Great Yarmouth

Great Yarmouth
Clockwise from top left: Great Yarmouth Town Hall, Britannia Monument, Old Vicarage with the tower of the minster church in background, Church Plain, Empire Theatre and Marine Parade, Anna Sewell’s House, Camperdown
motto: Rex et Nostra Jura  (Latin)
"The King and Our Rights"
Great Yarmouth
Location within Norfolk
Area3.89 sq mi (10.1 km2)
Population99,745 (Borough, 2021)[1]
28,985 (Built-up area, 2021)[2]
OS grid referenceTG5207
District
  • Great Yarmouth
Shire county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Areas of the town
List
  • Bradwell
  • Caister-on-Sea (Village)
  • Gorleston-on-Sea (Town)
  • Hopton-on-Sea (Village)
  • Runham
  • Southtown
Post townGREAT YARMOUTH
Postcode districtNR30
Dialling code01493
PoliceNorfolk
FireNorfolk
AmbulanceEast of England
UK Parliament
  • Great Yarmouth
Website[1]

Great Yarmouth (/ˈjɑːrməθ/ YAR-məth), often called Yarmouth, is a seaside town which gives its name to the wider Borough of Great Yarmouth in Norfolk, England; it straddles the River Yare and is located 20 miles (32 km) east of Norwich.[3] Its fishing industry, mainly for herring, shrank after the mid-20th century and has all but ended.[4] North Sea oil from the 1960s supplied an oil rig industry that services offshore natural gas rigs; more recently, offshore wind power and other renewable energy industries have ensued.

Yarmouth has been a resort since 1760 and a gateway from the Norfolk Broads to the North Sea. Holidaymaking rose when a railway opened in 1844, bringing easier, cheaper access and some new settlement. Wellington Pier opened in 1854 and Britannia Pier in 1858. Through the 20th century, Yarmouth boomed as a resort, with a promenade, pubs, trams, fish-and-chip shops, theatres, the Pleasure Beach, the Sea Life Centre, the Hippodrome Circus, the Time and Tide Museum and a Victorian seaside Winter Garden in cast iron and glass.

  1. ^ "Great Yarmouth District". City Population. Retrieved 24 August 2023.
  2. ^ "Towns and cities, characteristics of built-up areas, England and Wales: Census 2021". Census 2021. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 8 August 2023.
  3. ^ Ordnance Survey (2005). OS Explorer Map OL40 – The Broads. ISBN 0-319-23769-9.
  4. ^ "Town's last fishing boat fights tide and time". The Daily Telegraph. 14 January 2008. Archived from the original on 12 January 2022.