mount

Sources of information, references and further reading

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 1395002; 133983.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 10550.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- GtYarmouth Map 1797
Books
- Harrington, Peter, 2007, The Castles of Henry VIII (Oxford: Osprey) p. 12 (slight)
  Kent, Peter, 1994, 'Armada and 17th-Century Defences' in Wade-Martins, P, (ed), An Historical Atlas of Norfolk (2edn Norwich; Norfolk Museums) p. 136-7
  Kent, Peter, 1988, Fortifications of East Anglia (Lavenham: Ternence Dalton) p. 196
  Blomefield, F., 1810, 'East Flegg Hundred: Great Yarmouth' An Essay towards a Topographical History of the County of Norfolk Vol. 11 p. 352-64 (history) online transcription
Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
- Palmer, C.J. (ed), 1854, Manship's History of Great Yarmouth (Yarmouth) p. 48 (written temp. James I) online copy

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The bibliography owes much to various bibliographies produced by John Kenyon for the Council for British Archaeology, the Castle Studies Group and others.

Suggestions for finding online and/or hard copies of bibliographical sources can be seen at this link.
Minor archaeological investigations, such as watching brief reports, and some other 'grey' literature is most likely to be held by H.E.R.s but is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded here, or elsewhere, but some suggestions can be found here.

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