THE QUEEREST STREETS IN ENGLAND

Greymouth Evening Star, 14 May 1913, Page 6

THE QUEEREST STREETS IN ENGLAND

YARMOUTH'S FAMOUS ROWS.

Which town has the queerest streets;;: in the British Isles? I know the district round the Canongate in Edinburgh, Jthd the Rows at Chester. Also I know Stonegate in York, and the main streets at Clovelly. These. are all curious streets, but they fade into insignificance besides the famous "Rows" at Yarmouth.

There is not the slightest doubt that these Yarmouth Rows are the queerest streets in the British Isles. Their large number, as well as their extreme narrowness, at once astonish the visitor. It is amusing to remember that for decades different authorities have given varying ■accounts as to the exact number of these queer streets in Yarmouth. It makes one wonder why they could not count thesrti exactly, for some have said there were 141, and others have made out even 154; whereas the Rows, which which are now all numbered, are exactly 145. It is difficult for an ordinary person who has never seen these streets to comprehend how narrow .and. quaint they are—for they are not passages but real streets. Yet Kitty Witches' Row, which is No. 95, is so narrow at one end that it is enly twenty-nine inches wide. Two of the streets—Broad'Ro\v,and Market Row—are much wider than the others, and differ from them in possessing several first, class shops; in fact, these two Rows are among the best streets in Yarmouth. It is not easy to say w.hy the Rows were built so narrow and curiously. Some tliink the object was to house the largest possible population in the smallest possible space. Others say that at, the time the Rows were built there was-.constant dread of attacks by foreign enemies, and it was therefore planned to build streets in such a way that they could easily be defended. These very narrow rows were what seemed best fitted for such defence. \

WHY "ROWS?"

What does this word "Row" really mean? And what does the name come from? Three explanations at least of its origin have been put forward, but only cne of these seems tenable. It has been said that the word "Row" is a shortened form of the Anglo-Saxon rowa, which menus a rank. This view is not at all satisfactory. Another suggestion is that Row is derived from the classical verb rhodio, meaning to walk. But this also, whilst more probable than the first, hardly seems the true explanation. The real origin of the word is most probably to be found in a corruption of the French rue, a street.

The ordinary Yarmouth Row is a very narrow street of tall houses, the majority of which have a dingy air, and seem guiltless, of new paint. In some cases the tenants have tried to improve the appearance of the houses by giving them coats of whitewash. As this has been far from universal, .however, it only serves to make the Rows look more curious, and its various tenants have added new storeys at will, to suit their requirements, the varying heights give the Rows a still queerer look. The paving of these streets is as strange as their other features. In many cases the Row can boast more or less level flags all its length, but in others the paving only consists of uneven bricks of slippery cobble-stones, or nothing at all but the bare earth.

That these Rows are really streets may be seen from the fact that formerly they had carts specially built to traverse them. These carts were* twelve feet long, with two wheels placed under jLjlO ,bpfly of tbq vehicle. The last Yarmouth cart survives to-day in the Museum at the tollhouse.

The Rows have not always been the homes of fishermen and very poor folk as they are to-day. Many of the Yarmouth gentry lived in them iu former times. The famous Sarah Martin lived in Row 57. She was only a dressmaker, but her kindness and lovo for the sick "and poor made her so beloved that at her death all Yarmouths übscribed for a splendidly-stain-ed glass window to h'.-r memory in the Parish Church. In George and Dragon Row is a quaint house whose, brick work is of the herring-bone pattern, and exceedingly curious. Another of these Rows contains* the ruins of a fine monastery belonging to the Gray Friars. So, beyond all doubt, the palm for owning the queerest streets in England must certainlv be awarded to Yarmouth.