Yarmouth has been a settlement for over a thousand years, and is one of the earliest on the island. The first account of the settlement is in Ethelred the Unready's record of the Danegeld tax of 991, when it was called Eremue (as on the sign), meaning "muddy estuary". The Normans laid out the streets on a grid system, a plan which can still be seen today. It grew rapidly, being given its first charter as a town in 1135 (as on the sign. The town became a parliamentary borough in the Middle Ages, and the Yarmouth constituency was represented by two members of Parliament until 1832.
In St James' Church there is a monument to Sir Robert Holmes, aventurer and governor of the Island. The statue, headless, was captured from a French ship, and was thought to be intended a memorial to Louis XIV. Sir Robert's head completed the statue, but is of somewhat inferior quality.
The Yarmouth were lost, thrown overboard by a drunken sea captain, who thought he'd stolen a case of wine. When he found that it only contained books, he threw it overoard.
The cache is not at the above co-ordinates, these should take you to the village sign. Nearby is a plaque over The Square, the top row has 4 numbers ABCD.
The cache is at: N 50 ((A+B)/2)(C/D).DCC W001 (C/D)(C+D).(B-A)(D-A)D
About Village Sign Caches
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This cache belongs to the Village Sign Series, a series of caches based on ornate signs that depict the heritage, history and culture of the villages that put them up (generally on the village green!).
The signs can be made of different materials from fibreglass to wood, from forged steel to stone. They can depict anything from local industry to historical events. The tradition probably started in Norfolk or Suffolk and has now spread across most of the country so we thought we would base a series on them!
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More information, bookmarks and statistics can be found at the Village Signs Website
If anybody would like to expand the Village Sign Series, please do.
I would ask that you request a number for your cache first at www.villagesignseries.co.uk
so we can keep track of the Village Sign numbers and names to avoid duplication.