Great Yarmouth New Mount

In the civil parish of Great Yarmouth.
In the historic county of Norfolk (Modern Authority of Norfolk, 1974 county of Norfolk).

The Mount was erected in 1569 as a defence against the Spanish Armada. As originally designed and built, it was an earth platform 200ft long and 50ft high, and built against the inner town wall. The weight of wall caused the wall to collapse into the moat, so the wall was repaired and the Mount extended 30ft beyond the wall. It was built in three tiers and appears to have mounted 10 guns. In 1588, Sir Thomas Leighton surveyed the town defences and found the Mount to be wanting, it forming a bank which could be easily scaled. It was modified as a large brick bastion with a scarp 15ft high and with recessed flanks, most of which still survives, having been buried under the foundations of the general Hospital. The mount behind was modified to form a cavalier overlooking the bastion and adjoining walls. The mount within the walls was levelled in 1714 and St. Georges Chapel was built. The north wall and the east angle of this structure still survives as the boundary wall of the former Great Yarmouth Hospital yard (hospital now demolished).

This site has been described as a;
Artillery Fort.
The confidence that this site is a medieval fortification or palace is Certain.
Masonry ruins/remnants remains.

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is TG52660733

PastScape number; 134009

Books

Kent, Peter, 1994, 'Armada and 17th-Century Defences' in Wade-Martins, P, (ed), An Historical Atlas of Norfolk (2edn Norwich; Norfolk Museums) p136-7
Kent, Peter, 1988, Fortifications of East Anglia (Lavenham: Ternence Dalton)

Journal Articles

Palmer, C.J., 1864, Norfolk Archaeology Vol6 p107-8, 115-6

Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)

William Camden, 1607, Britannia [http://www.philological.bham.ac.uk/cambrit/norfeng.html#norf9]

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Great Yarmouth New Mount

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is TG52660733

Sources of information, references and further reading