Occupied Ground space 1600s

Nos. 5 -25 High Street

Nos. 26-33 are part of an overall sequence of town properties (1-271, in all) showing their transfer, as recorded in the manor court minute books.

They relate specifically to what once occupied the land later taken up by Nos. 5-25 High Street.

Extracted in this form from The Town of Lowestoft c. 1720-25: People and Property in a Pre-Industrial Coastal Community (Lowestoft Heritage Workshop Centre, 2019).

26. William Watson – one house and yard, between No. 25 and the yards of Nos. 24 & 25 on the north and No. 27 in part and No. 30 in part on the south, abutting onto the High Street to the west and Whapload Way to the east. Rent, 3d. per annum.

*The Latin extracts refer to the property as “a messuage from the waste of the lord”.

• John Brown, on surrender of Thomas Rose – 2.12.1612.

• [John Browne named as property-holder in the Manor Roll of 22.12.1618, with tenants called Chipchesse and (later) Rose preceding him. Rent given as 3d. per annum.]

• William Brown, on death of his father John – 3.5.1637.

• John Below [Beloe], on surrender of John Brown – 15.12.1647.

• Robert Smith, on surrender of John Below – 26.3.1651.

• Robert Brissingham, on surrender of Robert Smith (mortgage) 12.5.1652. [No more info. re loan.]

• Robert Smith Snr., on surrender of Robert Smith Jnr. – 12.10.1652.

• Margaret Allen, on surrender of Robert Smith – 30.7.1656.

• Richard Barret, on surrender of Margaret Allen – 25.5.1659.

• Lionel & Phoebe Girling, on surrender of Richard Barret – 9.2.1662.

• Robert & Ann Ferney, on surrender of Lionel & Phoebe Girling – 25.6.1673.

• Ann Ferney, widow, on surrender of herself, son Edward (father’s heir) and John Turner (executor) 21.1.1702.

• John Turner, on surrender of Ann Ferney – 6.5.1702.

• William Watson, on surrender of John Turner – 13.9.1704.

• Thomas Watson to part and Mary Manning to part, by terms of William Watson’s will – 31.8.1726 [update to listed tenant].

27. John Frary – one tenement, with a yard, between No. 26 on the north and No. 29 on the south, abutting onto the High Street to the west and Nos. 28 & 30 to the east. Rent, 5d. per annum.

*The Latin extracts refer to right of use of a well, presumably shared with neighbouring properties.

• Peter Durrant, on surrender of Thomas & Elizabeth Batchelor – 15.12.1647.

• John Durrant, on death of his father Peter – 24.3.1669.

• William & Margaret Pearson, on surrender of John Durrant – 24.3.1669.

• Thomas Tey [Tye], on surrender of William & Margaret Pearson (mortgage) – 3.4.1678 – debt settled, 5.4.1682.

• Elizabeth Hawys, widow, on surrender of William & Margaret Pearson (mortgage) – 7.1.1691.

• William Pearson, son of William & Margaret, on parents’ death – 30.12.1696.

• John Frary, on surrender of William Pearson & release of Elizabeth Hawys – 30.12.1696.

28. Isabell Monument – one cottage, with a small piece of ground 24 feet long by 28 wide, and with the use of a passage into the street on the north side of No. 27. Standing to the east of No. 27. Rent, 2d. per annum.

• Mary Savage (née Askew), on surrender of John Harris – 2.4.1645.

• Benjamin & Ann Chapman, on surrender of Mary Savage’s co-heirs – 22.3.1654.

• Isabell Monument, widow, daughter of Benjamin & Ann Chapman (later, Stanford), on surrender of her mother – 11.8.1708.

• Jonathan Belgrave, on surrender of Isabell Monument (mortgage for £8 8s 0d) – 22.9.1708 – debt settled, 7.12.1709.

• Hannah Smithson, widow, on surrender of Isabell Monument (mortgage for £12 12s 0d) – 5.10.1709 – debt settled (no date given).

• James Postle, on surrender of Isabell Monument (mortgage for £16.16s 0d) – 12.12.1711.

• William & Sarah Manthorpe, on the surrender of Isabell Monument – 22.2.1724 [update to listed tenant].

[This property did not front directly onto the High Street, but stood to the rear of No. 27.]

29. Henry Robotham – in right of wife Elizabeth (widow of Thomas Manning), one house formerly divided into two tenements, with a yard and with the use of a passage into the street on the north side of No. 27. Between No. 27 on the north and No. 31 on the south, abutting onto the High Street to the west and No. 30 to the east. Rent, 5d. per annum. 

*The Latin extracts refer to two messuages of unequal size and to a piece of land 100 feet long by 33 wide (west) and 39 feet wide (east) – both sold separately and later consolidated.

*The Manor Roll of 22.12.1618 shows that Nos. 27, 28 & 29 were formerly two tenements in the occupancy of Thomas Ward, at a combined rent of 1s 6d. per annum.

Whole messuage.

• Diana Bocking, on surrender of Thomas Batchelor – 1.6.1653.

Houses. 

• John & Elizabeth Stanford, on surrender of Diana Bocking – 15.12.1658.

Piece of land. 

• Robert Brissingham, on surrender of John & Ann Stanford – 27.5.1657.

• John Stanford, on surrender of Robert Brisssingham – 27.4.1670.

Whole messuage. 

• John & Ann Stanford – 15.12.1658 & 27.4.1670.

• Henry Ward, on surrender of John & Ann Stanford (mortgage for £23) – 11.3.1691.

• Thomas & Elizabeth Manning, on surrender of John & Ann Stanford – 30.7.1707.

30. Mrs. Hayward – an office of fish-houses, between No. 26 on the north and No. 33 on the south, abutting onto Whapload Way to the east and Nos. 27, 29 & 31 to the west. Rent, 6d. per annum.

*No details given in the Latin extracts, but may well have once been connected with No. 31.

[This property did not front onto the High Street, but was located to the rear of Nos. 27, 29 & 31.]

31. Benjamin Costerton – in right of wife Alice (widow of William Mason), one tenement, between No. 29 on the north and Nos. 32 & 33 on the south, abutting on to the High Street to the west and No. 30 to the east. Rent, 4d. per annum.

*The Latin extracts refer to “a tenement from the waste of the lord”, with use of a path leading to a well. They also reveal that three shops had once occupied the ground-space.

• [Bridget Allen named as property-holder in the Manor Roll of 22.12.1618, with tenants preceding her being Thomas Ward & (later) someone called Betts. Rent given as 4d. per annum.]

• Thomas Allen, on surrender of Marselis & Bridget Allen – 6.3.1631.

• Robert & Elizabeth Mendham, on surrender of Thomas Allen – 6.3.1631. 

• Thomas Mendham, on surrender of Robert & Elizabeth Mendham – 1.4.1663.

• Thomas & Ann Mendham, on surrender of said Thomas – 1.4.1663.

• Margaret Mendham, on deaths of Thomas & Ann Mendham – 1.8.1683.

• John & Mary Read, on surrender of Robert & Margaret Bowgen (née Mendham) – mortgage – 9.8.1687 – debt cleared, 29.5.1689.

• John & Mary Read, on absolute release of Robert & Margaret Bowgen – 29.5.1689.

• John Smith, on surrender of John Read (mortgage for £12 12s 0d) – 12.3.1698 – debt settled (no date given).

• Hannah Smithson, on surrender of John Read (mortgage) – 19.4.1699.

• Hannah Smithson, on surrender of Joan Read (renewed mortgage) – 21.8.1700 – debt settled, 7.11.1705.

• William & Alice Mason, on surrender of John Read – 7.11.1705.

32. Edward Ferney – one tenement, between No. 31 on the north and No. 33 on the south, abutting onto the High Street to the west and No. 33 to the east. Rent. 2d. per annum.

• Elizabeth Smith, on surrender of Robert Smith (mortgage) – 24.3.1669.

• Robert Smith, on termination of said mortgage – 15.2.1673.

• Nathaniel & Margaret Brown, on surrender of Robert Smith – 28.2.1680.

• Thomas Woodthorpe, on surrender of Nathaniel & Margaret Brown (mortgage) – 27.1.1686 – debt settled (no date given).

• Marion Wells, on surrender of Nathaniel & Margaret Brown (mortgage for £60 3s 6d) – 18.11.1691 – debt settled (no date given).

• Susanna Ferney, on surrender of Margaret Brown, widow – 9.2.1695.

• Edward Ferney, on death of mother Susanna – 14.1.1713.

33. Thomas Mighells – a tenement, with yard, between Nos. 32, 31 & 30 on the north and No. 34 on the south, abutting on to the High Street to the west and Whapload Way to the east. Rent, 4d. per annum.

*The Latin extracts also refer to the property as a tenement with a yard. 

• Robert Mighells, on surrender of Robert Smith – 4.12.1670.

• Thomas Mighells, on surrender of Robert Mighells – 27.12.1671.

• John Aldred & Peter Barker, on surrender of Thomas Mighells – 9.7.1684.

• Mary Mighells, on surrender of John Aldred & Peter Barker (mortgage) – 9.7.1684.

• Edward Fleming, only son & heir of Mary Mighells, on forfeiture of mortgage 11.10.1693.

• Robert Mighells, on surrender of Edward Fleming – 11.10.1693.

• Elizabeth Mighells, widow, on surrender of John Aldred & Peter Barker – 3.11.1703.

• Robert Mighells, on death of mother Elizabeth – 9.6.1708.

• Thomas Mighells, on death of father Robert – 17.4.1717.

*32. & 33. The Latin extracts also refer to two unequally-sized messuages with gardens, about half an acre in extent, between No. 31 on the north and No. 34 on the south, abutting onto the High Street to the west and Whapload Way to the east. The details below refer to the two properties when they were under single occupation. Rent, 8d. per annum.

• Richard Burnell, by hereditary right, on death of Richard Baispole – 15.4.1618.

• [Richard Burnell named as property-holder – in the Manor Roll of 22.12.1618 – of two tenements (one lying waste) formerly held by Richard Baispoole (sic). Rent given as 8d. per annum.]

• Robert London, on surrender of Richard Burnell – 7.3.1621.

• Robert London, on death of his father Robert – 29.10.1628.

• Edward & Joan Barber (sister of Robert London), on surrender of said Robert – 29.10.1628.

• Symon & Elizabeth Keable, on surrender of Edward & Joan Barber – 28.7.1629.

• Alice Smith, daughter of Joan Goodman (sister of Symon Keable), on death of said Symon – 9.7.1662.

• Robert Smith, son & heir of Alice Smith, on death of his mother – 24.3.1669.

*The Burnell family, of London, owned the rectorial tithes of Lowestoft parish, having acquired them from Sir Richard Rich at some point after the Dissolution of the Monasteries. They later came into possession of the Church family, of Pakefield, and were purchased for the benefit of his successors by the Revd. John Tanner in 1720.

Addendum

• Six of the eight properties listed above fronted directly onto the High Street: Nos. 26, 27, 29, 31, 32 & 33, occupied by Messrs. Watson, Frary, Robotham, Costerton, Ferney & Mighells.
• The Manor Roll of 1618 (Suffolk Archives, Ipswich, 194/A10/73) also has six houses listed in the same area, belonging to John Browne, Thomas Ward (2), Bridget Allen and Richard Burnell (2).
• There is no way of knowing if the six dwellings of the 1720s were those recorded in 1618, but it is possible (perhaps even likely) that they were. 
• Nos. 2, 3 & 4 High Street all date from the late 18th-early 19th century, while No. 26 appears to be of late 18th century origins and the adjoining No. 27 was built during the 1550s. No. 28 is of mid-18th century construction, with later fenestration. 

CREDIT: David Butcher