Although the ghost of the old charter was not finally laid by the result
of the contest, it was the last time that the expensive process of an
appeal to the Crown, or to Parliament, was resorted to for settling the
disputes which it gave rise to between the two towns. The expenses of
this protracted suit, defrayed by Lowestoft, amounted to £600, not a very
large sum compared with modern experiences.
In order to prevent the question being again raised by Yarmouth as to the
distance to which their privileges extended, when Charles II. gave the
town a new charter in 1684, a special proviso was inserted in it—
“That the word leuca mentioned in divers former charters signifies an
English mile and no more, as declared by the House of Lords in the
15th year of our reign.” {99}
Thus the town was compelled to accept a construction of the provisions of
their old charter which excluded Lowestoft from the area of their
application.
“CORTON POLE.”
The spot where the 7 miles, measured from the Crane Quay at Yarmouth, was
found to terminate, was in Gunton Denes about 150 yards this side of the
Corton boundary. The post set up in 1663 was washed down a few years
afterwards. It had been placed too near the sea, which at that period
was advancing on the land at this part of the coast; and in 1676 another
post was fixed, a few yards further inland, in the presence of a number
of leading men representing the counties of Norfolk and Suffolk. This
post has been also replaced more than once since, but it is still
represented by the post known as the “Corton Pole.” The present post,
and one or two of its predecessors, have been used by the Corton Coast
Guard for practising their life saving apparatus, and its interesting
connection with the history of our old town is not generally known. Old
men however still remember this post being known as a boundary mark
beyond which Lowestoft people might not land fish. As Gillingwater does
not mention any further replacing of the post before he wrote his
history, it may be inferred that the post set up in 1676 was standing in
his time. From what I have learnt as to the replacing of the posts in
later years by the Coast Guard, it would appear that the present post is
nearly in the same position as the posts of 1676, and 1596.
EFFECT OF THE SUCCESSFUL TERMINATION OF THE SUIT.
The success of our old townspeople in their contest with Yarmouth appears
to have had the effect of reviving their energies, and encouraged them to
take active measures for improving their hold on the herring trade, and
increasing the number of ships employed by themselves in the fishery.
But at this time the trade appears to have been again in a depressed
state owing to the Dutch war. According to a statement in their petition
to Parliament in 1670, one half of the fishing adventurers of the town
had given up the business and their fishermen were lamentably
impoverished.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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