Information on Time and Tide Museum
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A visit to the Nelson Monument is likely to be combined with one to
Time and Tide, or the Norfolk Nelson Museum, or both. Time and
Tide is housed in the former Tower Curing Works, a fish-curing
factory largely dating from 1880. The Museum teachers’ pack
includes a history of the building, and information on the processes
which were once carried out here. The building was planned to allow
a smooth progress of fish round its various working areas. Broadly
speaking, the modern museum visitor follows a similar route. Of
course, you may approach the displays in any way you wish, and
school groups studying a particular topic are likely to pick and
choose certain areas to concentrate on. The description below
follows a chronological route, starting outside the Museum’s
Education Suite on the first floor.
First Floor
Education Suite
Please discuss the use of the suite when making your
booking. If you are also booking a handling session
(recommended) this is where it will take place. The suite includes a
teaching area, offices and stores, and toilets exclusively for schools’
use. There is a disabled toilet in the lobby outside, and a visitors’ lift
also rises at this point.
The Town that Grew out of the Sea
These displays are situated in the long gallery above the fishing displays – the area where
fish were collected from the smoke chambers and prepared for packing. Displays cover
aspects of the history of the Yarmouth area from prehistoric times to the 18th century.
 Prehistoric displays – Ice Age to Bronze Age.
Artefacts include mammoth bones and hair (and a life-size painting of a woolly mammoth),
early flint tools, a Bronze Age axe hoard and items of gold Bronze Age jewellery.
 Great Yarmouth in the Roman Period.
The town did not exist at this time – in fact, as the displays explain, the land on which it stands was below the
sea. Information on nearby Caister-on-Sea fort, Burgh Castle, the Saxon Shore forts, with Roman artefacts
including pottery, glassware, coins, statuettes, bone and iron work, and a part-reconstructed Roman soldier’s
helmet. See separate sheets in the Museum’s education pack (available on CD-rom).
 Medieval Yarmouth, 1
Displays on the origins of the town before 1000 AD, when fishermen began to settle the newly-formed
sandbank at the mouth of the Yare. Yarmouth Castle, the 1208 Charter from King John, etc. Artefacts include
medieval pottery finds and the major part of a Saxon dugout boat from about 720 AD.
 Digging up Yarmouth’s Past – the Yarmouth Community Archaeology
Programme.
Displays on some of the purposes and processes of archaeology, with artefacts
including a medieval stone coffin (as part of a diorama) and a collection of
imported German stoneware jars from 1450 onwards.
 Medieval Yarmouth, 2.
Dealing with events and people from medieval to Stuart times, including the town walls, the Black Death, the
Herring Fair and Henry Manship’s early 17th century description of the town. Artefacts include trade tokens,
beadwork pictures and embroidered gloves, tiles and pottery.
Wreck and Rescue
These displays present another aspect of Yarmouth’s
association with the sea, and are illustrated by a wide variety
of objects of considerable intrinsic interest. The continuouslyrunning A/V presentation is particularly compelling for its
melodramatic content, striking images and music, and its
rhymes – it is narrated in rhyming couplets in the form of a
ballad. There are panels on disasters, “men of steel”,
survivors, lifeboats and Captain Manby, the Yarmouth
inventor who pioneered a novel means of rescue.
Objects displayed include ship models, dramatic seascape
paintings in various media, life-saving equipment such as an
early cork lifebelt, personal items and models pertaining to
Captain Manby, and a stuffed chicken rescued from a wreck.
Seaside Holidays
The subject which has, perhaps even more than herring, become synonymous in the popular imagination with
Great Yarmouth. Displays trace the story of holidays – who came, how they got here, what they did – from
their origins in the 18th century to the present day. The displays are lavishly illustrated with photos and art
works, and artefacts include bathing costumes, amusement machines, holiday souvenirs and items people
brought with them.
See separate sheets on this topic.
Great Yarmouth, a trading town
These displays cover many aspects of life at sea, the town as a port, and the various goods which were traded
through Yarmouth (which necessarily included just about everything that was imported or exported to or from
Norwich). Collections on display include items collected overseas by Captain Press in his
60 years at sea until his retirement in 1896 (even a pair of knuckle-dusters!). There are
navigational instruments, sailors’ crafts and models and paintings of trading ships from the
days when the quayside was “a forest of masts”.
Maritime Trades - NB. These displays complement those at the Norfolk Nelson Museum
These include the various crafts and trades associated with fishing and seafaring. They
illustrate the work of basket makers, shipwrights and coopers and the “beatsters”, who
made and mended fishing nets. There are many tools as well as finished products, and the
displays will complement a study of the fishing industry, as well as giving an insight into
the variety of skills and crafts once practised in Yarmouth.
A Century of Change – Yarmouth during two World Wars
These displays deal principally with the major impact on Yarmouth of the two World Wars
of the twentienth century. World War One displays cover the zeppelin raids (Yarmouth was
the first town to be bombed in this way), while the WW2 displays cover such topics as
bombing, evacuation, the ARP, and domestic life in a “front line” town. The wartime room
reconstruction includes various furnishings and an original Morrison shelter. See separate
sheets on these topics
All Change – Yarmouth in the 20th Century
These displays cover a number of topics such as: 1953 floods, Lacons brewery,
unusual items such as a model dog team made with real stuffed husky puppies,
Sailors’ Home collections (mainly native American artefacts such as masks and
beadwork), Gambling pins, teredo worms and how they devoured ships’ hulls,
Guess the animal (interactive based on sailors’ craft items), Corners of old
Yarmouth (pictures in various media) and Faces from the past (a selection of
“worthies” who came from, or were associated with, Yarmouth).
 NELSON’S MONUMENT – display of paintings and original
artefacts associated with the Monument. Items on display: the
trowel used for laying the foundation stone above, right, the architect
Wilkins’ model of the monument above, left, part of the original head
of Britannia, original paintings and engravings of the Monument by JS
Cotman and Charles Beatty (1889) left.
Stairs and lift back down to reception area.
GROUND FLOOR
The Rows
This is in the right hand corner of the courtyard and approached via a lobby from the museum shop.
Yarmouth was once famous for its Rows, which were over 145 narrow passageways running from the town
walls to the River Yare. The museum display recreates one such row as it might have appeared in 1913, with
a series of small “front rooms” of shops and houses which the visitor can enter. For additional information, see
the introductory panels in the lobby, and the spiral-bound laminated books which provide background detail
and information on all the objects displayed. The audio guide has much supplementary information and lively
drama.
Courtyard
This provides a good vantage point to point out the “herring route” and the different processes carried out at
the factory. It is also a useful gathering point (with limited shelter in case of rain) and a possible site for eating
packed lunches – but please check when making bookings. Herring were not the only fish caught from
Yarmouth, and the courtyard now houses three smaller boats, a shrimper and two beach boats. If you are
studying the building, please make sure the children realise that these boats were not originally here! Taller
children will be able to see the engine for the refrigeration plant through the window at the far end of the yard.
The 1955 Quayside entrance through far left corner
This is a recreation of the fish wharf in 1955, towards the end of its use. It is an effective diorama, complete
with figures of a fisherman and boy and a continuously-running sound effect. There are accurate background
wall paintings and lots of original artefacts. For comparison with the quay in earlier times, point out the
paintings (and the old engine) against the opposite wall.
Fishing – introductory displays
These are housed in the former salt store and brine pits, one of which has been
recreated. There is enough room for half a class or children – perhaps more – to
assemble. There is also a continuously-running video with headphones. This uses
archive footage to explain how the fish were caught - steam drifters leave harbour,
steam to the fishing grounds, lower their nets, “drift” and relax overnight, then haul
nets, return to harbour and sell the catch on the quayside.
Fishing Gallery
This is in the former “riving” area, where fish were washed, sorted and
put on speets for smoking. Displays cover many aspects of the
fisherman’s life, the various boats and ways of landing the catch, first
on the beach, later on the quayside, where it was gutted by the Scots
girls. Please see sheets and information on fishing for further
information.
Artefacts and pictures are all presented at suitable height for even
quite young children to see. They are of such variety that they provide
opportunities to discuss different types of evidence. An unusual feature
of these displays – indeed, the whole museum – is the way in which
high quality original artworks are integrated with everyday objects rather than separated into a separate gallery
area. Their immediate appeal may give children a new insight into the purpose and appreciation of art.
Nelson’s Monument may be glimpsed in several of the paintings, such as that by Stannard above.
Smoke Chambers
The four original smoke chambers run along the back of the fishing gallery, entered through open red doors.
Pupils will not forget the heady smell of smoke which still pervades this part of the museum. The left end gives
access via a lift and stairs to the Education Suite and first floor displays. Of the three remaining chambers, the
left end is displayed in its original state; the centre one features a continuously-running audio-visual
presentation (filmed at a working fish works in Lowestoft) explaining the processes. This is a good starting
point, and a small class of children should fit in here. The right chamber deals with packing and export, with
some further information about processes and an interactive case-stencilling activity.