St. Nicholas' reflects the essence of medieval Yarmouth
as a town reliant on the sea and its harvest. Dedicated to the
patron
saint of sailors and others who earn their livelihood from the sea, it
was built by the Bishop of Norwich in the early twelfth century to supersede
an earlier church believed to have been created to serve the local and
visiting (Cinque Ports) fishermen.
As the sole parish church serving Yarmouth, St. Nicholas' was over time
expanded into a relatively large building capable of holding a sizeable
congregation. It was the beneficiary of many bequests from townspeople,
who also contributed to extensions of the building, while social
gilds also contributed to its improvement
(notably the creation of chapels with which they then became associated).
The creation of a "Bachelor's aisle" in the 1330s was halted by the Black
Death. As was the case with many urban parish churches, its fabric was
renovated and improved in the fifteenth century. Destroyed by bombing in
the Second World War, the church was rebuilt on its medieval plan and
re-consecrated in 1960.
The parish system developed at about the same time that towns were
proliferating, in the Anglo-Saxon period. In the beginning, a town
was often served by a single mother church, typically founded by the lord
of the land, unless it emerged from the amalgamation of several
settlements or estates of different landlords, each served by its own
church (e.g. Norwich). As urban populations
grew and boundaries expanded, new churches and parishes appeared, some
quite small; Yarmouth and Bishop's Lynn represent exceptions to this
process, perhaps because of the pre-eminent role of the Bishop in each and
because of limited scope for geographical expansion. In the twelfth
century the Church asserted control over many of the privately-owned
parish churches.
These churches provided a key element of medieval urban society and culture.
Spiritual comfort and security in life and in death is one of the
most evident contributions. But among the roles that prominent churches
and their churchyards played in medieval times was that of
meeting-place for the community at
large, or (inside) for smaller assemblies, to debate
borough business; as well as sanctuary for criminals, who might hope for
protection there from the mob or the agents of authority, for long enough
for them to abjure the realm (i.e. admit to their crimes and take an oath
to leave the country). Another role was as a solemn location for the
conduct of private business, such as the making of a commercial contract
(for which a deposit sometimes known as "God's penny" was a further
guarantee of good faith), the payment of debt instalments, or the taking
of oaths.
Not all of the multiple urban parish churches had, or could maintain over
time, large enough congregations to earn the income (e.g. from tithes) to
survive. However, in the Late Middle Ages, the foundation by townspeople
of socio-religious gilds (and chapels, within parish churches, to serve
them), the endowment of chantries to pray for the souls of the deceased,
and the combination of pride and bad conscience that encouraged prospering
merchants to channel some of their profits into renovation projects, all
helped keep many churches vigorous institutions in the life of the town.
For further information on St. Nicholas' see Palmer's
Perlustration of Great Yarmouth.
