The New Hand-Book to Lowestoft and its Environs Part 1

The New Hand-Book to Lowestoft and its Environs.

by Anonymous.

PREFACE.

LOWESTOFT is not only considered a very healthy and pleasant watering place, but, from various causes, is a.s.suming a position of such importance, as to render it more than probable that visiters will arrive in numbers augmented every season: this work is intended primarily for their use; at the same time, it is hoped it will he found interesting to the residents generally, being a verbal and pictorial description of the place of their abode, and a repository of facts and incidents connected with its history. The writer wishes it to be distinctly understood that the book professes to be, for the most part, a compilation; he has not therefore thought it necessary-except in a few special cases-to give authorities, or the usual indications of quotation.

_Lowestoft_, _March_, 1849.

HAND-BOOK TO LOWESTOFT.

SITUATION OF THE TOWN AND ITS GENERAL FEATURES.

Lowestoft is situated upon the most Easterly point of land in England.

It stands upon a lofty eminence, and commands an extensive prospect of the German Ocean.

Enthroned upon an ancient hill it rests; Calmly it lifts its time-worn head; and first Of all Old England's busy towns, whispers Its orisons, and greets the rising morn.

It stands upon a dry soil, upon the summit of a cliff, and enjoys a most salubrious air-keen, but bracing; and not being exposed to any of those unwholesome damps and vapours, which generally arise from low grounds and marshes, it is rendered not only a pleasant, but a very healthy situation.

The princ.i.p.al street, three-quarters of a mile in length, running in a gradual descent nearly North and South, is on the brow of the hill. The houses built on the Eastern side of the street have all a view of the sea; many of them have an extensive prospect, and most have, in addition, terraced gardens which slope downwards towards the sea: these gardens, when viewed from the beach, present a very pleasing appearance, thickly planted as some of them are with fruit and ornamental trees, and shrubs, the roots of which, binding the soil, prevent it from being precipitated into the regions beneath. A considerable number of the houses on this side of the street are, in consequence of these natural advantages, let in the summer season to individuals and families frequenting the town; those on the western side of the street, having no special advantages of this kind, are not so much in request.

Below the cliff, or terraced gardens, the fish-houses are to be found, where the greater part of the staple business of the town is carried on.

To the North and South of the town there are large sandy plains, called the denes, which probably were originally covered by the sea. Towards Corton they are very extensive, and are covered with a peculiar vegetation: there, and near the beach, may be found amongst others, the following plants-

The Eryngium Maritimum (Sea Eryngo) Glaucium Luteum (Yellow-horned Poppy) Ononis Spinosa (p.r.i.c.kly rest-harrow) ,, Cochleria Anglica (English scurvy Gra.s.s) Tussilago Farfara (Colt's Foot) and under the fish-houses and old walls, The Urtica Pilulifera (Roman Nettle)

which is a rare plant of a _noli-me-tangere_ character, having a very severe sting.

Lowestoft is the only market town in the island of Lothingland, which island is situated in the North-east corner of the county of Suffolk, and is formed by the German Ocean on the East, by the river Yare on the North, by the Waveney on the West, and Lake Lothing on the South. Its length from North to South is about ten miles; and its breadth, from East to West about six miles. It contains sixteen parishes, and during the Saxon heptarchy was part of the kingdom of the East Angles.

This last remark very naturally introduces us to consider some circ.u.mstances connected with

THE HISTORY OF LOWESTOFT.

And Lowestoft has materials for a history. That history, like all which worthily bears the name, reaches far back into the ages that are past.

Old Romans, brave Saxons, fierce Danes, have left some vestiges of their connexion with the place, however faint they may, at this distance of time, have become. It has had its feuds with men who dwelt across the Yare, and n.o.bly defended its own natural rights; it took no silent part in the civil commotions of the middle of the seventeenth century; and was no craven in the latter half of that century, in the wars with the Dutch and others.

Its religious history partakes of the various characteristics of the several ages as they have pa.s.sed. Priories and candles are dimly seen in the dark ages; image wors.h.i.+p in the time of popery; image breaking in the time of puritanism; learned dissent in the time when liberty arose; warm-hearted methodism in the time of revival; vicars varying in their tenets, from the unmitigated Romanism of Scroope, to the learned Arianism of Whiston; and from that, to the Evangelicism of the present regime.

Its domestic history contains notices of plagues, fires, and storms, among the more _terrific_ incidents; and of royal visits, among its _pageants_. Among its _improvements_, we notice the erection of light-houses, the formation of the harbour, etc., all which will require more particular attention as we proceed.

But before we make any lengthened remarks on these points, it may not be amiss to make

A PERAMBULATION OF THE TOWN.

Perhaps the reader lodges at the new and commodious houses, built for the accommodation of visitors by the enterprising Mr. Fisher, known as Marine Terrace. Let him, after leaving the house, proceed southward to the Railway station and bridge, turn towards the sea on the Lowestoft side of the harbour, and, leaving Baron Alderson's abode on the left, proceed to the Battery green; here he may see the Bath house, occupied by Mr. Jones, where hot and cold baths can be obtained; where also, in the Reading room, the princ.i.p.al newspapers may be consulted at a moderate charge.

Thence sallying forth refreshed, directing his course to the beach, and turning to the left, he may see the lower Light-house; and out at sea, the Stanford floating light.

Keeping along the beach, if at the commencement of the fisheries, he may see the boats launched; if during the fis.h.i.+ng season, he may see the fish brought on sh.o.r.e; if at the close of the season, he may see the boats hauled up and arranged on the beach.

The Fish-houses here present themselves, ranged at the bottom of the cliff; and the denes afford the visiter several specimens of their peculiar vegetation. Continuing his course to the Ness, he will find a post indicating the extreme Eastern point of England; this is near the East Battery.

He may now turn round and direct his course towards the hills; by walking to the left, he will come to the Warren house, to the west of which is a piece of water, where there were formerly pumps and an overshot mill, erected for the purposes of the china manufacture carried on in the town.

If he ascend the cliff, he will have an extensive prospect of the ocean with its s.h.i.+pping; he will also have before him a pleasant walk towards the town along the edge of the cliff, and to his right a beautiful landscape.

Crossing the gat ways, (which have been made for the purpose of admitting carts to the beach and fish-offices,) at the bottom of which are land springs, and a rippling streamlet, he may enter the town by the north Light-house; leaving it and Dr. Whewell's residence on his left, the first house he pa.s.ses on the same side is Mr. Preston's, the next is Mrs.

Reeve's, further on is the Vicarage, indicated by a bra.s.s plate on the door, and opposite to it is the Baptist Chapel.

Further down, on either side of the way, are two public houses, which give evidence of having been formerly portions of monastic buildings; lower down on the left, is a bookseller's shop, all that remains of the Swan Inn, Cromwell's head quarters; opposite is the Town Hall, near which are seen the Market Place, the Queen's Head, and Crown Hotels; further down is the Star Inn, having an extensive sea view, and at the top of the score near it, may be seen a bra.s.s plate inscribed to the memory of the Revolution of 1688; and nearly opposite is the Post Office.

Further down still, on the left, is a flint house, built in 1587, the residence of Mr. Took, the master of Wylde's school; at the back of this is Annot's school; nearly opposite Wylde's school is the Independent Chapel.

Let him still proceed, and, leaving the High street, turn to the right, he will then see the Old Market plain, instead of crossing which, if he keep to the left, he will pa.s.s St. Peter's Chapel.

Still bearing to the left, if he walk along the Beccles road, he will come to Rotterdam house, once a public house, bearing the sign of "the town of Rotterdam."

If he has not been to the Church, he may get there from this point by a foot path across the fields; or, instead of going to the church, he may take the road opposite Rotterdam house, and either proceed straight forward to the Railway and the various works connected with it, or, vaulting a stile on his left, he may enter a pleasant foot path conducting him towards the town; this path will lead him over a rising ground, from which he may obtain a splendid prospect, (let him turn himself round and admire the views by land and sea!) and will then bring him out upon the turnpike road, nearly opposite the spot from which he started; he may now go in and read what we have further to say about the town.

As perhaps the visitor may wish to make a special pilgrimage to the church, his better plan will be to start off for that purpose from the upper part of the town, where, at the end of the pavement, he will find a lane which leads directly to the building he is in search of. As he walks along _this_ lane he may notice on his right, _another_ leading to the hills (_i.e._ to the common at the north of the town) which, having found, let him make a note of, and then proceed. After leaving the church he may return by the road, he will then have the piece of ground in which are the Basket Wells on his right, and the Infirmary opposite; he may then enter the High Street again by either of the streets which are before him.

LOWESTOFT AND THE ROMANS.

The Romans had a station in the neighbourhood of Lowestoft called Garianonum; its present name is Burgh Castle. Whilst there, it is probable that they frequented the coast at Lowestoft, as, from its situation, it afforded them a post of observation which they would not be likely to neglect. This probability is strengthened by the fact, that some years ago, a Roman urn containing bones, was found in a piece of ground now traversed by the Railway. It has been supposed that they obtained their knowledge of herrings from their connexion with this spot.

LOWESTOFT AND THE DANES.