LOWESTOFT, a sea-port and market-town and parish, in
the hundred of MUTFORD-and-LOTHINGLAND, county of
SUFFOLK, 44 miles (N. E. by N.) from Ipswich, and 115
(N. E. by N.) from London, containing 3675 inhabitants.
The name of this town, anciently Lothnwistoft, or Laystoft,
is derived, as some suppose, from Lothbroch, a noble
Dane, who obtained a part of the kingdom of the East
Angles, and resided here; or, according to others, from
Low-toft, a market formerly held beneath the cliffs. In
1349, the great plague which devastated the continent of
Europe, raged here with such fury, that not more than
one-tenth of the inhabitants escaped the contagion; and
in 1547 and 1579 the same malady again prevailed:
in 1605, it suffered severely from fire, and during the
usurpation of Cromwell it was exposed to heavy exactions
from its attachment to the royal cause; in 1643,
Cromwell entered the town at the head of one thousand
cavalry, and seizing several persons, sent them prisoners
to Cambridge. In the war with the Dutch, two
sanguinary engagements took place off this coast in
1665 and 1666; two of the British admirals on that
occasion were natives of Lowestoft. In consequence of
the repeated occurrence of shipwreck, two lighthouses
were erected by the inhabitants; that on the cliff consisted
at first of a circular tower of brick and stone, the
upper story of which was sashed and glazed, and a coal
fire was constantly kept burning, but having become
dilapidated, it has been taken down, and replaced by a
cylindrical revolving lantern, furnished with powerful
reflectors; the other, on the beach beneath, is constructed
of timber, and is moveabe at pleasure. By
steering in such a direction as to make the upper and
lower lighthouses coincide, vessels are guided to a
channel of a quarter of a mile in breadth, between the
Holme and Barnard sands; the. course of this channel,
called Stanford, varies so much, from the violence of
currents, and the effect of storms, to which this coast is
exposed, that a change in the position of the lower
lighthouse is frequently necessary: the fort at the
south end of, the beach having become ruinous in. 1.744,
a battery was erected at the north end, and fortified with
two pieces of cannon. In 1782, a new fort was,built
at the south end, and furnished with thirteen pieces of
cannon; another fort has also heen erected at the north
end, and a battery near the Ness.
The town is situated on a lofty cliff, bordering on
the German ocean, and consists principally of one
street, nearly a mile in length, which is well paved, and
of several small ones, which diverge from it obliquely,
the whole being well lighted: the houses, chiefly of
brick, are neat and modern, and the inhabitants are
well supplied with water from springs; the air is considered
highly salubrious, especially to invalids, and the
shore, gradually descending to the sea, and having a
firm pebbly bottom, is commodious for bathing, which
circumstances have made Lowestoft a great resort of
fashionable visitors during the summer. Races have
been recently established on the downs northward of
the town, which form an admirable course; the cliffs,
rising in a gentle slope, make a natural amphitheatre,
capable of containing an immense number of spectators.
There is a good theatre, in which performances
take place every alternate year; also a spacious and
elegant assembly-room, where balls are held at Christmas,
and concerts twice a week during the bathing
season, and a subscription reading-room and library.
A new bathing-house, fitted up with hot and cold
baths, was erected by subscription among some of the
inhabitants in 1824; it is a handsome building of
pebble stones, with rusticated angles, and is situated at
the south end of the High-street. The trade principally
arises from the herring fishery, in which about forty
boats, from twenty-five to forty tons' burden each, are
engaged, and which employs the inhabitants from the
end of May till the end of June, after which time
great quantities of mackarel and soles are caught, and
sent to the Norwich and London markets; the herrings
are prepared and dried in houses at the base of the
cliff, extending the whole length of the town, and the
process of curing is entirely devoid of offensive effluvia.
There are rope and twine manufactories of considerable
extent. An act of parliament has been recently granted
to a company, for making a navigable communication
from Lowestoft to Norwich; they have already erected
a lock and swing bridge at Oulton, and are now carrying
on the excavation between Lake Lothing and the sea,
in order to form a harbour of refuge for vessels in distress.
Facilities for water carriage are also afforded
by communication from Lake Lothing to the Yare at
Yarmouth, and by the Waveney to Beccles and Bungay.
The market is on Wednesday, for grain and provisions;
and toy fairs are held May 12th and October 10th. The
county magistrates hold petty sessions weekly at this
place, and manorial courts are occasionally held by the
steward of the manor. By charter of George IT., who
landed here, the inhabitants are exempted from serving
on juries out of the town. There are a commodious
town hall, and a market cross.
The living is a discharged vicarage, in the archdeaconry
of Suffolk, and diocese of Norwich, rated in the
king's books at £10. 1. 0., endowed with £250 private
benefaction, and £200 royal bounty, and in the
patronage of the Crown. The church, dedicated to
St. Margaret, is a large and handsome structure, in the
later style of English architecture, with a tower, surmounted
by a wooden spire covered with lead, and a
south porch, over which was a chamber, said to have
been formerly inhabited by two recluse females, who
caused wells to be dug between the church and the town,
called Basket wells, vulgarly supposed to be a corruption
of their names, " Bess and Kate." The interior consists
of a nave, two side aisles, and a chancel, with a fine
east window of stained glass; the ceiling is ornamented
with a rude painting intended to represent the Holy
Trinity, and two antique shields contain a representation
of the Crucifixion; there is a large brass eagle,
formerly used as a reading-desk, also a very ancient and
handsome font, decorated with a double row of saints
sculptured upon it, and approached by an ascent of
three steps, but now greatly defaced. Sir John Holt,
Lord Chief Justice of the Court of King's Bench in
the reign of George I., was buried here, and a handsome
monument, bearing a Latin inscription, was erected
to his memory. In 1698, a chapel of ease was rebuilt
by subscription, near the centre of the town. Here are
places of worship for Baptists, Independents, and Wesleyan
Methodists. A free grammar school was founded,
in 1571, by Thomas Annot, Esq., whose endowment of
it was increased by his heir to £16 per annum; the
master is chosen by the vicar and churchwardens, subject
to the approval of the chancellor of the diocese; his
salary is now £23 per annum, for which he instructs
twenty-three boys. Another free school, on the east
side of the High-street, was founded and endowed by
Mr. John Wilde, in 1735, for the instruction of forty
boys in Latin and English; the school-house, in which
the master resides, was built in 1788; the master re-
ceives a salary of £40 per annum, arising from an
estate at Worlingham, the surplus produce of which,
amounting in the whole to about £154 per annum, is
vested in the churchwardens for charitable purposes.
A National school for boys is supported by voluntary
contributions. There are various charitable bequests
for the relief of the poor. In 1758, a skeleton was discovered
in a barrow on Bloodmore hill, near this town;
round its neck was a chain, with a gold medal bearing
an inscription and device, and an onyx set in gold,
bearing a device. In the centre of the High-street are
some vestiges of a religious house, consisting of a curious
Norman arch, and cellars with groined arches,
evidently part of an ancient crypt. The surrounding
cliffs abound with organic remains, such as the bones
and teeth of the mammoth, the horns and bones of the
elk, with Cornua Ammonis, and shells and fossils of va,;
rious kinds. The celebrated William Whiston, ProfeSsor
of Mathematics at Cambridge; and Mr. Potter, the
learned translator of JEschylus and Euripides, were
vicars of this parish.