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[Illustration: THE GREAT YARMOUTH TOLHOUSE.]




                                 _The
                         Antiquarian Magazine
                           & Bibliographer._

                               EDITED BY

                         EDWARD WALFORD, M.A.,

           _Formerly Scholar of Balliol College, Oxford, and
                  late Editor of “The Gentleman’s
                            Magazine,” &c._

                      “Time doth consecrate,
        And what is grey with age becomes religion.”
                                 SCHILLER.

                              VOLUME VI.

                         JULY-DECEMBER, 1884.

                                London:
                 DAVID BOGUE, 27, KING WILLIAM STREET,
                          CHARING CROSS, W.C.

                          The Gresham Press.

                            UNWIN BROTHERS,
                               PRINTERS,
                         LONDON AND CHILWORTH.




List of Illustrations.


                                                           _Page_

THE GREAT YARMOUTH TOLHOUSE                                    2

ARCHITECTURAL DETAILS FROM SOUTHWELL MINSTER                  49

GLOVES OF SHAKESPEARE, IN THE POSSESSION OF MISS BENSON      102

SEAL OF THE BOROUGH OF SEAFORD                               154

TESSELLATED PAVEMENT DISCOVERED AT THE ROMAN VILLA NEAR
BRADING                                                      206

THE OLD PALACE, RICHMOND                                     258




_The Antiquarian Magazine & Bibliographer._




The Great Yarmouth Tolhouse.


GREAT YARMOUTH possesses a building of considerable antiquarian
interest. This is known by the somewhat unsuggestive name of the
Tolhouse. Its relation to the collection of tolls is referred to in many
old documents; but since this was but one of many uses to which it was
devoted, and far from a primary one, it is highly probable that, like
the Tolbooth of Edinburgh, its name is derived from its use in a greater
degree as the common prison of the town.

The building is spoken of by the old local historian, Manship, in 1619,
who states that it was used in his time as the Borough Gaol, and had
been so used from the time of the granting of the Charter by King John
to the Burgesses. There are also records, which are referred to in
Palmer’s “Perlustrations of Great Yarmouth,” of the very early use of
the building as a gaol by the burgesses. A gaol for prisoners was also
granted by Henry III. in 1261.

Apart from this, the building has been used for almost every municipal
purpose, though it has never been actually a town-hall, for Great
Yarmouth, like many other corporations, possessed a town-hall over or
beside the entrance to the churchyard. Here various courts were held.
The bailiffs were accustomed to receive their tolls or dues in the great
chamber on the first floor. It was called the Host House, from a
peculiar local custom. The accounts for the herrings, the staple article
of commerce of the town in old days as now, that were caught by foreign
fishermen, and sold by their “hosts,” or salesmen of the town to whom
they were consigned, had to be settled in the great chamber, and their
“heightening money” paid. It was used also as their apartment of state
by the local authorities; and there are many records of the quarrels
over the questions of precedence with the deputies of the Cinque Ports
when they paid official visits here.

It is for these most varying uses that the Tolhouse of Great Yarmouth is
unique among our municipal antiquities, for England has not its
counterpart elsewhere. Its history affords evidence of a most
interesting nature of the growth and development of the authority of the
town, no different it may be from what has taken place in other
corporations, but illustrated here by the actual building.

The structure also is the original erection in all its essential
features. Its walls are of early thirteenth century date, thus
indicating its existence prior to 1261. It has a picturesque external
staircase of open woodwork, giving access from the street to the level
of the first floor, where the “Great Chamber” is situated, access being
gained through a doorway of Early English moulded work; while the lobby
of approach is lighted by a two-light open arcade, of somewhat later
date. A very quaint figure of Justice, with sword and scales, stands on
a projecting buttress; and the high-pitched roof, and the general
features of the design, are both of considerable artistic interest.
Internally, the Great Chamber has lost its open roof, which was replaced
by a flat ceiling, probably in 1622, when it was “fitted up for
assemblies.” The windows, too, are square-headed, with wood frames and
mullions; but there are several features of the original work of great
beauty