In 1261 King Henry III granted Yarmouth the right to build a town wall and large sections of these walls still survive today.

Most buildings take no more than a year or two to complete. In 1262 Great Yarmouth was given a charter to build a town wall. The inhabitants knew that they would not live to see it finished. It took 111 years to complete the wall.

There was a shortage of building stone in the area as Yarmouth is built on a sandbank and it was difficult to find suitable materials with which to build a wall.
Therefore the walls and towers were all built of local flints and pebbles found lying on beaches and in the immediate neighbourhood. All towers except for one (King Henry's tower) were round. This was so that they could save stone which would have been needed for the corners

Town walls were important. A wealthy town was an attractive target for enemy raids. However, a town wall was much more than that. It showed that a town was wealthy and powerful. Building a wall was a mammoth undertaking. It took the people of Yarmouth twenty-five years just to raise the money that was needed. A great amount of labour was required. Every resident had to work on the wall for a number of days each year. Wealthy people could pay others to do the work for them.

The town walls were last prepared for action at the time of the Spanish Armada in 1588 and were described by the 17th Century poet Thomas Nash as “a flinty ring of 15 towers which sent out thunder whenever a Spaniard dared to come near”.

The walls ran for just over a mile and completely enclosed three sides of the town. The river Yare protected the west side. Much of the wall still stands today. Some of the most impressive remains are outside the Time and Tide Museum.