Three Key Buildings Domestic, Religious and Industrial

In some ways, buildings are every bit as much historical documents as written sources and can inform the observer of many aspects of human activity in days gone by. Where they have survived in original form, they have much to say of former economic and social conditions – be they domestic, ecclesiastical or industrial in nature. And, if altered and converted at different times, there is just as much to be learned from them. Let us take three of Lowestoft’s buildings, covering these three categories, and consider each one of them in turn within its context.

Domestic

Nos. 43-44 High Street – The Curtain Lady & Son premises for some considerable time, now, but with the early-mid 19th century facade still proclaiming it to be the Town Hall Stores Est. 1837 – the year of Victoria’s accession to the throne. Groceries, therefore, the stock in trade long before soft furnishings became the means of business. And, yet, there’s much, much more to be revealed inside the shop and the flat above. An almost complete, merchant’s, half-timbered house of the mid-late 16th century, with original roof-trusses in place and with good-quality roll-moulded beams and joists in the ground-floor spaces. The main first-floor room has two original mullioned windows on the south side (both blocked up) and a Jacobean period (I think) painted Biblical text, within a decorative surround, surmounting the fire-place. It comes from the New Testament: James 1: 22 –“But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only.”  At one point, the property had belonged to a London merchant, named John Thedam (probably a fishmonger) and a manor roll of 1618 – when Priscilla Hawkins (his widow) was occupant - actually refers to it as “one house called Thedam’s”. The building carries a Grade II listing from Historic England, but this is based on exterior features only. If the organisation’s assessors are not able to gain access to the interior of a property (for whatever reason), then they can only give an account of what can be seen from the outside and take it from there – which means that much can be missed.            

Religious

The parish of Lowestoft has a number of interesting Christian churches and chapels, but the finest, oldest and most interesting of all is St. Margaret’s. At 182 feet, this Grade I listed structure is Suffolk’s third longest church, with only St. James (195 feet) and St. Mary (213 feet) in Bury St. Edmunds exceeding it. Work on St. Margaret’s began during the earlier years of the 14th century, at the same time as the township was relocating onto the cliff, with about three-quarters of the tower built and the east-end crypt beneath the intended high altar put in place. The deadly appearance of the Black Death in 1349 would have killed off 50-60 per cent of the population (perhaps c. 500-600 in number), dealing the community a social and economic body-blow which required a length period of recovery. And this is why the uppermost stage of the tower and the mighty body of integral nave and chancel date from the mid-late 15th century – showing the late Perpendicular style of Gothic architecture in full splendour. And what does the building say about the degree of wealth available in the town (generated by fishing and maritime trade) both to enable the richer members of the community to start the construction of a great new civic church, in the first place, and then – after about 100 years – have their successors finish things off. Don’t believe the myth (sometimes repeated, even now) that monasteries built parish churches. They didn’t. They often had the right to appoint clergy, but used that as a means of taking the valuable tithes of grain, timber and hay to boost their funds and leaving the vicars to collect the less valuable ones of lesser field-crops, milk and milk-products, pigs and poultry as their source of income. Henry I had given the Lowestoft advowson (as it was called) to St. Bartholomew’s Priory, Smithfield, in about 1130 and it stayed with this institution until the Dissolution of the Monasteries (1536-41).    

Industrial

With both domestic and ecclesiastical buildings having been considered, what remains to be chosen to represent the industrial sector? The decision was made in favour of No. 329 Whapload Road – which is one of the last few buildings remaining from Lowestoft’s centuries-old connection with fishing for herring. Its westernmost part (slightly lower than the rest) began life as a salt-store, belonging to the influential Wilde family, built at some point after the disastrous town fire of March 1645, which destroyed all seventeen fish-houses (used for the curing of red herrings) from the one below the later site of No. 1 High Street as far as Rant Score – as well as a number of houses on the High Street itself. With the salt-store in place – for containing an important element in the curing process – a large fish-house was then built onto it, in which the salted herrings were smoked and dried by a controlled process. This continued in use until the mid-19th century, when the curing area was converted to a net-store – with the smoking-racks removed and a floor inserted halfway up to create a large, open area for the laying-out and repair of drift-nets, leaving the ground-floor space below to be used for the storage of gear. The uppermost section of all (the roof-space) was left untouched, since there was no need to do anything to it, and it therefore retains all of the smoking-racks (known as loves) to be seen in situ. The building is Grade II listed and is, arguably, Lowestoft’s most important industrial structure dating from Early Modern times. Its conversion from fish-house to net-store was almost certainly the result of the expansion of the fishing industry, following on from Samuel Morton Peto’s railway and harbour innovations and from the increasing numbers of Scottish vessels coming down each autumn to fish for herrings.

CREDIT: David Butcher