A Snapshot of Blakeney Haven in 1565: by John Peake

58 The Glaven Historian No.8 A Snapshot of Blakeney Haven in 1565 A Survey of the Ports, Creeks and Landing Places of Norfolk by John Peake Synopsis: Churches surrounding Blakeney Haven are rich in ship graffiti, much of it probably dating from the 15th and 16th centuries and later. The community who produced these drawings is explored using a 1565 Survey of the ports, creeks and landing places in Norfolk. Introduction Surveys of Ports: Background raffiti is found in many churches and uring the 15th and 16th centuries cathedrals scattered across the British numerous surveys of shipping were GIsles. Some is well known, but here in Dmade by the Crown to determine the the churches surrounding Blakeney Haven, number and size of merchant ships that could from Stiffkey in the west to Salthouse in the east be pressed into service for the Navy.3 Yet the and inland to Cockthorpe, there is a wealth of underlying factors that governed the collection images that are largely unrecognised outside the of data for many of the earlier surveys are diffi- local community. cult to comprehend and their value at a local This local graffiti is strong in representations level is compromised. of ships that would appear to date from at least However, during the reign of Elizabeth the the 15th and 16th centuries and possibly earli- quality of the data expanded enormously as the er,1 plus many examples spread across succes- frequency of surveys increased and more sive centuries. These ‘drawings’ vary from simple detailed information was included.3&4 outlines to more complex forms showing details Consequently the government knew how many of both hulls and rigging (Photograph1). It is this merchant or fishing vessels were available to act detail that leads to the conclusion that the peo- as tenders and transporters or as fighting auxil- ple who produced these works were closely iaries, together with numbers of potential crew involved with ships. members to man them. Furthermore, it was Whilst this graffiti may not have any great possible for the authorities to monitor the suc- artistic merit, it does have considerable cultural cess of legislation designed to encourage the interest in terms of its potential to extend our development of English shipping. knowledge of both the vessels using the Haven The 1565 Survey was one of these reviews, and the local communities but it fell within a period that was crucial for It was against this background that the dis- East Anglian trade. Between 1550 and 1569 covery of a transcript of a document in the trade with the Low Countries was flourishing, Norfolk Record Office entitled ‘A Survey of the although the vessels trading between the two Ports, Creeks and Landing Places of Norfolk, areas were predominately Dutch rather than 1565’ was of immediate interest. The original English. Smuggling was also prevalent and document is incorporated into the State Papers attacks from pirates operating on the high seas in the Public Record Office that is now part of were a constant threat. Yet links with Antwerp the National Archives at Kew. The transcription and Amsterdam and other ports, sometimes via used here was made by the Public Record Yarmouth, facilitated a ‘super highway’ for Office.2 goods, corn going out and a wide diversity of Even though many authors have already materials coming in from ports that were much used this and similar surveys as sources of closer to East Anglia than London. This highway information on shipping and trade, here was an gave Norfolk access to specialist items from the opportunity to take another look at a single continent, such as fine cloths and wine and snapshot of the Haven in the hope that it would spices from the Far East. However, much of this provide a greater insight into the community trade suddenly stopped in 1569, and later when who produced the graffiti. it did resume English vessels and merchants A Snapshot of Blakeney Haven 1565 59 Photograph 1. Example of ship graffiti from nave of Blakeney Church (15cm wide). This ‘drawing’ is on a flat surface although it extends onto a domed area above that is demarcat- ed by a mason’s line running across the picture. A line of mortar is clearly visible beneath the hull. This is a three-masted vessel with a prominent beak and a bowsprit at the prow and indi- cations of rigging. On the main mast there is clearly a top (a crow’s nest is the nearest mod- ern equivalent) and the wavy line above suggests a pennant. The fore mast also appears to have a top. Both these masts have horizontal spars with zigzag lines representing furled sails. There is a mizzen mast with a line running to it with another zig-zag line indicating a furled sail. Many features of this vessel are reminiscent of the carved pew end from St Nicholas Church, Kings Lynn now preserved in the Victoria and Albert Museum. The carving shows a ship with sails furled resting on the sea with representation of fish swimming beneath it and dated about 1415. While such a date cannot be transposed to Blakeney, where the nave was rebuilt in 1434, nonetheless it supports the dating of this ‘drawing’ to the 15th century. 60 The Glaven Historian No.8 predominated.4 ous undertakings; conditions would have been This is not the complete picture, for since the harsh aboard vessels on the northern fishing 14th century the ports and havens of East grounds and in some years many vessels were Anglia had been important centres for fishing. lost, while on the homeward voyage ships had to Besides the farmer-fisherman, who produced for contend with the constant threat of attack from the family, and opportunistic coastal fishing marauding pirates and privateers. The loss of a close to shore, fishing had become an industry boat would have been devastating across the encompassing drift-netting for herring migrating Haven communities: it would have meant that south in late summer and autumn or sailing twenty to forty men were drowned, plus all the north to Iceland in the spring and summer to financial investment in the vessel, the gear and trade and fish for cod and ling. equipment besides the cargo had disappeared. But it was an industry subject to the vicissi- It is against this background of high risk and tudes of politics at all levels, besides economic fluctuating fortunes that graffiti from, at least, and even religious pressures. Cod wars were not the 15th and 16th centuries must be viewed. an invention of the twentieth century, they have Risks not only to the sailors, but also to ship persisted for at least 700 years.5 owners and merchants transporting their wares Furthermore, early in the 14th century there by sea. Moreover, even at home harmony did not was a decline in the numbers of fish being land- reign, religious values were being challenged by ed, although by late in the 15th a recovery was changes from a Roman Catholic to an English apparent and this continued into the 16th cen- church and a concomitant rise in Puritanism. tury, so that by the time of the 1565 Survey conditions were improving.5 What the effects of A Survey of the Ports, Creeks and these fluctuations were on the local economy is Landing Places in Norfolk 1565 not known, but it was occurring at a time when probably some of the graffiti was being pro- his Survey of Norfolk was organised by Sir duced. Christopher Heydon, Osbert Moundeford The wealth of the area around the Haven has Tand William Paston, three influential indi- frequently been attributed to agriculture with viduals who were members of worthy Norfolk products like corn and malt being exported to families.2 It contains information on the num- other areas of England and the continent. In bers of ships, their size and a simple classifica- contrast, the contribution of fishing and the sea tion of use, together with data on numbers of to the local economy has possibly been under mariners, fishermen and householders in named estimated. The limited number of wills for the places around the Norfolk coast. The summary area from the late 16th century indicates that sheet from the report is shown in Table 1. people leaving bequests of ships and fishing gear Some caution has to be exercised when were probably merchants and certainly owners using this information. There are, for example, of land and property.6 Undoubtedly there is a some strange omissions with smaller ports or bias here, but some people of means were landings along the north coast to the west of the investing in fishing and, given the number of Haven missing. Although this was rectified in ships they owned, were obviously hiring masters another survey made 20 years later when and crews. Stiffkey, Brancaster, Holme and Hunstanton Fishing must have been a dynamic industry were included.4 with revenue being generated from many sourc- A similar problem is the absence from the es. While vessels were unloading and selling Haven of smaller fishing vessels of between 1 their catch in the Haven during the 14th centu- and 4 tons, although such boats were recorded ry,5 there is every reason to believe that fish from villages between Winterton and Mundesly. were also sold at other markets. Surely local There they were involved in fishing for mackerel, boats participating in the ‘herring fare’ – the her- herring, whiting and ‘spurling’, plus ferrying ring season – would have joined the large annu- corn. Presumably at certain times of the year al fair at Yarmouth where boats from ports and some of these boats would have operated off the countries from around the North Sea and even beach and it is difficult to believe that similar further afield gathered to land fish and trade.

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