Transcribed from the 1849 T. Crowe edition ,
THE
NEW HAND-BOOK
TO
LOWESTOFT
And its Environs;
COMPILEDFROM
GILLINGWATER’S HISTORY,SUCKLING’S ANTIQUITIES
OF SUFFOLK, AND OTHER SOURCES.
ILLUSTRATED WITH STEELENGRAVINGS.
LOWESTOFT:
PRINTED BY T. CROWE, HIGH STREET.
MAY BE HADALSO OF WHITTAKER AND CO., LONDON; JARROLD
OR FLETCHER, NORWICH; BARBER, SLOMAN, ORALEXANDER, YARMOUTH;
LOYNS, BECCLES; BURTON, IPSWICH; OR ANYBOOKSELLER.
MDCCCXLIX.
p. iiTHOMAS CROWE,
PRINTER,
HIGH STREET, LOWESTOFT.
p.iiiPREFACE.
Lowestoft is not only considered avery healthy and pleasant watering place, but, from variouscauses, is assuming a position of such importance, as to renderit more than probable that visiters will arrive in numbersaugmented every season: this work is intended primarily for theiruse; at the same time, it is hoped it will he found interestingto the residents generally, being a verbal and pictorialdescription of the place of their abode, and a repository offacts and incidents connected with its history. The writerwishes it to be distinctly understood that the book professes tobe, for the most part, a compilation; he has not thereforethought it necessary—except in a few special cases—togive authorities, or the usual indications of quotation.
Lowestoft, March, 1849.
p.1HAND-BOOK TO LOWESTOFT.
SITUATION OF THE TOWN AND ITS GENERAL FEATURES.
Lowestoft is situated upon the most Easterly point of land inEngland. It stands upon a lofty eminence, and commands anextensive 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, andenjoys a most salubrious air—keen, but bracing; and notbeing exposed to any of those unwholesome damps and vapours,which generally arise from low grounds and marshes, it isrendered not only a pleasant, but a very healthy situation.
p. 2Theprincipal street, three-quarters of a mile in length, running ina gradual descent nearly North and South, is on the brow of thehill. The houses built on the Eastern side of the streethave all a view of the sea; many of them have an extensiveprospect, and most have, in addition, terraced gardens whichslope downwards towards the sea: these gardens, when viewed fromthe beach, present a very pleasing appearance, thickly planted assome of them are with fruit and ornamental trees, and s