14. Sep, 2020

14. Sep, 2020

14. Sep, 2020

14. Sep, 2020

14. Sep, 2020

In 1797, during the French Revolutionary Wars, the town was the main supply base for the North Sea Fleet. The fleet collected at the roadstead, from whence it sailed to the decisive Battle of Camperdown against the Dutch fleet.

Again in 1807, during the Napoleonic Wars, the collected fleet sailed from the roadstead to the Battle of Copenhagen.

From 1808 to 1814 the Admiralty in London could communicate with its ships in Yarmouth by a shutter telegraph chain. Ships were routinely anchored offshore during the Napoleonic Wars and the town served as a supply base for the Royal Navy. Part of an Ordnance Yard survives from this period on Southtown Road, probably designed by James Wyatt: a pair of roadside lodges (which originally housed senior officers) frame the entrance to the site, which contains a sizeable armoury of 1806, a small barracks block and other ancillary buildings. Originally the depot extended down to a wharf on the River Yare and was flanked by a pair of storehouses, but these and other buildings were destroyed in The Blitz of WW II (Victory House GPS:N52.600468° E1.723526°).

Yarmouth has been a seaside resort since 1760 and a gateway from the Norfolk Broads to the North Sea. As a tourist centre, it was boosted when a railway opened in 1844, which gave visitors easier, cheaper access and triggered an influx of settlers.

Wellington Pier opened in 1854 and Britannia Pier in 1858. Through the 20th century, Yarmouth was a booming resort, with a promenade, pubs, trams, fish-and-chip shops and theatres, as well as the Pleasure Beach, the Sea Life Centre, the Hippodrome Circus and the Time & Tide Museum.