Norfolk gansey patterns

Great Yarmouth

There was no great tradition of knitting at the busy fishing port of Great Yarmouth (or Lowestoft in Suffolk for that matter). The crews were deep sea fishermen, often recruited just for each voyage and receiving a wage or a share of the boats' fortunes (or misfortunes); quite a different set of people to the close-knit communities around the rest of the Norfolk coast. So, few indigenous and interesting gansey patterns are seen in Yarmouth. Fishermen here, and in Lowestoft, wore either plain ones or one of several commercial patterns which, although often hand knitted, are not the real subject of this collection. See Commercial Ganseys for more on that. Any interesting patterns that do turn up will be included here, though we may never know where they originate from.

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Alfred Brown's double diamonds and Betty Martin gansey, Lowestoft

GP101

Alfred Brown's double meshes and Betty Martin gansey

Great Yarmouth pre-1950