61 62 High Street

The location of Nos. 61-62 High Street - once the premises of the North Lowestoft branch of Barclays Bank - is a complex one. The site had originally been one messuage, which was long known as "Waynflete's" - this being in reference to the surname of John Waynflete Snr. of Southwold (merchant), who had been its tenant during the middle of the 15th century.

In the Manor Roll of 1618, the occupant is named as William Greenwood (gentleman). Forty years later, it passed into the hands of Thomas Allen (al. Allin), a native of the town, who was to become a notable Naval commander during the reign of Charles II. On his retirement from the service (and having made himself rich from prize money and other means), he purchased the manorial titles of Lowestoft and Somerleyton in 1672 and lived in the latter place's Hall.

By 1720, the messuage had been subdivided into two separate units, with William Utting (merchant) living in the northern one and Thomas Utting (both merchant and grocer) living to the south of it. Both holdings are described as "several [separate] tenements" abutting onto the High Street and Whaplond Way (Whapload Road), but with the southern one having "an office of fish-houses" in addition to its dwellings.

Both properties are also described as being "freely held", which means that this must have been agreed to by Sir Thomas Allin (as he was then), after he had acquired the Lowestoft and Somerleyton titles. About 80-85% of the Lowestoft housing stock was held under copyhold tenure, with an annual ground-rent paid to the manorial lord, as well as an entry fine every time a property changed hands. Every change in tenancy had to be entered into the manorial records - something which was not required for freehold property .

It is clear that, between 1672 and 1685 (when he died), Sir Thomas Allin had agreed to subdivision of the messuage and allowed its tenure to change by selling the freehold to the Uttings - there being no record of transfer after 1658.

Knowing the occupants of Nos. 61-62 during the 1990s, after it had returned to domestic use, this writer was able to see it from the inside. The former bank's strong-room, together with its security door was still in place , but there were very few original interior features discernible. The ground-floor room fronting the street, to the south of the front door, had two recesses either side of the fire-place and there was an ornate pine ceiling cornice in the first-floor front room at the northern end of the house.

The roof-trusses in both parts of the double-pile structure seemed to date from the late 19th-early 20th century being of machine-sawn pine and of butt-purlin type, with principal and common rafters, collars and queen-struts (braced with steel straps). Possibly, a copy of the previous framing, with extra reinforcement.

Once Nos. 61-62 High Street have been reached (starting at No. 2 and progressing southwards), the majority of listed buildings on the east side of the High Street have been covered. The next one(s) to be encountered is/are Nos. 75, 76 & 76A - all three units being under the same roof. It is perhaps permissible, therefore, that an important element of the High Street's original burgage-plot layout of the first half of the 14th century has some attention drawn to it, at this point.

Specifically, this relates to the present-day Nos. 64-69 High Street, which consist of two, ornate, late 19th century, triple shop-units with accommodation above (Nos. 64, 65 & 66 and Nos, 67, 68 & 69). They stand on a site which was the biggest of all the town's messuages during the late medieval period and was the site of "The Angel" inn. The Manor Roll of 1618 shows it still intact and in the tenancy of William Kettleborrow (gentleman), but during 1657 and 1658 the property was subdivided by his successors, Francis and Mary Kettleborough. Note the change in spelling of the surname.

A listing of town property holders in 1720 shows Nos. 64 & 65 (as they now are) to have been a single tenement held by John Postle (fisherman) and his wife Tabitha, No. 66 as one small tenement held by Margaret Pye (fisherman's widow), and Nos. 67, 68 & 69 as two tenements held by Susan Rising (merchant's widow). 

The last tenancy is perhaps the most interesting one, because Susan Rising's father-in-law William (father of her late husband Nicholas) had his house - now No. 67 High Street - licensed in May 1672 as the first legitimate place of Dissenting (Nonconformist) Christian worship in Lowestoft. 

As final comment, it is worth noting that No. 68 has a short section of mid-16th century ceiling joist or beam (embellished with trailing vine-leaf) exposed and visible at ground-floor level in the inside space to the right of the door.CREDIT:David Butcher

Barclays had a branch at 62 High Street. Street directories of the town suggest that an agency of the Yarmouth Bank (one of the Gurney banks of the East of England) in 1812. The branch moved to 62 High Street, overlooking Lowestoft Ness and the sea, three years after these new premises were purchased in 1855 (we have a note this was formerly the Star Inn). Nearly 40 years later, in 1896, the Yarmouth Bank was one of twenty private banks that amalgamated to form Barclay and Company Limited.  The Gurney banks were a primary force in this collaboration.

At this time, Barclay & Co did survey reports on all the premises belonging to its constituent banks, including that of Lowestoft High Street (see 38-641 attached), which has descriptions of the rooms inside the building and a plan of the plot of land. They also made volumes with schedules of title deeds which track the ownership of the land over time (see 80-617 attached). In 1903 the freehold of the adjoining premises was purchased for £475.

Mr C W Walker was the branch manager at 62 High Street; this was from Jun 1938 until he retired in 1947. During the Second World War the town of Lowestoft was heavily bombed: 283 direct attacks were launched.  The branch was fortunate enough not to suffer a great deal of damage.  Its closet shave came on the night of 14-15th February 1941, when 58 High Street was bombed with the loss of two lives.  The branch manager, Mr C W Walker, lived on the premises and took refuge under his bed covers.  The blast damaged the bank house roof and sent debris flying: Mr Walker was showered by bricks, stones, dirt, and glass and was narrowly missed by a 3lb stone.

On 18th Jan 1949 a notice was given that 62 High Street is ‘of special historic interest’. For more information about this, I would suggest the Historic England website
(https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1292596).

The branch remained at the same location until 1965, when alterations were made to the building.  The branch spent 1965 and most of 1966 in temporary premises behind the permanent building.  On 9 December 1966, the Local Directors hosted a cocktail party at the branch to celebrate its return to an extended and modernised branch. The architects were Messrs Tayler and Green of Lowestoft and they were congratulated for transforming the building.  The guests invited to the reception included prominent officials and citizens, representative of professional and contracting firms engaged on the project, managers of surrounding branches and branch staff.

The name of the branch altered slightly over the years, as other branches opened and closed in the town.  From 1919-1923, the branch was known as North Lowestoft.  Before this, it was known as Lowestoft. Lowestoft High Street was the name used later in the branch’s life. With effect from 12 February 1979, Lowestoft High Street became a sub-branch to Lowestoft Central.  It closed on 19 April 1991.

The photographs we have of this branch date from the 1950s-1960s, mainly the refurbished premises in 1967). CREDIT: Rosie Fogarty  |  Archivist  |  Barclays Group Archives

Cyril Walker (manager of this Barclays branch) was an accomplished amateur artist, with a particular penchant for excellent pencil drawings. CREDIT:David Butcher

We're looking across the road  to number 62 the High Street.  It was Barclays Bank as you can see...  it's a quite an interesting building because   when Barclays took over, and until 1895 there was no  Barclays Bank in Lowestoft, this was Gurney's Bank   from a Norwich banking company.  They were taken over by Barclays in 1895.   So this frontage would be put in at  the time of the takeover. This area here, which is an enclosed yard, was in fact the  site of a very small shop / property   number 61 the High Street. That's now been  incorporated as we see, or was incorporated   into the bank. It's a listed  building according to the listing, the building   dates from the 18th century and was re-fronted in  the late 19th century again when Gurney's Bank was taken over by Barclays Bank. This photograph might be actually as   late as the 1950s. If we look at the windows of the bank you can see that down the years after this photograph  was taken they've changed. So if we go there today... you can see No awnings and the windows, the configuration at the front has changed quite a lot. The bank  has long since closed and it's now a private residence.   CREDIT: Ivan Bunn from transcript - Poetry People - High Street Histories