A HISTORY OF NORFOLK Yarmouth volunteers, who brought some artillery ' before which a chain was drawn to keep off the horse.' The Royalists surrendered without a blow. One Captain Swallow is said to have raised a company of soldiers in Norwich at the charge of the young men and maids of the city, which was horsed by Cromwell.^ It is probable that this was the origin of the myth of the ' virgin troop ' of Norwich said to have been composed of virtuous maidens incensed by the outrages committed on their sex by the Cavaliers. In the spring of 1643 the weekly contribution of the county to the Parliamentary funds amounted to no less than £1,2^0,^ and this sum seems- to have been paid readily enough, thinking men of substance rightly considering that the probable results were worth the money in a com- mercial sense. During all the summer of 1643 considerable work was done in fortifying the Castle Hill at Norwich, and it is not at all unlikely that much of the confusion as to the castle ditches may have arisen from their disturbance at this time. The only spot where the Royalists made head was at Lynn in the extreme east, when the town was held for the king by Sir Hamon le Strange. It is said by the Mercurius Aulicus that Lynn had declared for the king as early as 13 May, but it was not until 13 August that public proclamation of this was made. There is a letter from Captain William Poe, dated 19 August, 1643, to the deputy-lieutenants and committee for the county of Essex, as follows : Six days having passed since Lynn declared against the Parh'ament, he is surprised that the association has not raised more forces, particularly as the earl of Newcastle is said to- have promised to relieve it if besieged. They have chosen Sir Hamond le Strange to be their governor, and he has promised out of his own estate to advance them some thousand pounds, and that twenty others shall raise as much more, with 4 or 5 troops of horse. He advises that the town should be played on with cannon. He vouches that if relief from the sea can be prevented they cannot hold out more than 5 days, altho' they have 40 pieces of ordnance, and can get more from their ships. On Thursday last he left Bury for Norwich, and on Friday at sunset went, by his major-general's commands, to Lynn, to stop the passages. He gives an account of how he repulsed an attack by troops who came out of Lynn on Sunday, and another attack on the i8th, when his lieutenant and three of his soldiers were taken prisoners, and he took some of their's. He is informed that the enemy in Lynn have 12,000 muskets, 500 barrels of gunpowder, with bullets answer- able and 3 or 4 troops of horse.' The place was formally besieged by the earl of Manchester, who borrowed but did not return the ordnance of the city of Norwich* — two brass demi-culverins weighing 4,800 lb., one iron ditto weighing 3,400 lb., two brass falconets weighing 600 lb., and two brass falconets belonging to Sir Miles Hobart. It was defended in a half-hearted way until 19 September without much, if any, loss of life, a letter* dated 19 September, ' Blomefield, op. cit. iii, 386. ' It was made up as follows : — L '■ d. County of Norfolk every week . . . . . .1,12900 City of Norwich . . . . . . . . 5300 Lynn . . . . . . . . . . 271110 Yarmouth . . . . . . . . . 34.165 Thetford . . . . , , . . . 5 1 1 9
- Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. vii, App. i, 559. * Blomefield, op. cit. iii, 387.
» Hisl. MSS. Com. Rep. vii, App. i, 564. 510
