Transcribed by Colin Ager
Aldeburgh Public Houses
ALDBOROUGH, or Aldeburgh, a small but ancient borough, is a seaport, fishing
town and bathing place, pleasantly situated on the side of a picturesque
acclivity, rising boldly from the German Ocean, 23 mile E.N.E. of Ipswich, 15
miles E.N.E. of Woodbridge, 7 miles S.E. of Saxmundham, 5 miles N.N.E. of Orford,
and 92 miles N.E. of London. It is in Plomesgate Union, and Framlingham and
Saxmundham County Court district. It has a station on the East Suffolk branch of
the Great Eastern Railway. Its population increased from 804 inhabitants in
1801, to 1557 in 1841, to 1627 in 1851, and to 1990 in 1871; and contains 1782
acres of land, and 50 of water. Frederick William Thomas Vernon Wentworth, Esq.,
is the principle landowner, and lord of the manor, which passed to his family
after the death of the late Earl of Strafford, in 1792. William Martel, in 1155,
gave this manor to Snape Priory, and it was granted with the other possessions
of that monastery to Cardinal Wolsey, for the endowment of his college at
Ipswich, in 1527, but was soon afterwards given by Henry VIII. to Thomas, Duke
of Norfolk. The river Alde, from which the borough has its name, rises near
Brundish, 17 miles N.W. by W. of Aldborough, but it is only navigable as high as
Snape Bridge, five miles above the town, where it begins to expand into a broad
tidal stream. After pursuing an easterly course to the south side of Aldborough,
and to within about a hundred yards of the sea, the Alde suddenly turns south,
and runs in that direction more than ten miles, parallel to the coast, before it
empties itself (with the river Butley) into the ocean at Hollesley Bay, below
Orford, up to which town it is called Orford Haven. The valley through which it
flows southwards from Aldborough is called Slaughden, and anciently extended
much further to the north; but the eastern side, opposite the town, has been
washed away by the ocean, which, in the whole course of the Alde below the town,
is only separated from that river by a sandy strip of land, called the Beach and
the Lantern Marshes, from two lighthouses at Orford Ness, a small promontory, in
the broadest part of this singular peninsula, which varies from one to less than
the eight part of a mile in breadth, though it is more than nine miles in
length, and has on the river side of it, the small island of Havergate. (See
Orford.) Two centuries and a half ago, Aldeburgh or Aldborough was a place of
considerable importance; but repeated encroachments of the sea reduced it to the
rank of a small fishing town. During the last century, the ocean made great
ravages, overthrowing many houses, together with the marketplace and cross. A
plan of the town in 1559 proves it to have been at that time of considerable
magnitude. From the same plan, it also appears that there were “denes” of some
extent, similar to those at Yarmouth, between the town and the sea. Below
Slaughden Quay, a little south of Aldborough, the river Alde is commonly called
the river Ore; and in part of the river where the name changes, it has been
proposed to make a safe and extensive Harbour of Refuse, which it is estimated
would cost only about �60,000. This harbour is intended to be formed by cutting
through a narrow strip of land, scarcely 100 yards broad, which alone separates
the ocean from the deep and capacious channel of the river, which, though it
runs so close to the beach, does not fall into the sea till it gets to Hollesley
Bay, about twelve miles further to the south. According to the plans of the
intended new harbour, the entrance from the sea is to be between the Martello
tower and Slaughden Quay, at the south end of Aldborough, and is to be 600 feet
wide, with a lighted pier on either side, projecting more than 200 yards into
the sea. Aldborough is about mid-way between the Harwich and Yarmouth roads,
where, from the nature of the coast, and the violence with which gales from the
north-east to south-east set upon it, a fearful amount of life and property is
annually lost for want of the necessary shelter, which this undertaking is
intended to supply. The same exigencies which have lately brought Lowestoft into
extensive usefulness as a Harbour of Refuge, exists in a much greater degree at
Aldborough. The former importance of Aldborough induced many monarchs to grant
it extensive charters. The last of these, renewed by Charles II., entrusts the
government of the town to two bailiffs, and twelve capital and twenty-four
inferior burgesses, giving also a power to the majority of the capital
burgesses, one of them being a bailiff, to elect an unlimited number of freemen,
either resident or not. By the bailiffs and burgesses resident in the borough,
and not receiving alms (about 40 in number), two members were returned to
Parliament, till the borough lost this privilege by the Reform Act of 1832,
which disfranchised many other small boroughs in the kingdom. The last members
returned for this borough were the present Duke of Wellington, then Marquis of
Douro, and Wilson Croker, Esq., secretary to the Admiralty. It first sent
representatives in the 13th of Elizabeth, and as Willis supposes, obtained the
elective franchise in the tenth year of that Queen’s reign, when she granted the
Duke of Norfolk a weekly market on Saturday, at his manor of Aldeburgh. It is
not included in any of the schedules of the Municipal Reform Act of 1835,
therefore its Corporation still exists in its pristine form, but many of its
members reside at a distance. The two bailiffs are annually elected from the
capital burgesses, and are coroners and justices of the peace ex-officio; but in
addition to them, two other magistrates are appointed for the borough. The only
bailiff is W. Garrard, Esq., the Rev. H. T. Dowler being deceased. Many of the
capital and inferior burgesses are non-residents. The Borough Magistrates hold
Petty Sessions at the Town Hall, when necessary. P. B. Long, Esq., of Ipswich is
the town clerk; and J. Wood, Esq., of Woodbridge, is clerk to the magistrates.
S. Fisher and Joseph Allerton (who also acts as town crier) are the mace
bearers; and Horatio Salton is inspector of weights and measures. The
Corporation owns 198A. 1R. 8P. of marsh land, let for about �500 a year, and
employ the rents in improving the town, &c. The market formerly held here on
Wednesday and Friday are now obsolete; as also are the chartered fairs for
pedlery, &c., formerly held on March 1st and May 3rd; but there is a small fair
for pleasure, &c., on June 21st. Aldborough is now a creek under the port of
Woodbridge, and Mr. E. G. Willes is the principal coast officer. His office is
at Slaughden Quay, on the river Alde, where vessels as large as 200 tons receive
and discharge cargoes, and where there is a shipbuilding yard. Here are about
100 fishing boats, employed in catching soles, lobsters, herrings, sprats, &c.;
also, about 22 coasting vessels, averaging about 60 tons each. Here are 15
pilots, under the superintendence of Mr. N. Garrett, the agent to Lloyd’s. On
the Terrace is a Marine Telegraph and Observatory, and an account of all vessels
seen from it posted daily to London, &c. Overlooking the sea and the river is a
Martello Tower, Battery, and Fort, erected about 1806, and formerly garrisoned
by 100 men, and mounting 12 guns. On the beach is an excellent life boat, built
in 1853; and a Coast Guard Station, with Manby’s and Dennett’s apparatus for
saving the lives of shipwrecked seamen, &c. North of the town and near the beach
is a large lake called Aldborough Mere or Haven, extending nearly to Thorpe
Ness, where there is another life boat. A revenue cruiser is in the offing, and
in the neighbourhood are five other Coast Guard Stations, viz., at Orford Ness,
Orford Haven, Woodbridge Haven, Sizewell Gap, and Minsmere Haven, of which
Commander Clark is inspecting commander. Till the commencement of the present
century, Aldborough, impoverished and depopulated by the encroachment of the
ocean, was hastening to decay; but several families of distinction, wishing for
a greater degree of privacy and retirement than can be enjoyed in a fashionable
watering-place, having made it their summer residence, its appearance has, since
that period, been totally changed. The deep sands which formerly led to it have
given place to excellent turnpike roads; and instead of the clay-built cottages,
which gave the place a mean and squalid appearance, are now seen neat and
comfortable dwellings, and several large and handsome mansions, which are the
occasional retreat of persons of rank and fortune. Near the church is an elegant
Marine Villa, built after an Italian plan, by the late L. Vernon, Esq., and now
the property and occasional residence of F. W. T. Vernon Wentworth, Esq., the
present lord of the manor. At the base of the hill is Wyndham House, built by
the Hon. Mr. Wyndham, about the year 1804; and near it is a romantic “Casino,”
which was the favourite summer residence of the Earl of Salisbury, and is now
the seat of Colonel Arthur Thellusson, cousin to Lord Rendlesham. At the
opposite end of the terrace is the “Little Casino,” which is now the property of
Lord Waveney, whose principle seat is Flixton Hall, as afterwards noticed. Here
are also several other neat villas, of more recent erection, one of which is
Alde House, the residence of N. Garrett, Esq. Augustus Terrace, four new houses,
commanding delightful marine views, belongs to Mr. Augustus Fisher. For
invalids, Aldborough possesses advantages scarcely equalled, and certainly not
excelled, by any which the most fashionable places of resort can boast. The
beach, to which the descent is remarkably easy, is not more than 100 yards from
most of the lodging-houses; and during the ebb of the tide, and frequently for
weeks together, it is peculiarly adapted for both bathing and walking, the sand
being hard and firm. Here are several convenient bathing machines, and a suite
of warm, cold, and shower baths. The Terrace on the summit of the hill, behind
the town, commands a most extensive prospect of Aldborough and Hollesley Bays,
richly studded with their moving treasures, and separated by the promontory of
Orfordness; and also of the fertile country through which flows the river Alde.
Here are two large and commodious hotels, and many of the inhabitants have
furnished lodgings for the accommodation of visitors. Most of the houses are
built on copyhold tenures, subject to small certain fines; but those above the
terrace pay arbitrary fines. The Reading Room, on the beach, is a neat brick
building, erected in 1850, at the cost of �400, raised in �1 shares, for the use
of visitors and the members of the Aldborough Literary Institution and Public
Library, which was established in 1849, and has now more than 1000 volumes, and
occasional lectures. The “Magna Britannia” notices a miraculous appearance of
peas on the sea coast, near Aldeburgh, during a famine, in the reign of Queen
Mary, by which the lives of many of the neighbouring poor were saved. These
peas, as well as the cole-worts found growing on the south part of the
mere-shingles, are met with in several similar situations on the English coast.
The former are the fruit of the Pisum Marinum, which bears a purple blossom in
June, and is a prostrate plant, perennial, with a very deep root; and though it
must have grown here before, distress probably first brought it into notice on
the occasion above alluded to
THE CHURCH (St. Peter and St. Paul) stands on the summit of the hill, above the
town, and is an ancient structure of flint and freestone, much intermixed with
modern repairs of brick. It contains a fine organ, erected in 1864, at a cost of
nearly �400. It consists of a nave, chancel, aisles, south porch, and a massive
tower, containing five bells and a clock. In about 1853, the chancel, under the
superintendence of the vicar, was cased in flint and stone; strengthened by two
additional ornamental buttresses, and lighted by new windows. The interior has
been newly fitted with oak benches, a handsome stone reredos, &c.; and the large
east window is enriched with stained glass, in memory of the late Mrs. Kendall.
Crabbe, the poet, was born here in 1754, and died in 1832. In 1847, a handsome
marble monument to his memory was erected in the church, bearing a bust of this
celebrated poet of nature and truth, admirably executed by Mr. Thomas Thurlow,
of Saxmundham. In the south aisle is a fine mural monument, in memory of Lady
Henrietta Vernon, daughter of Thomas, 3rd Earl of Strafford, who died in 1786.
There are also tables in various parts of the edifice, as memorials of the
Groome, Wall, Bell, Crespigny, Lawson, Keet, Emley, Wynter, Mortlock, Sparkes,
and Fennell families. The church tower is a well known sea mark. The living is a
discharged vicarage, with Hazlewood annexed to it, valued in K.B. at �33. 6s.
8d., and now at �383. F. J. Vernon Wentworth Esq., is patron and impropriator,
and the vicarage is at present vacant by the decease of the Rev. H. T. Dowler.
There is a neat vicarage residence, finely embowered, and nearly 15A. of glebe.
THE BAPTISTS have chapels here. A NATIONAL SCHOOL was built by subscription in
1839; but here are now three schools under government inspection, for boys,
girls, and infants, and they are attended by about 250 pupils. ALDBOROUGH TOWN
HALL is a curious half timbered building, erected about the beginning of the
16th century, on the beach, close to the sea. After all its rich carvings and
other external ornaments had been eaten away by the corroding hand of time, the
Corporation determined, in 1853, to have it completely renovated and restored to
its original beauty, and this desirable work was carried into effect, in 1854-5,
under the skilful direction of Mr. R. M. Phipson, the architect. GAS WORKS were
erected here by a company of shareholders, in 1856, at the cost of �1000, raised
in �5 shares, and gas is supplied at the rate of 6s. 8d. per 1000 cubic feet.
Extensive Water Works were completed in 1870, by which an abundant supply of the
purest water is obtained from springs which rise about a quarter of a mile west
of the town. This water is forced by steam power into a lofty and ornamental
tower, situate on the brow of a hill, on the Corporation lands, and thence led
through iron pipes to all parts of the town. Mr. Robert Podd is secretary. The
Poor’s Land, 1A., is let for �3 a year, which is distributed among the poor. A
yearly rent-charge of �11 is paid out of the Town Marsh (belonging to the
Corporation), in respect of �200 left by Captain William Lawes and Capt. Thomas
Chenery, and an annuity of �2, given by Capt. Wm. Covell. This annuity was
settled on the Town Marsh by a decree of the Court of Chancery, in 1736; and
agreeable to the wills of the three donors, �5 is applied in apprenticing poor
children, �1 is paid to the minister for a sermon on Good Friday, and the
remainder, �6, is distributed in bread and money among the poor, on the same
day. The Slaughden Quay Trust Estate consists of a quay, or wharf, with certain
coal yards, saltings, and other premises, on the river Alde, held of the manor
of Aldeburgh, under the gift of one of the Earls of Strafford. The premises were
surrendered to new trustees in 1754, and again in 1808, and lastly in 1839, in
trust for the general use of the inhabitants. The vicar and others are trustees.