YARMOUTH, a parish and borough and market-town,
in the liberty of WEST-MEDINA,
Isle of Wight division
of the county of SOUTHAMPTON,
10 miles (W.) from
Newport, and 94 (S. W.)
from London, by Portsmouth,
and 105 by Southampton,
containing 564 inhabitants.
This place, which
derived its name from its
situation on the river Yar,
was formerly of much greater extent and importance
than it is at present; but it had suffered severely from
attacks of the French, by whom it was, in the reign
of Richard II., pillaged and entirely burned, and on
two subsequent occasions it was nearly destroyed by
them. The Town field, laid out regularly in right
angles, though now destitute of buildings, clearly appears
to have been originally the site of a part of the
town. Yarmouth is situated on a bank sloping to the
sea, on the eastern point of land at the mouth of the
Yar, and consists of several neat streets, for the most
part running east and west: the houses, which are of
freestone, are in general well-built and of neat appearance,
and public baths have been recently established.
At its western extremity are a castle and small fort,
erected by Henry VIII.: the latter, which occupies the
site of a church, or ancient religious house, and consists
of a platform with eight guns, and houses for the
garrison, has recently been granted by the Board of
Ordnance to the corporation, who contemplate, demolishing
it, for the purpose of improving the quay and
the landing-places. A large house near the former,
which has been converted into an inn, was erected by
Sir Robert Holmes, for the reception of Charles II.,
a portrait of whom, during his stay here, was painted
by Sir P. Lely, and is in the possession of the Holmes
family. The trade is now very limited; a considerable
quantity of fine white sand, used in the manufacture of
flint glass and the finer sorts of British china, is obtained
here. The principal imports are, coal from Sunderland,
and timber from the New Forest: a constant
intercourse by boats is kept up with the opposite town
of Lymington, and, before the general use of steamboats,
this was considered the safest and most expeditious
passage to the island. The market is on Friday;
and a fair is held on the 25th of July. The markethouse
is a neat building, with a hall over it, in which the
several courts are held, and the public business of the
corporation is transacted. The original charter of incorporation
was granted by Baldwyn de Kedvers, Earl of
Devon, and confirmed by Edward I.; but that under
which the corporation now acts was granted in the 7th
of James I., which ordains the appointment of a mayor
and twelve capital burgesses, with power to choose a
steward, a town clerk, and a Serjeant at mace, and to
create an unlimited number of freemen, but this last privilege
is not now exercised. The borough courts are held
by the mayor and steward, and the corporation is entitled
to all the fines, forfeitures, and profits of the
courts, with many other privileges. The borough first
sent members to parliament in the 23rdof Edward 1.,
but made no other return until the 27th of Elizabeth,
since which period it has exercised the privilege without
interruption: the right of election is vested in the
mayor and burgesses; the mayor is the returning
officer, and the patronage is possessed by the Trustees
of the late Sir L. Worsley Holmes.
The living is a discharged rectory, in the archdeaconry
and diocese of Winchester, endowed with
£200 private benefaction, and £200 royal bounty, and
in the patronage of the Crown. The church, dedicated
to St. James, and situated in the centre of the
town, is a neat structure, consisting of a nave and
chancel, on the south side of which is a sepulchral
chapel, containing a handsome statue of the full size,
in Parian marble, of Sir Robert Holmes, formerly Governor
of the Isle of Wight. There are places of worship
for Baptists and Wesleyan Methodists, A National
and a Lancasterian school are supported by voluntary
subscriptions. The sum of £30, bequeathed by Thomas,
Lord Holmes, is distributed annually, in the chapel
adjoining the church, to the poor not receiving parochial
relief, towards apprenticing a boy out of the
parish, and to the minister. Many Saxon customs,
not generally observed, are still retained at Yarmouth,
such as decorating the coffins of the dead with flowers
and evergreens, the mourners carrying bunches of rosemary,
&c.